The Collected Will Eisner’s John Law
Creators: Will Eisner and Gary Chaloner
Forward: Denis Kitchen
Publisher: Titan Comics
Publication Date: March 2025
When it comes to Will Eisner, there are two texts that tower above the rest, rightfully or not. The first is A Contract With God, Eisner’s seminal graphic novel riff on the Book of Job through the lens of the Jewish community of New York City. The second is the more pulp oriented The Spirit, which John Law prefigures. I grew up reading the latter stories from the collected hardcovers my local library used to hold. I remain quite fond of the stories from the traditional noir tales of Denny Colt and the gang going up against the mysterious Octopus.
But, for my money, the best Spirit stories were the lowkey personal tales. One that always comes to mind is that of the man who believed he could fly. There, we see a man down on his luck, deciding to prove that he can fly by jumping off the highest skyscraper in the city. And, to his amazement, he can. Unfortunately, The Spirit was in the middle of a shootout in the area and the poor schmuck was collateral damage.
I bring this up because of the historical implications regarding John Law. Mainly, one can see a lot of what would become The Spirit through the lens of this long unprinted work. This is, of course, the subject of one of the essays within the collection written as a bridge between Eisner’s original stories and Gary Chaloner’s work with the character. But even without the essay, it becomes quite apparent with the first story, featuring a character that Eisner would return to unchanged within the pages of The Spirit, Sand Saref.
The similarities between the two comics are quite apparent, such that it’d be pointless to talk about them all. But what I think is vital is the core difference. Mainly, that John Law feels a bit too straight laced. There’s something uncanny about The Spirit that makes him a compelling character to follow. Whereas John Law is just another cop, but with an eye patch.
That isn’t to say Eisner or Chaloner’s work is bad. The figure work on Eisner’s part is at once cartoony and shocking to look at and Chaloner’s usage of panels is befitting of a man who would be approved by Eisner himself to continue the work of a forgotten piece of history. And the work Titan Comics put into the restoration of these comics is spot on. The shadow work in particular is truly something to behold.
But, at the same time, you can feel that this wasn’t going to pan out. Maybe an angle would’ve been discovered. Something that would push the work more in line with the second draft that was The Spirit or even the novelistic aspirations of Eisner’s A Contract With God. But we don’t live in that world. As such, while not bad, this collection remains more for the academics than for the general comics audience.
The Collected Will Eisner’s John Law is available now via Titan Comics
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