Unfortunately, although comic books rarely get the acknowledgement deserved for creating a certain visual aesthetic, in what I see as dichotomy on the influence of noir, much like Caravaggio, early comic books with their dramatic strengths appear to have influenced the noir formula. The medium itself is not often attributed with such - but I, personally have always believed the comic book to be template and an essential part of the medium's rubric.
In 1931, the square-jawed hawkshaw Dick Tracy would grace himself inside of the Chicago Tribune proving that comic books surely had a sacrosanct relationship with the crime-fiction genre, which was actually a proper decade before the medium of film noir would officially commence. Inspired from Chester Gould's iconic character, the public were simply going ga-ga for G-men and gangsters - which was certainly the new black of its day. And it would not be long before Citizen Kane, ahem, William Randolph Hearst would want to break himself off a piece of that.
And indeed that wish would come to fruition. The King of the King Features Syndicate implored his staff to embark upon a crime themed comic strip - and just who did Monsieur Hearst appoint, but none other than Dashiell Hammett himself to pen the strip. There wasn't a scribe alive who would deny Hearst - and so it was written. In 1934, Mr Hammett began toiling away on Secret Agent X-9. Dashiell would earn an astronomical five-hundred dollars weekly just for this - and believe you me, in 1934 that was one coveted sum. Consequently, the partnership would only last for two years before Hammett would become thoroughly disenchanted by the project , albeit Hammett still had creative input on Red Barry.
During the 1940s and 50s and irrespective of the scrutiny of the Orwellian censors at the time; those certain powers that should have never be - would ultimately lead into those famed Senate hearings concerning comics' violence in the 1950s, crime related comic books were quite a popular phenomenon. The art in question was relatively tame by today's standards, the noir motif was evident, but the tone would be a far cry softer than the more prurient and gratuitous noir inspired comics in the 1980s and in the present day.
At best, comic noir is a sub-genre, though often the narrative and visual innovation is impressive. With the lax censorship of this day, much blacker territory is explored and exploited than the contemporaneous works of the 1940s and 50s. Will Eisner has been referred to as the Citizen Kane of the comic book world. His inventive and pioneering strip that featured an erstwhile cop who matriculates to masked crime fighter would make its presence known in 1940.1940 the same year that film noir made its red carpet premiere (Stranger on The Third Floor).
While noir didn't exactly serve in the genesis of Will Eisner's signature effort, Eisner was indubitably drawing from the same precise influence. Eisner's technique paralleled the thematic of German expressionist films. After World War II, film noir's contribution to The Spirit would become that much more transparent. Eisner would deliberately darken his backgrounds, hence his layouts appearing as if they were cinema themselves. There would be a heightened precariousness, a feeling of danger, and a world of the unknown. And more pointed yet, would be the introduction of a flock of femme fatales to vex the protagonist, all respectively duplicitous and impervious heartbreakers. This would be most noticeable in P'Gell, who was the very spit of actress Jane Russell, who herself had an affinity for losing husbands in the most violent ways possible. The Spirit would achieve a level of greatness for which both creator Eisner and the comic itself have become legendary.
