Random Character Info Dump
Eisner Spirit vs. Cooke Spirit re: prior education & career
Will Eisner was the artist/writer who created the Spirit, and although other creative teams handled the character, it was Eisner who did the most to establish the Spirit as a stylistic icon within the business. After Eisner's death, Darwyn Cooke undertook the task of revamping and integrating the character into the DC Comic's library. Cooke retained most if not all of the Spirit's characteristics, but in updating him for the 21st Century a few changes were made--most, I think, for the better. I play the Cooke version of the Spirit, which, so far as I can tell, is more or less a distinct canon from the Eisner stories of the last few decades.
So--all that establishing info for one measly factoid: the tidbit of information I just uncovered is that Eisner's Spirit was a police criminologist before his "death." Cooke's Spirit, by contrast, was never officially on the police force--he was a private investigator with a layman's interest in criminology, rather than an educated expert in the field. My inference: probably a Crime, Law, & Justice major in college, backed up by personal experience and self-education.
Wardrobe Update
Suit: blue serge, size 46 extra long (jacket)
Gloves: Milanese leather (oooh, fancy)
Coat: variously described as either a trench coat (traditional) or a Mackintosh (Cooke version)
Backstory: Growing Up
No information on how, but both of Denny Colt's parents died, and afterward, he was raised by his Uncle Louis. It's never specified whether Lou was his father or mother's brother. Lou owned and operated a service station on the South side of Central City, and had previously been a boxer and street fighter. Denny helped out at the station, so it's a safe bet that he 1) knows a little about cars and keeping them running, and 2) picked up his fighting style from Louis.
Louis was killed while Denny was entering his teens--members of a street gang, overhearing Louis joking about "high rollers" coming to the garage for a poker game, showed up to rob them. In actuality, it was a nickel game attended by older men in the neighborhood, and after realizing their mistake, the gang members fatally shot Louis and fled.
With no remaining relatives, Denny was sent to a Home for Boys, as arranged by his father's former partner, Eustace Dolan. Spirit later reflects that it was a good one, "run by a priest who didn't mess with the kids." There, he refined both his interest in crime and justice by reading up on the subject in the library, and his pugilistic skills in fights with the other boys, often holding off multiple opponents at once. When he turned 18, Denny left the Home to meet up with Dolan, who helped him find an apartment and gave him a job helping out around the police station.
Some years later, again with Dolan's help, Denny established himself as a full-time private eye, the career that led to his eventual "death & rebirth" as the Spirit.
Fighting Style
There's a reason the Spirit never uses weapons--he doesn't need them.
Taking my cue from professional wrestling, I categorize Spirit as a "technical brawler"--someone who relies less on a refined martial arts technique and more on a down-and-dirty, ugly-but-effective approach to fisticuffs. (Coincidentally, that's how I tend to categorize Thor's hand-to-hand fighting style, too--although Thor is more one for technique than Spirit.) This is differentiated from a true brawler, who uses almost no established technique whatsoever. Given his Uncle Louis' previous career, and backed by most of his fights in canon, Spirit employs a boxing/streetfighting style--primarily powerful punches, but also occasionally using kicks and throwing elbows, forearms, and knees in close quarters, along with a not-according-to-Hoyle's approach to choke holds, joint locks, and wrestling throws & takedowns.
Long story short--he'll start off fighting like a boxer... but if he has to, he'll kick you in the nuts and step on your neck. Whatever else it takes.