As always, when i re-read it, i was misty-eyed by the end.
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Eisner always said that his own favourite of all the Spirit stories was the tale of Gerhard Schnobble, the man who could fly.
Schnobble, a little nebbishy non-entity, loses his job ... and then remembers the fact (repressed since childhood) - that He. Can. Fly.
He goes to the top of the tallest building in town, leaps off, expecting everyone to notice and be amazed...
But nobody is. Because the Spirit is fighting a bunch of crooks who had attempted an escape by helicopter, and they are fighting on the building's ledges.
Schnobble, wondering why nobody is exclaiming and pointing at him as he soars, flies directly into the line of fire as one of the crooks shoots at the Spirit.
At one time i agreed with Eisner....and so Gerhard Schnobble fluttered earthward. But do not weep for Gerhard Schnobble - rather shed a tear for all mankind.
Because, of all the multitude gathered there, not one ever knew that, on that day, Gerhard Schnobble had flown.
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Then Alan Moore hit us right between the eyes with "Last Night I Dreamed of Dr Cobra."
Of all "Spirit" stories - the ones that Eisner (or Jules Feiffer, or other ghosts) wrote.
Of all the ones Eisner (or Wood, or Cole, or Fine) drew.
Of all the others that anyone wrote or drew.
"Last Night I Dreamed of Dr Cobra" is the best.
Period.
