The Spirit #17

The Spirit pursues the fugitive Big Jake Gooley beyond Central City's limits into Diamond Swamp, where he discovers a sinister homestead run by the Gooley clan—a family of hermits who lure treasure hunters with rumors of diamonds, only to trap and exploit them for supplies. Held captive at Gooley Manor alongside Ebony, the Spirit must navigate the deadly schemes of Uncle Boss and his nephews while searching for an escape from their isolated compound.

Flatfoot Burns thinks he's stumbled onto the coordinates to buried treasure, and he's determined to retrieve it—even if the tide and the laws of nature itself stand in his way. Armed with increasingly dubious astronomical reasoning, the detective launches an absurd scheme to control the very heavens, with results that prove both hilarious and humbling. This 1949 tale from *The Spirit* is a rollicking reminder that sometimes the cleverest detective isn't quite as clever as he believes.

Flatfoot thinks he's finally cornered his quarry in Steeple Jack, a crook so determined to break his flagpole-sitting record that he won't come down—but scaling a 381-day perch proves trickier than expected. What unfolds is a hilarious battle of wits between the detective and his stubborn target, with increasingly absurd attempts to reach the top and a cast of well-meaning allies offering creative (if chaotic) solutions. It's a comedic mystery that proves sometimes the simplest answer is the last one you'd think of.