The first story for The Spirit was published on June 2nd, 1940. It was entitled "The Origin of The Spirit" and was 7 pages long. The story was one of three complete comic stories in the Weekly Comic Book section of the American Sunday newspaper.
The story was fairly basic, with the intent of introducing the character of The Spirit and how he came to be. Basically, criminologist and private detective Denny Colt takes on the task of catching the evil Dr. Cobra, who is making some sort of chemical that renders people in a state of suspended animation and appear to be dead. Upon finding Dr. Cobra, Denny Colt gets into a brawl with his henchman and falls in a puddle of the liquid chemical and is buried alive when he appears to be dead. He awakens and digs himself out of his grave and takes on the identity of The Spirit, only revealing his true self to Commissioner Dolan and seeking to capture Dr. Cobra and bring him to justice to collect the reward money. That way, he can make a living underground capturing villains and continue to keep his identity a secret and fight crime as The Spirit.
Some interesting things to note in this first story are:
1. The Spirit does not wear a mask and does his best to stay in the shadows to conceal his true identity.
2. Ebony White appears as a taxi driver for the first time in one panel of the comic. He says one thing - "Y-Y-Yas Suh!" - and appears with brown skin, big white eyes, and big red lips. This begins years and years of accusations that Will Eisner is prejudice and the character is a racist stereotype.
3. The Spirit hands out little tombstones with messages on them as his calling card.
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