These two volumes collect Eisner's landmark comic book The Spirit from 1950, its last great year (in mid-1951, Eisner turned writing and drawing over to assistants). Eisner is at the top of his game, switching effortlessly from noir melodrama to lighthearted humor, often in the course of a single story. With nary a dud to its tally, the year saw a disproportionate number of what came to be seen as peak moments. Volume 20 includes the saga of Sand Saref, the Spirit's childhood sweetheart, who turned to a life of international crime, as well as a serial taking the masked crime fighter to the Middle East in search of a jewel of immortality. In volume 21, the Spirit and a handcuffed prisoner make a harrowing trek across a sweltering desert, femme fatale P'Gell takes a post as a college French instructor, and an onomatopoeia-laden tale about a paranoid cartoonist shows Eisner's mastery of his medium. Flagg, Gordon