Since comic books have gone way past respectable now to be one of pop culture's chief influences, the death of their pop this week was a sock to the jaw.

Not exactly unexpected, but to say the utter bare least, eminently notable. Will Eisner, creator of "The Spirit" in 1940, co-creator of Blackhawk and Sheena in the '30s, and much more, died Monday at age 87.

A few years ago, I had a chance to interview the still-prolific man about his latest book. And I declined. I wasn't crazy about that one and didn't want to be a phony. Saved his number. I'd give him his due another time. What a damned fool I was.

Others did in time. In fact, Eisner enjoyed recognition that many giants of the art form never lived to see. For starters, Wizard magazine named him "the most influential comics artist of all time." The comics industry named its annual Eisner Awards after him. And any film director worth a plug nickel will cop to the influence of Eisner's storytelling technique — which you could call "cinematic," but that would be putting the cart before the horse.

WILL EISNER "The Spirit," a fedora-sporting criminologist also known as Denny Colt, was Eisner's signature creation.

Though 1978's "A Contract with God" helped the "graphic novel" go legit in the mainstream, The Spirit was Eisner's signature creation and my favorite. He's criminologist Denny Colt, believed dead but fighting crime in a fedora, eye-mask and gloves — with no super powers. "The Spirit Archives" (DC Comics, $49.95) are gorgeous hardcover collections of the work in chronological order. There are 15 volumes in print, and a total of 24 projected. His technique evolves as the numbers climb, but any volume is a treasure.

And talk about a guy's work living on: In May, look for "The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion" (W.W. Norton & Co., $23.95), an anti anti-Semitic history book with an introduction by Umberto Eco. In November, W.W. Norton & Co. will begin republishing Eisner's back library of graphic novels including "Contract."

Also: "DC: The New Frontier Volume One" ($19.95): Writer/artist Darwyn Cooke smartly reimagines the dawn of the "silver age" of heroes in the late '50s — after a McCarthyesque purge has driven most of the "golden age" heroes into retirement (or in the case of Superman and Wonder Woman, covert government work). Heavy on character, and with slightly cartoony art that evokes the period. Volume Two is even better, and due in May.

Mark Rahner: 206-464-8259 or mrahner@seattletimes.com