Spirit’s been overdue for a nice, wholesome story, so when Thomas Hawkins starts the strip getting out of prison and the guard says, “Once a killer, always a killer,” it’s concerning.

The strip turns around immediately, however, as Spirit drops in to see Dolan and Dolan’s thrilled to tell him about how Hawkins is on his way up and Dolan’s going to remind him the cops have their eye on him.

Spirit, for his part, tells Dolan he’s the bad guy in this situation and is making it worse. And then proceeds to let Dolan hear more of it after Dolan threatens Tommy: crime is a social disease, and criminalizing and ostracizing ex-cons is obviously, objectively perpetuating the cycle. The strip cuts to Tommy at this point, presumably to save the reader from Dolan’s thoughts on Herbert Hoover, again.

And Eisner and studio deliver a one-page visualization of the cycle at work. Tommy comes across an old pal who offers him a job on a robbery; Tommy says, no, he’s gone straight. Except after a series of panels summarizing his attempts at going and, more importantly, staying straight, Tommy ends up at his old friend’s door, having lost a job, found love, lost love, lost another job, over and over.

The page’s didactic—Eisner’s audience for it is obviously the Commissioner Dolan type–but moves well and quickly makes Tommy into a sympathetic protagonist. So when Spirit intervenes and tries to keep Tommy from making a big mistake, it’s hard not to be on Tommy’s side, even as he loses that protagonist positioning.

The strip’s set up as a tragedy. Tommy’s cursed, whether through lack of opportunity or just past association, and only dumb luck and having the world’s only science hero in your corner is the only way to get out of that tragedy. Except even with the Spirit involved, he can’t beat the dumb luck if it’s bad. It’s incredibly frustrating and incredibly tense, and Eisner and studio rather nicely link narrative and visuals around Tommy. Because these frustrations aren’t the reader’s, at least not first. They’re Tommy’s.

The result is Spirit getting away with a wholesome redemption story mostly through summary and exposition. Some of the story events move incredibly fast; others take weeks to percolate. The pacing accelerates and decelerates as needed in quite strong work. Tommy never holds the protagonist slot for long, but he always connects–wonderful intensity to this strip. There’s a passion to it.

Plus, it’s a nice outing for Spirit and Dolan. Regardless of the sociological disagreement (though, let’s be real, one of them is right, the other is not), their character arc is nice. It’s been a while since they’ve had a mutually beneficial outing.

Oh, last thing… Dolan’s first remark to Spirit is the eternal Superman question: Are the glasses enough? Spirit’s leaning into the visual similarities between Clark Kent and Spirit in disguise, which is a fun surprise.

After the strip’s big creative adventures last week, Marta is a seemingly more conventional Spirit versus criminal-of-the-week strip. The slight deviations from the norm, such as the Spirit doing Sherlock Holmes-style deduction, actually make the strip feel traditional in its self-contained scope.

The action opens with Marta at the museum, leaving for the night. She’s been practicing her own painting by copying a master (a Renaissance Primitive, which either refers to a primitivist Renaissance painting, meaning it invokes the experience of a “primitive” setting, or it’s a reference to Flemish Primitives, and that usage refers to its artist being a creator of a new painting style.

The content of the painting isn’t important, though Eisner enjoys the phrase “Renaissance Primitive” itself, using it whenever the opportunity presents (just never with a definition). Perhaps as potentially disinterested as the strip’s reader in art history lessons, so too is Ebony the next day when he and Spirit visit the museum. Spirit has to save Ebony from having his head stuck between a marble statue lady’s arm and breasts; it’s (somewhat) discreetly done, but they do strongly imply Ebony’s intent. Not a bored, leaning mistake, either… instead, it gives “don’t grope the statues, young man” energy.

Anyway.

Spirit immediately realizes the painting has been stolen and replaced with a fake. Since it might be the museum curator doing a con, Spirit’s going to steal the fake and get to the bottom of it. Marta’s first half is a series of carefully executed, very quick, practically methodical, multi-step actions. Spirit sends Ebony for another painting to replace it, while doing a quick costume change and a smoke-bomb distraction. He’s also going to have a backup plan in case he gets stopped.

But it’s not just Spirit with the planning. After Spirit checks in with Dolan (who’s competitive but not negligently so this time around), the strip shifts over to the villain. The reader learns why the painting was stolen and that the thief has a detailed, intricate plan—involving the Spirit—to get revenge on another suspect. It’s not just deliberate in the exposition or plotting, either. There are visual cues. It’s delicate, fine work.

Spirit does unravel it rather brusquely on the last page, but the strip’s out of pages, and there’s quite a bit more to do after the solution.

Along the way, there’s a just okay action sequence. The art isn’t Eisner and studio flexing this week. There’s a lot to fit in, and they concentrate on getting the information into the panel–in addition to the visuals, there’s also a lot of dialogue since there’s a ground situation of vengeance to lay out, and the one fisticuffs bit is inert. Then the second-to-last page, which has visual clues for the reader for the reveals along with lots of exposition, feels like a different artist in the studio took over. At least on the layouts.

But the last page wraps it all together nicely, and Marta connects for the finish.

And, of course, it’s nice to see Spirit and Commissioner Dolan getting along so well.

Dull Week is Spirit’s biggest formal swing to date. Ebony, Spirit, and Ellen are all (individually) on the prowl for adventure, and their stories all get tied together, plotting-wise, but also in rhyming, whimsical narration. It’s constantly delightful and Eisner and studio do well in how they dole out the narration (alongside the stylized rhymes, there’s the normal strip narration). They get the reader hooked on the rhymes, then only use them for great effect in the second half.

The strip opens with Ebony complaining he and Spirit haven’t had any adventures since last Sunday (the most meta the strip’s gotten on the weekly nature of their experiences). Spirit directly references last week’s strip as an example of extreme adventure and tells Ebony to relax. That reference to last week’s adventure is also a first, outside two-parters—direct continuity, shared passage of time with the reader, rhymes; it’s not Dull.

So Ebony heads out looking for adventure right after observing the Spirit’s relaxation is leading to weight gain. Spirit looks in the mirror and decides he is getting pudgy, and so goes out to case citizens about their business on a lazy Sunday. Simultaneously, Ellen is arguing with her father about her failing private detective business (she only had that first case, none since), and she goes too out looking for adventure.

Our heroes will find intrigue, romance, and quite a bit of action in their pursuit.

Ebony kicks it off, checking out a shady joint and spotting a trench coat with a Roscoe in the pocket. Ebony empties the bullets of their powder before the gun’s owner catches him, and then gets the bar owner to hold Ebony hostage until the job is done. What job? Be patient.

Spirit—in light disguise (he looks like Clark Kent multiple times)—decides to follow the first person who passes him on the street. It just happens to be the trench coat owner, who quickly spots the tail and starts blasting. But not with the Roscoe. The Roscoe is Chekhov’s gun in Dull; it’s wild how well they tie it all together, looping in and out to maximize the payoff.

(I’m referring to it as a Roscoe for simplicity’s sake; the strip itself isn’t concerned with make or, more importantly, chain of custody.)

The bad guy takes off, and Spirit gives chase, but not fast enough to save Ellen. See, she’d also decided to tail the first person who walked past her, and it also happened to be bad guy in trench coat. Unfortunately, he’s thrilled to bump into her because he’s always wanted to take a lady detective hostage.

The finale has the heroes tying everything together, including introducing an eligible bachelor to create a love triangle for Spirit and Ellen. The finale’s almost entirely done for laughs (versus thrills), and it’s quite good. The resulting bickering between Spirit and Ellen, however, is just for laughs and is better. The strip—even if one ignored the rhyming narration pieces—has a bit further narrative distance from the cast than usual. It’s also more inclined towards summary panels, which, it turns out (unsurprisingly) Eisner and studio successfully execute with seeming ease.

It’s a beautifully illustrated strip, too, with small panels and extreme long shots to pack in the material. It must’ve looked fantastic full-size.

Dull Week is nothing but.