a Sort of a Tribute...
This year marks Will Eisner's 60th year as a Cartoonist... and not just Any Cartoonist, but one of the Greatest Cartoonists of all time!! (and for Mr. Eisner, that's almost an understatement). Mr. Eisner is perhaps more renowned for what he didn't do than what he did... I mean, he could've spent his career cranking out stories about some costumed clown in Spandex who roamed the city streets by night an’ punched bad guys in the head and like all that... Though if he had, I'm certain he would've done a damn fine job of it...
Instead, Will Eisner created the Spirit... a costumed good guy who roams the streets by night an’ punches bad guys in the head... Hmmmm... Let me rephrase that... Well, at least the Spirit wears a trench coat an’ looks more like a Hard Boiled Detective... But there's much more to it than that… Mr. Eisner used the Spirit to explore new and different ways to tell a comic story... a story set to the tick of a clock... stories from different characters’ viewpoints... (the sidekick, the girlfriend, the villain)… a story where the hero doesn't even show up till the last page... and all through it a great sense of fun and visual excitement, as each story wasn't just about the hero trying to figure out who to punch, but also was a whole new experience in storytelling... Mr. Eisner was so good that most other cartoonists didn't even try to copy him..! And though Mr. Eisner hasn't drawn a Spirit story since, I guess sometime in the ‘50s (or maybe he drew one or two in the ‘60s?), the Spirit is probably what he'll be remembered for...
But the Spirit isn't why Will Eisner is a Great Cartoonist... For not only is he one of the people who helped to define the industry, but he spent years expanding and pushing the boundaries beyond Cartooning in conventional forms... as a learning aid for military publications, to years spent teaching the medium, to pioneering the Graphic Novel - telling stories about realistic people in realistic situations... Mr. Eisner is so good that he could tell a story about a mailbox... not a mailbox that transforms into a giant robot, or a mailbox that is the secret hideout of the world's smallest gang, or a mailbox that is the undercover rendezvous for a secret agent... no, just a plain ol' mailbox that just sits there... Yes, Mr. Eisner is so good that he could tell a story about that plain ol' just sittin' there type a’ mailbox, and make it fascinating..!! And he did, too..!! And along the way, Mr. Eisner also found time to write two books on "Sequential Art" which are Must-Reads for anyone even thinking about becoming a Cartoonist...
...Still, what we're gonna remember him for is probably the Spirit... and so when I put together my tribute to Mr. Eisner's 60th year in Comics, I did a... what else..?? a pastiche of the Spirit… (So did'ja expect me to dress up Cutey Bunny as a mailbox..??)
And if you attend the San Diego Comic Con this year, you might find my li'l tribute to Mr. Eisner in their program booklet... (or you might not... they never actually tell us beforehand whether they're going to use the pix or not)… So in any case, I thought I'd reproduce the pix here in full color and with a photo-background... So let's all doff our hats to Mr. Eisner, a truly Great Cartoonist... and a really nice guy, too..!!
