Yes, I know the character began as a stereotype, Eisner tried to make up for it later etc. But that’s a whole different discussion…

- The daring and innovative artwork

- The amazing splash pages

- How The Spirit was often a secondary character in the lives of the many “ordinary” characters in Central City

- Eisner’s love of the common man, as shown in the many episodes where “dull” characters and their emotions become the center of action

- The friendship between The Spirit and his sidekick Blackie White (yes, his caricatured appearance did annoy me a bit)

- How the plots varied from humor to horror to thriller to sometimes sci-fi

- The many sexy and yet competent female characters

- The countless details that made Central City a living, breathing place: E-trains, slum blocks, trash-filled alleys, gutters flowing with scummy rainwater, clotheslines, commuters, etc. etc.

… and yet NONE of all that made it into Miller’s movie.

If Frank Miller had only tarnished his own reputation, I would have forgiven him. (I swear to you, I wrote to the guy years ago and warned him about creeping artistic self-indulgence…)

But to also spit on the reputation and work of Will Eisner, a man he called a “friend” (I read the book EISNER/MILLER, and noticed how different they are)…

… that’s low. A true friend would have backed away, knowing that he could not do his friend’s work justice.

Frank Miller, you’re no friend of Will Eisner.