Welcome back to Tug & Tram Blogging. Today's post will be a bit more serious than others, out of respect for the man whose life we will be discussing.
Today, as voted by my followers on Twitter (I will discuss this later), I will be discussing Will Eisner's Legacy. Some of you may know who he was, others may be scratching your heads. Whatever the case, I hope that you will learn something new.
The Beginning
According to WillEisner.com, Will Eisner was born on March 6, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. Eisner's parents were Jewish Immigrants, making Eisner a first generation American. Growing up, Eisner read the "Funnies" or Comic Strips, in Newspapers, which would shape his career. In High School, Eisner worked for the Dewitt Clinton High School newspaper as an artist.
Will Eisner's destiny was set. This almost didn't happen. Mrs. Eisner was worried about her son going into art, WillEisner.com describes her as "a pragmatic, down-to-earth-woman." Mr. Eisner, who valued art, must've persuaded her otherwise. Nevertheless, Eisner got traits from both his parents: His Mother's business mindset, and his Father's love of Art.
In 1936, Eisner began working with comic books, and this' where his career took off. However, Eisner didn't start off here. Let's go back a little bit, and explore a bit more why Will Eisner grew to love comics.
Growing up, Eisner got a job selling newspapers on Wall Street, to add an extra income for his family. When not selling, Eisner read the Funnies within the newspapers. Will Eisner was inspired by Popeye creator E. C. Segar's strip Thimble Theatre, George Herriman and Lyman Young's Tim Tyler's Luck strip. Other strips Will Eisner enjoyed were Orphan Annie by Harold Gray and The Gumps by Sidney Smith.
Eisner decided early on this was what he wanted to do. He later applied to prestigious "periodicals such as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's." Unfortunately, he was turned down.
Will Eisner stated that his biggest inspiration as a kid was Horatio Alger. Eisner wrote that Alger's message that you could overcome your circumstance and be successful spoke to him as a kid growing up in a Ghetto.
Closer to what he would later work on, Will Eisner was also interested in Pulp fiction, with characters such as Black Arrow. (I unfortunately couldn't find much on Black Arrow, but he might be a DC villain now? There is at least a Green Arrow/Flash villain with the same name, whose appeared in the CW shows).
As stated earlier, Eisner flourished at his high school's newspaper. It was here that he created his first comic. Will Eisner and classmate Ken Ginniger created their own "snooty" journal, named The Lion and Unicorn. Art was provided by Marcel Proust and Albert Camus.Eisner late wrote that it included poetry that at the time would've then been considered erotic! For The Lion and Unicorn, Will Eisner worked on woodcuts to make photos.
Over the summer, Will Eisner attended the Art Student League, which helped him hone his artistic skills. While here he worked under artists George Bridgman and Robert Brachman, both famous in their own rights, as an anatomist and painter, respectfully.
Career Beginning
When Will Eisner was 19, he worked for The New York American in their advertising department, working the graveyard shift from "nine at night until five in the morning." Eisner didn't enjoy the job, so he quit to become a free lance artist, around 1935/36. After a few struggles, Eisner was hired to work for Eve magazine, targeted at young Jewish women. This didn't last long, however, as WillEisner.com puts it, he "was soon shown the door after inserting drawings of pugilists and other such inappropriately violent offerings among the otherwise dainty contents of an issue!"
Will Eisner always kept an optimistic look. He considered these misfires, such as at Eve magazine as learning lessons. When applying for a job at Wow! What a Magazine!, Will Eisner first met Samuel Maxwell "Jerry" Iger, who would later become his long time business partner. One the day they met, Iger was having trouble with an engraver, and didn't have time to look at Eisner's portfolio. However, when Eisner fixed the problem, Iger hired him on the spot!
Wow! magazine folded a few years later, but not before Eisner drew his first cover for the magazine. After Wow! closed, Iger and Eisner kept working together. Thus, Eisner-Iger Studios came into being. Eisner-Iger Studios produced comics like a factory. The model was thus: Eisner would produce the work, Iger would pitch it to clients. Iger, who was going through a divorce, was reluctant, but Eisner won him over.
Young artists, such as Bob Kane, co-creator of Batman, Loui Fine, Jack Kirby, co-creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and Mort Meskin, who all became famous comic creators, worked for Eisner-Iger Stuidos at one point as young upcoming artists. Others included Dick Briefer and Chuck Mazoujian, who would later work with Eisner at Quality Comics, and gained attention for work on Lady Luck, Bill Bossert and staff writer Toni Blum (who later married). Two more people of note are Bob Powell, who would go on to work on Mr. Mystic in The Spirit comic book, and George Tuska, who went on to work for Marvel.
Without Eisner and Iger, who knows if these creators would've broken into the industry. Without Eisner-Iger studios, we might not have HAD Spider-Man, at least how we know and love him.
Eisner began to create his first characters. He created Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, Yarko the Great, Dollman and Blackhawk.
The Wonder Man Debacle
Early on Eisner and Iger ran into trouble. Fox Comics (not associated with the Murdoch Family's large company), ran by Victor Fox, a former National Comics (later DC) accountant, approached them to create a character. Fox asked them to make a man with super powers, a red costume, have an insignia, etc. In short, Fox wanted them to create a Superman Clone/Knockoff, to cash in on Superman's popularity, which started in 1938.
Eisner agreed, though he didn't name the character. Fox called him Wonder Man, released the first book, then got sued by National Comics. Fox tried to convince Eisner to lie on the stand, but Eisner refused, even when Fox threatened not to pay him the $3,000 he owed him and Iger. Eisner wasn't throwing away small pennies here, this was "more [money] than he had ever seen in his life." Eisner told the truth, that he only worked to Fox's specifications, and Fox lost the court case.
Wonder Man died, but would later be brought back to life by Marvel. Enraged, Fox indeed didn't pay Eisner and Iger, who thought their young company was doomed!
Fortunately, Fiction House, a pulp publisher who wanted to break into the industry, consulted with Eisner-Iger Studios, thus Sheena was born. Sheena first appeared in Jungle Comics, which lasted until 1953. Eisner also made Hawks of the Seas, The Diary of Dr. Haywood, Uncle Otto, and Sports Shorts for Fiction House.
In 1939, at age 22, Eisner was approached by Quality Comics. The name is irrelevant today, as Quality Comics would eventually go bankrupt during the Silver Age of comics, where regulation and decreasing sales killed all but a few comic companies. (Of the older companies, two of the only survivors from the Golden Age would be DC and Atlas Comics, which was renamed Marvel). But in it's heyday in the 1930's, Quality Comics was the Marvel or DC of its time, a big shot, important company.
So when Eisner was approached by Everett M. Arnold to work on a 16 page weekly comic book, Eisner jumped at the chance. There was only one catch: Eisner had to go full time, and quit Eisner-Iger studios. Iger tried to convince him to stay, but Eisner had made up his mind. Eisner and Iger had set up an agreement that if one of them ever wanted to leave, the other would buy the 1/2 of the corporation, so the other didn't have to put up with someone they couldn't stand. Iger bought out Eisner for $20,000.
Eisner, however, was more interested in getting to work. There were complications, Eisner couldn't try to poach talent from Iger, if anyone wanted to follow Eisner, they had to do it of their own will, Mazoujian, Powell, Fine and Klaus Nordling volunteered to go work with Eisner as Quality Comics.
While Mazoujian, Powell, Fine and Klaus Nordling worked on Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic, Eisner worked single handedly on what would become one of his most famous creations: The Spirit.
The Spirit
Eisner set an important trend in comics: he demanded to own his own creations. Eisner, in comics for the long haul, said "I felt I had a right to own everything I created. It was my future, my product and my property, and by God, I was going to fight for it."
Arnold and Eisner came to an agreement: Arnold copyrighted the name, but in the contract ownership was listed to Eisner. If the partnership was terminated, all rights to The Spirit would revert to him. This was very rare at the time, and often lead to creators such as Siegel and Shuster being ripped off and exploited with their creation of Superman making millions, though they hardly received anything. This model is used today by Image Comics.
The Spirit, who first came out in 1940, was originally going to be a traditional detective. However, Arnold was underwhelmed when he heard Eisner's pitch. He wanted The Spirit to have a costume, so Eisner reluctantly gave him a domino mask, which would become a staple of superhero costumes. The Domino mask is still used by superheroes today, such as in Disney-Pixar's The Incredibles. Eisner also gave The Spirit gloves, and that was a far as he was willing to go with the costume, explaining that a costume would've limited the stories he could've told. The Spirit would become, and still is, one of the most famous superheroes, up there with Captain America, Batman, Superman, The Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man, albeit a little less known, because he doesn't often have new material written about him
(Spoilers for a 40+ year old comic series)
The Spirit series sees our main character The Spirit (AKA Danny Colt) fighting crime in Central City (not the Central City of DC's The Flash mind you). In The Spirit's first origin, he was the son of a Detective who was murdered, and he followed in his father's footsteps, raised by Commissioner Dolan. When Danny Colt was assumed dead after going after a group of criminals, Danny donned the name The Spirit, and wore a mask. He captured his would be killers, but stayed "dead" (sort of like The Lone Ranger) so he wouldn't be held back by the red tape of police work.
The Spirit lives in a graveyard, and often walks around in broad daylight with his mask on, so he doesn't really have a secret identity. This' unique among superheroes. He's assisted by Commisioner Dolan, Ebony White (his African-American... ward? Assistant? His role isn't really stated) and occasionally dates Dolan's daughter Ellen.
Eisner worked on The Spirit until 1942, when he was drafted into the US Army. Under the Army, Eisner created posters, illustrations and even strips to entertain the troops. Once WWII ended, Eisner returned to The Spirit, whose run had begun to slack under others. Eisner changed this in 1945 when he redid The Spirit's origin, which got the comic back on track. Unfortunately, the world of comics was changing.
The infamous book, Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham, nearly killed the comic books industry, accusing comics of endorsing homosexuality and being too violent for children, along with leading to illiteracy. Seduction of the Innocent led to the disastrous Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring Comics organization that limited what creators could do. The Spirit ended in 1952, abandoned for more successful projects. The Spirit was reprinted in the 60's when superheroes were having a revival, however, Will Eisner didn't do a lot with this. He did create, at the pleading of fans, some new stories, but wasn't really interested in going back to projects from his younger days.
Eisner kept creating new characters and comics, such as Kewpies, Baseball Comics, Pirate Comics and John Law, who looks like The Spirit, but with a pipe and eye patch.
Rise of the Graphic Novel
Eisner second biggest project (arguably as famous as The Spirit) would lead to the rise of the term "Graphic Novel." This would become A Contract with God. Eisner is credited with coining the word Graphic Novel, which he explains in the prelude to The Contract with God Trilogy, was done only to get big publishers interested in it!
A Contract with God deals with Frimme Hersch,a Jewish immigrant who wrote down a contract with God, dealing with the loss of his adopted daughter. Like all writers, Eisner pulled from real life, unfortunately for him in this case. A Contract with God was Eisner dealing with the loss of his only daughter, Alice to leukemia. She was only 16 years old. Eisner said that "[Frimme's] anguish was mine." Ann's name is used for the daughter who dies, though Eisner couldn't bare to have it be Frimme's own daughter, so had her be adopted.
The Contract with God Trilogy follows the lives of residents in a ghetto building, Dropsie Avenue No. 55, and starting in the Great Depression and moving forward towards the modern day. We see how different immigrant groups, such as Jews, Italians, Germans, etc., showing how the community changes, dies, is revived, but eventually racism and bigotry rise up again, as established people, who were immigrants, say that new immigrants are stealing their jobs. It is beautiful, but tragic.
Eisner wrote and drew the stories himself, using a simple color pallet of Black and White. A Contract with God" was first published in 1978. Eisner showed that comics were more varied than funnies and superheroes (with no offense to those genres of course, there was and still is some stereotypes around comics that they're for kids). The Contract with God Trilogy deals with very adult themes, such as Sexual Assault, Abuse of Power, Exploitation of Immigrants, PTSD, and should be read with this in mind, for those who're triggered by certain themes.
I personally like the last part of the trilogy the most. It’s slightly more upbeat and optimistic than the other sections, yet still realistic. Say, someone should snap to that. Upbeat and Optimistic, but still Realistic, Upbeat and Optimistic, but still Realistic, Upbeat and Optimistic, but still Realistic…
All right that’s enough of that. I swear I have a 30-second attention span sometimes.
Anyways, Eisner wrote other Graphic Novels, such as The Dreamer, To the Heart of the Storm, The Building, Invisible People, and Life on Another Planet. If you want to learn more about these (because if I explain all of them we'll be here all day!) then you can click on the names, which will take you to the WillEisner.com website pages for them. In total, Will Eisner wrote 15 Graphic Novels.
He also wrote several texbooks, such as Comics and Sequential Art, Graphic Storytelling and Expressive Anatomy.
Final Days & Lasting Legacy
Will Eisner, starting in the 80's and up until his death, traveled to give lectures, attend conventions, and advocate for the value and potential of comics as an Art form. Eisner spoke to aspiring cartoonists and encouraged them "to persist, to develop their own styles and experiment with the different aspects of graphic storytelling."
In 1988, The Eisner Awards were named in his honor, and are presented each year at the San Diego Comic-Con. They're basically The Oscars of the comics, and couldn't have been named after a more fitting person.
Unfortunately, no one lives for other. Will Eisner passed away in 2005. But he will not be forgotten. Anyone who aspires to work in comics knows or will know Will Eisner's name. Characters such as The Spirit continue to be licences out to creators to keep his legacy alive. His work is protected by the Eisner Estate, who maintain WillEisner.com, where I found almost all of my information.
If you want to read more about Will Eisner, please refer to this link: www.willeisner.com/biography/8-further-reading.html
There is also a Documentary Series, "Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist," which I recommend you check out. I haven't seen it yet, but I hope to in the future.
So, there you have it. Without Will Eisner, comics would've been worse off. We might not have had Batman, Spider-Man, The Fantastic 4, countless characters. Will Eisner is undeniably one of the most important people to have ever lived and worked in comics. And he will continue to inspire new generations of cartoonists and writers of comics. Thank you, Mr. Eisner.
All right, if you read all of this, congratulations! I think this might be my longest blog post yet. But before you go, here's everyone's* (mine) new recurring sgement, FUN FACTS!! (And one Sad Fact)
Fun Facts:
Will Eisner has been described as the "Orson Welles of Comics," likely because he drew and wrote several comics himself, making him an auteur.
Will Eisner's Mom was convieced in Ramona, and was born on the boat bringing her to America. His Dad was from Vienna.
Will Eisner went to the same school as Bob Kane, the Co-creator of Batman.
Will Eisner turned down what WillEisner.com describes as a "crude submission" by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The submission? Superman! That's right, Will Eisner turned down Superman, which I wonder if he later regreted. If he had accepted it, the history of comics would've been VERY different.
Loui Fine and Will Eisner's art styles are very similar.
Will Eisner stated that he made Sheena the female counterpart to Tarzan.
Will Eisner wrote with several pseudonymous, such as Mr. Heck, (and my personal favorite) Will B. Rensie, which's Eisner written backwards!
Will Eisner, despite creating Lady Luck, left the work to Mazoujian, Powell, Fine and Klaus Nordling, along with Mr. Mystic. However, Eisner would supervise the stories.
While creating The Spirit, Will Eisner realized he was creating the rule book for future creators, and worked hard to make The Spirit as original as possible.
John Law was never used, but in 2004 Australian writer/artist Gary Chaloner was given permission to use the character, under Eisner's guidance. This would be one of the last projects Eisner would work on before his death in 2005. Chaloner's John Law run included Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic. Chaloner has also worked on a The Spirit run and even the Phantom, his comics are Australian themed.
While working on The Spirit, Eisner created American Visuals Corporation, and would bring back his bumbling soldier character Joe Dope.
In "The Contract with God Trilogy," Eisner has a stand in for himself, named Willie. Eisner said that some of the stories were semi-autobiographical, though it's unclear to me what is fiction and real. Eisner did grow up in the Bronx in a Ghetto, so it's likely many of the details in the stories are based on facts.
Will Eisner Week is celebrated from March 1-7.
Will Eisner's signature is in a similar style to the traditional Walt Disney style. At least to me anyways.
Sad Fact:
Frank Miller made a disasterous The Spirit movie after Will Eisner died, which was supposed to be a tribute, but he got the character wrong. Don't believe me, read some of the comics, then watch this. It currently sits at 14% on Rotten Tomatoes and 30% on MetaCritic.
BUT, this' the only bad adaptation of a Will Eisner character that I've seen, Dark Horse Comics did a run with The Spirit in the 90's under Eisner's supervision. Hopefully, given we're in the Golden Age of Superhero Movies, we'll get a Spirit movie that stays true to the character.
Thanks for reading everyone. This blog post was chosen in a poll by my Followers on Twitter. So if you'd like to vote for what I write on next, see what I'm working on, maybe ask some questions, propose a blog topic, or send me memes, you can follow me on Twitter @ConductorPat, or my Facebook Page, Patrick Webb's Tug & Tram Blogging, @TugTramWay.
Feel free to follow, or don't, it's up to you. You can also follow me here on Blogger for email updates when I post next. Remember, keep writing and I'll see you on the Tramway!
"Biography." WillEisner.com. www.willeisner.com/biography/index.html
"Gary Chaloner." GaryChaloner.com. http://garychaloner.com/
"John Law." WillEisner.com. www.willeisner.com/johnlaw/index.html
"The Contract with God Trilogy." Will Eisner. W. W. Norton & Company, 2006 Edition.
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