The Spirit was a classic Sunday newspaper detective strip, originated by Will Eisner and delivered by him and his team from 1940 for the next 12 years. Eisner and crew delivered fast and witty crime-fighting action for a family audience, drawing on the vocabulary of cinema while also accomplishing artistic feats that could only be achieved in the context of comics. The stories were short, and often featured mysterious noirish women who would embroil the strip’s protagonist Denny Colt in adventures taking in fisticuffs, fast talking and foreign locations.

From time to time there have been attempts to revive The Spirit under creative teams who have shone elsewhere but typically fail to get under the skin of this very particular piece of comic history. Most recently, and most successfully, that revival has been undertaken by Darwyn Cooke, an animator who’s also made a name for himself in the comics world in recent years.

Cooke is the ideal person to bring The Spirit back, his work emerging from a timeless Americana with elements of deco and diners. And dames. Darwyn loves the dames, and renders them beautifully with the assistance of J. Bone on inks and Dave Stewart’s wonderful colours.

Despite the retro elements, Darwyn Cooke’s interpretation has one foot in the modern world. The first story in the hardback collecting the first seven issues has Denny rescuing reporter Ginger Coffee from the attentions of a mob boss, only for her to turn the tables and declare that it’s she who rescued him, the story of their escape broadcast live using her mobile phone. It’s a neat repositioning of the hero and his world, while still in keeping with old school versions of the story. Plus, it rehabilitates the black character Ebony White, here Denny’s proactive cab driver, formerly a two-dimensional caricature the subject of much debate among Spirit fans and detractors.

The first six stories reprinted are inventive examples of how a concept can be reinvented while remaining true to its roots. The stories are by no means radical, but are executed with utter panache: the visual detail and frame by frame storytelling is often superb. This is pulp fiction of the highest order, and I’ll be picking up the remaining stories when they’re collected on that basis.

What doesn’t work for me is the final tale, a limp Batman crossover that exists merely to showcase the supporting casts of both characters. The effect is like following round a group of tourists in an art gallery. Mona Lisa, check. That Picasso one, check. A random Dali, check. All lined up and consumed within seconds, no time for engagement or contemplation because there’ll be another one along any minute. The story in question is written by Jeph Loeb, and not Darwyn Cooke, whose art remains strong even as the story continues to grind on.

Make no mistake, if you’re looking for edgy contemporary crime fiction, you’ve come to the wrong place. But if you’re at all interested in how one of today’s leading comic creators can reinvigorate a seventy year old title and do so with effortless pizzazz, then Darwyn Cooke’s take on The Spirit is for you.