The Collected Will Eisner's John Law HC Review: Part 1

 

Writer & Artist: Will Eisner

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $24.99

Release Date: March 4, 2025

 

Everyone knows about The Spirit. But have you met John Law? How might Will Eisner's eye-patched detective differ from his famous creation? Let's leap into The Collected Will Eisner's John Law HC and find out!

 

Part 1: John Law: The Original Cases

 

Sand Saref: Story

In his office, Detective John Law remembers his childhood friend. He and Sand Saref had a falling out after the deaths of their parents. While John served in military intelligence during WWII, Sand drifted around, selling secrets and weapons. This bittersweet story in The Collected Will Eisner's John Law HC mixes childhood friendship with adult love. John and Sand always knew they weren't right for each other. Still, a magnetic force drew them together in life, only to push them apart.

 

Sand Saref: Art

Sand Saref feels like a classic Hollywood movie. Characters fight around warehouses, wharves, and hotel rooms. Clippings of Sand's adventures scatter across the page. Sand coolly pulls a gun on a co-conspirator with exaggerated features. Yet when John holds her, tears stream from her eyes as she clutches him tight.

 

Nubbin And The Strange, Ghastly Affair Of The Half-Dead Mr Lox: Story

Mr Lox fell in a vat of lye. At least, so the police thought until his ghost came to report the murder. The desk sergeant doesn't believe the ghost and sends him away. But when the sergeant tries to laugh off the practical joke, John Law points out that it's raining outside, and the floor inside the police station is dry.

 

While John Law takes another look at Mr Lox's file, Nubbin tries to comfort the sad ghost. The ghost accompanies the shoeshine boy to his lodgings in The Collected Will Eisner's John Law HC. As John Law and Nubbin race against time to discover who killed Mr Lox, the ghost wonders how he can help bring his murderer to justice.

 

Nubbin And The Strange, Ghastly Affair Of The Half-Dead Mr Lox: Art

Nubbin and the ghost resemble cartoon characters, while the murderer evokes Frankenstein's monster. The story sparkles with action, and Tiger, the shoeshine boy's dog, enhances the charm. The Black and White art seems like a compromise between the violent crime comics that aroused parents' concern and Dell's popular Disney comics.

 

 

 

Ratt Gutt: Story

Everyone knows Ratt Gutt is a gangster, but the police can't make their charges stick. Children read about his exploits in the newspaper. Some, like the children in the Star Trek episode "A Piece Of The Action," admire Ratt Gutt's ability to thumb his nose at authority. But when Ratt Gutt abducts his friend and leaves a man dying in his arms, Nubbin seeks John Law's aid. Ratt Gutt reminds us how we are attracted to things and people that aren't beneficial to us and that people often differ from our perceptions.

 

Ratt Gutt: Art

The kids hang out at Mr Jonas' candy store after school. As some read the newspaper, one boy sits before a window. When the boy picks up a broom and pretends to shoot people, a gangster raises his rifle outside.

 

Bullets stream across the room in The Collected Will Eisner's John Law HC. The kids race for cover, and Mr Jonas hides behind the counter. Smoke fills the air as the gangsters push away the proprietor and drag a boy from the premises. The fast-paced crime story with lots of fighting shows John Law can go toe-to-toe with the Shadow any day. Or, if you prefer, the Spirit.

 

Final Thoughts

Will Eisner planned to launch his eye-patched detective at newsstands in 1949. Instead, his John Law stories got recycled into The Spirit when deadlines loomed. In The Collected Will Eisner's John Law HC, Denis Kitchen ponders how fans in the 1950s might have embraced John Law. While it's always hard to forecast what will be popular, these three stories promise a great deal. 

Partial Rating (for Will Eisner original stories): 10/10

To look inside the first two stories see my first preview.