View source for Will Eisner

{{Short description|American cartoonist (1917–2005)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox comics creator
|image         = Will Eisner (San Diego Comic Con, 2004).jpg
|imagesize     =
|caption       = Eisner in 2004
|image_alt     =
|birth_name    = William Erwin Eisner
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1917|03|06}}
|birth_place   = New York City, U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|2005|01|03|1917|03|06}}
|death_place   = [[Lauderdale Lakes, Florida]], U.S.
|cartoonist    = y
|publish       = y
|alias         = William Erwin Maxwell<ref>As co-creator of [[Doll Man]].</ref>
|notable works = {{plainlist|
* ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]''
* ''[[A Contract with God]]''
* ''[[Comics and Sequential Art]]''}}
| website      = [http://www.willeisner.com www.willeisner.com]
}}

'''William Erwin Eisner''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|aɪ|z|n|ər}} {{respell|EYEZ|nər}}; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American [[cartoonist]], writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the [[American comic book]] industry, and his series ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]'' (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "[[graphic novel]]" with the publication of his book ''[[A Contract with God]]''. He was an early contributor to formal [[comics studies]] with his book ''[[Comics and Sequential Art]]'' (1985). The [[Eisner Award]] was named in his honor and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame]].

==1917–1936: Early life==

===Family background===

Eisner's father, Shmuel "Samuel" Eisner, was born to [[Galician Jewish]] parents on March 6, 1886, in [[Kolomyia]], [[Austria-Hungary]] (present-day [[Ukraine]]), and was one of eleven children. He aspired to be an artist, and as a teenager painted murals for rich patrons and Catholic churches in [[Vienna]]. To avoid conscription in the army, he moved to New York before the outbreak of [[World War I]].{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=2}} There he found getting work difficult, as his English skills were poor.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|pp=2–3}} He made what living he could painting backdrops for [[vaudeville]] and the [[Jewish theater]].{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=3}}

Eisner's mother, Fannie Ingber, was born to [[Romanian Jewish]] parents on April 25, 1891, on a ship bound for the US. Her mother died on her tenth birthday and was quickly followed by her father. An older stepsister thereafter raised her and kept her so busy with chores that she had little time for socializing or schooling; she did what she could later in life to keep knowledge of her illiteracy from her children.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=3}}

Shmuel and Fannie, who were distant relatives, met through family members.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|pp=3–4}} They had three children: son Will Erwin, born on his father's birthday in 1917; son Julian, born February 3, 1921; and daughter Rhoda, born November 2, 1929.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=4}}

===Early life===

[[File:Wow, What a Magazine! No. 3.jpg|thumb|left|''Wow, What a Magazine!'' No. 3 (Sept. 1936): Cover art by a teenage Eisner.]]

Eisner was born in [[Brooklyn]]. He grew up poor, and the family moved frequently.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=4}} Young Eisner often got into physical confrontations when subjected to [[antisemitism]] from his schoolmates.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=6}} {{sfn|Schumacher|2010|pp=7–8}}

Young Eisner was tall and of sturdy build, but lacked athletic skills.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=10}} He was a voracious consumer of [[pulp magazines]] and film, including avant-garde films such as those by [[Man Ray]].{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|pp=8–9}} To his mother's disappointment, Eisner had his father's interest in art, and his father encouraged him by buying him art supplies.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=10}}

Eisner's mother frequently berated his father for not providing the family a better income, as he went from one job to another. Without success he also tried his hand at such ventures as a furniture retailer and a coat factory.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=5}} The family situation was especially dire following the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] that marked the beginning of the [[Great Depression]].{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=11}} In 1930, the situation was so desperate that Eisner's mother demanded that he, at thirteen, find some way to contribute to the family's income. He entered working life selling newspapers on street corners, a competitive job where the toughest boys fought for the best locations.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010|p=12}}

Eisner attended [[DeWitt Clinton High School]]. With influences that included the early 20th-century commercial artist [[J. C. Leyendecker]],<ref>{{cite news | title=Cons: New York 1974! | work=The Journal Summer Special | year=1974 | editor-first = Paul Kowtiuk | editor-last = Maple Leaf Publications | location = Essex, ON | author=Lovece, Frank | author-link= Frank Lovece}}</ref> he drew for the [[school newspaper]] (''The Clinton News''), the literary magazine (''The Magpie'') and the yearbook ''(The Clintonian)'' and did [[stage design]], leading him to consider doing that kind of work for theater. Upon graduation, he studied under Canadian artist [[George Brandt Bridgman]] for a year at the [[Art Students League of New York]]. Contacts made there led to a position as an advertising writer-[[cartoonist]] for the ''[[New York American]]'' newspaper. Eisner also drew $10-a-page illustrations for [[pulp magazines]], including ''Western Sheriffs and Outlaws''.

In 1936, high-school friend and fellow cartoonist [[Bob Kane]], of future [[Batman]] fame, suggested that the 19-year-old Eisner try selling cartoons to the new comic book ''Wow, What A Magazine!'' "Comic books" at the time were tabloid-sized collections of [[comic strip]] reprints in color. By 1935, they had begun to include occasional new comic strip-like material. ''Wow'' editor [[Jerry Iger]] bought an Eisner adventure strip called ''Captain Scott Dalton'', an [[H. Rider Haggard]]-styled hero who traveled the world after rare artifacts. Eisner subsequently wrote and drew the [[pirate]] strip "The Flame" and the [[secret agent]] strip "Harry Karry" for ''Wow'' as well.

Eisner said that on one occasion a man whom Eisner described as "a [[Mafia|mob]] type straight out of [[Damon Runyon]], complete with pinkie ring, broken nose, black shirt, and white tie, who claimed to have "exclusive distribution rights for all Brooklyn" asked Eisner to draw [[Tijuana bible]]s for $3 a page. Eisner said that he declined the offer; he described the decision as "one of the most difficult moral decisions of my life".<ref name="Spiegelman2">[[Art Spiegelman|Spiegelman, Art]]. [http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1997/08/19/spieg "Tijuana Bibles"], ''[[Salon.com]]'', August 19, 1997. [http://www.salon.com/aug97/spieg2970819.html p. 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629113419/http://www.salon.com/aug97/spieg2970819.html |date=June 29, 2011 }}. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629113547/http://www.salon.com/books/feature/1997/08/19/spieg WebCitation archive, main page] and
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110629113419/http://www.salon.com/aug97/spieg2970819.html p. 2]. Retrieved on February 24, 2009.</ref>

=== Inspirations ===
[[George Herriman]], [[Cliff Sterrett]], [[Al Capp]] and [[Max Fleischer]] were credited as Eisner's inspirations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Will Eisner |url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/e/eisner.htm |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=lambiek.net |language=en}}</ref>

== 1936–1941: Comics industry and ''The Spirit'' ==

===Eisner & Iger===
{{Main|Eisner & Iger}}

''Wow'' lasted four issues (cover-dated July–September and November 1936). After it ended, Eisner and Iger worked together producing and selling original comics material, anticipating that the well of available reprints would soon run dry, though their accounts of how their partnership was founded differ. One of the first such comic-book "packagers", their partnership was an immediate success, and the two soon had a stable of comics creators supplying work to [[Fox Comics]], [[Fiction House]], [[Quality Comics]] (for whom Eisner co-created such characters as [[Doll Man]] and [[Blackhawk (DC Comics)|Blackhawk]]), and others. Turning a profit of $1.50 a page, Eisner claimed that he "got very rich before I was 22,"<ref>Mercer, Marilyn, "The Only Real Middle-Class Crimefighter", ''New York'' (Sunday supplement, ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]''), January 9, 1966; reprinted ''Alter Ego'' No. 48, May 2005</ref> later detailing that in [[Great Depression|Depression-era]] 1939 alone, he and Iger "had split $25,000 between us",<ref>Heintjes, Tom, ''The Spirit: The Origin Years'' #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, September 1992)</ref> a considerable amount for the time.

Among the studio's products was a self-syndicated Sunday comic strip, ''Hawks of the Seas'', that initially reprinted Eisner's old strip ''Wow, What A Magazine!'' feature "The Flame" and then continued it with new material.<ref>[http://toonopedia.com/hawkseas.htm ''Hawks of the Sea''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20120717130134/http://toonopedia.com/hawkseas.htm Archived] from the original on March 15, 2012.</ref> Eisner's original work even crossed the Atlantic, with Eisner drawing the new cover of the October 16, 1937, issue of [[Boardman Books]]' comic-strip reprint tabloid ''Okay Comics Weekly.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Heritage Comics and Comic Art Signature Auction #828|last1=Dowell|first1=Gary|last2=Holman|first2=Greg|publisher=Heritage Capital Corporation|year=2008|isbn=978-1599672489|editor-last=Halperin|editor-first=James|pages=84}}</ref>

In 1939, Eisner was commissioned to create [[Wonder Man (Fox Publications)|Wonder Man]] for [[Fox Publications#Victor Fox|Victor Fox]], an accountant who had previously worked at [[DC Comics]] and was becoming a comic book publisher himself. Following Fox's instructions to create a [[Superman]]-type character, and using the pen name Willis, Eisner wrote and drew the first issue of ''Wonder Comics.'' Eisner said in interviews throughout his later life that he had protested the derivative nature of the character and story, and that when subpoenaed after [[National Periodical Publications]], the company that would evolve into DC Comics, sued Fox, alleging Wonder Man was an illegal copy of Superman, Eisner testified that this was so, undermining Fox's case;<ref name=spirited44-45>Andelman, Bob. ''Will Eisner: A Spirited Life'' (M Press: [[Milwaukie, Oregon]], 2005) {{ISBN|978-1-59582-011-2}}, pp. 44–45</ref> Eisner even depicts himself doing so in his semi-autobiographical graphic novel ''[[The Dreamer (graphic novel)|The Dreamer]]''.<ref>''[[The Dreamer (graphic novel)|The Dreamer: A Graphic Novella Set During the Dawn of Comic Books]]'' ([[DC Comics]] : New York City, 1986 edition) {{ISBN|978-1-56389-678-1}}. Reissued by [[W. W. Norton & Company]] : New York City, London, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-393-32808-0}}, p. 42</ref> However, a transcript of the proceeding, uncovered by comics historian Ken Quattro in 2010, indicates Eisner in fact supported Fox and claimed Wonder Man as an original Eisner creation.<ref>Quattro, Ken. [http://thecomicsdetective.blogspot.com/2010/07/dc-vs-victor-fox-testimony-of-will.html "DC vs. Victor Fox: The Testimony of Will Eisner"], ''The Comics Detective'', July 1, 2010.</ref>

===''The Spirit''===
{{Main|Spirit (comics character){{!}}The Spirit}}
[[File:TheSpirit21Cover.jpg|260px|thumb|Eisner's cover for ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]'' ([[Quality Comics]]) #21, June 1950.]]
In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979,<ref>"Art & Commerce: An Oral Reminiscence by Will Eisner." ''Panels'' #1 (Summer 1979), pp. 5–21, quoted in {{cite web|last=Quattro|first= Ken|url= http://www.comicartville.com/rareeisner.htm |title=Rare Eisner: Making of a Genius| publisher=Comicartville Library |year= 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20031218092230/http://www.comicartville.com/rareeisner.htm |archive-date=December 18, 2003|url-status=live}}</ref> Quality Comics publisher [[Everett M. "Busy" Arnold]] "came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom," In a 2004 interview,<ref name="ae48">Will Eisner interview, ''Alter Ego'' No. 48 (May 2005), p. 10</ref> he elaborated on that meeting:

{{blockquote|"Busy" invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin [sales manager of [[The Des Moines Register|The Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate]], who] said, "The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books, and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers." ... Martin asked if I could do it. ... It meant that I'd have to leave Eisner & Iger [which] was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal [which] was that we'd be partners in the 'Comic Book Section,' as they called it at that time. And also, I would produce two other magazines in partnership with Arnold.}}

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright ''The Spirit,'' but "[w]ritten down in the contract I had with 'Busy' Arnold&nbsp;&mdash;and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership&mdash;Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in any way, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to 'Busy' Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership".<ref name="ae48" /> This would include the eventual backup features "[[Mr. Mystic]]" and "[[Lady Luck (comics)|Lady Luck]]".

Selling his share of their firm to Iger, who would continue to package comics as the S.M. Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $20,000,<ref>[[Denis Kitchen|Kitchen, Denis]]. "Annotations to ''The Dreamer'', in Eisner, Will, ''The Dreamer'' ([[W.W. Norton & Company]], New York, 2008), p. 52. {{ISBN|978-0-393-32808-0}}</ref> Eisner left to create ''The Spirit.'' "They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes. Comic books were a ghetto. I sold my part of the enterprise to my associate and then began The Spirit. They wanted an heroic character, a costumed character. They asked me if he'd have a costume. And I put a mask on him and said, 'Yes, he has a costume!'"<ref>Will Eisner interview, [http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/16eisner.html ''Jack Kirby Collector'' #16 (June 1997)]</ref>

''The Spirit'', an initially eight- and later seven-page urban-crimefighter series, ran with the initial backup features "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck" in a 16-page Sunday supplement (colloquially called "The Spirit Section") that was eventually distributed in 20 newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies.<ref>Eisner, ''The Dreamer'', "About the Author", p. 55</ref> It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952.<ref name=gcd1940series>{{cite web|url=http://www.comics.org/series/10295/|title=GCD :: Series :: The Spirit}}</ref> Eisner has cited the Spirit story "Gerhard Shnobble" as a particular favorite, as it was one of his first attempts at injecting his personal point of view into the series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cartoonician.com/eisner-wide-open/|title=Eisner Wide Open|work=Hogan's Alley|access-date=January 15, 2013|archive-date=June 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620092240/http://cartoonician.com/eisner-wide-open/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==1942–1970s: Military publications, ''The Spirit'', and new endeavors==

===World War II and ''Joe Dope''===

[[File:PSJune1951.jpg|thumb|Premiere issue of the [[U.S. Army]] publication ''[[PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly|PS]]'' (June 1951), designed to be a "postscript" to related publications. Art by Eisner.]]
Eisner was [[military conscription|drafted]] into the [[U.S. Army]] in "late '41, early '42"<ref name=tcj46p45>"Will Eisner Interview", ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' No. 46 (May 1979), p. 45. Interview conducted October 13 and 17, 1978</ref> and then "had about another half-year which the government gave me to clean up my affairs before going off" to fight in [[World War II]].<ref name=tcj46p37>Eisner interview, ''The Comics Journal'' No. 46, p. 37</ref> He was assigned to the camp newspaper at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], where "there was also a big training program there, so I got involved in the use of comics for training. ... I finally became a [[Warrant Officer (United States)|warrant officer]], which involved taking a test – that way you didn't have to go through [[Officer Candidate School]]."<ref name=tcj46p45 />

En route to Washington, D.C., he stopped at the [[Fort Holabird|Holabird Ordnance Depot]] in [[Baltimore]], where a [[mimeograph]]ed publication titled ''Army Motors'' was put together. "Together with the people there ... I helped develop its format. I began doing cartoons – and we began fashioning a magazine that had the ability to talk to the [[G.I. (military)|G.I.]]s in their language. So I began to use comics as a teaching tool, and when I got to Washington, they assigned me to the business of teaching – or selling – preventive maintenance."<ref name=tcj46pp45-46>Eisner interview, ''The Comics Journal'' No. 46, pp. 45–46</ref>

Eisner then created the educational comic strip and titular character ''Joe Dope'' for ''Army Motors'', and spent four years working in [[The Pentagon]] editing the [[wikt:ordnance|ordnance]] magazine ''Firepower'' and doing "all the general illustrations – that is, cartoons" for ''Army Motors''. He continued to work on that and its 1950 successor magazine, ''[[PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly]]'', until 1971.<ref name=tcj46pp45-46 /> Eisner also illustrated an official Army pamphlet in 1968 and 1969 called ''The M16A1 Rifle'' specifically for troops in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] to help minimize the [[M16 rifle]]'s notorious early reliability problems with proper maintenance. Eisner's style helped to popularize these officially-distributed works in order to better educate soldiers on equipment maintenance.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RyzonQEACAAJ |title=The M16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventive Maintenance |author1=United States Department of the Army |author2=Robert A. Sadowski |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |date=2013 |access-date=2014-07-13 |isbn=9781616088644|author1-link=United States Department of the Army }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|newspaper=[[Lincoln Journal Star]]|url=http://journalstar.com/entertainment/arts-and-culture/books/unl-professor-s-new-book-explores-the-weird-world-of/article_f153acdc-1aa3-50cd-a0e1-edf49148e8d3.html|title=UNL professor's new book explores the weird world of government comics|date=November 5, 2011|first=Micah|last=Mertes|quote=Will Eisner should be credited for using sequences of cartoon images to teach people how to do things, rather than merely as a way to dramatize a story or illustrate text. One of the last military projects he worked on dealt with the use and care of the problematic M16 rifle. The weapon was issued in the mid-'60s to great fanfare but soon developed a reputation for unreliability. Full of double entendres, ''Operation and Preventive Maintenance The M16A1 Rifle'' is a classic example of Eisner's incredible ability to combine effectively informational/instructional design with graphic design.}}</ref>

While Eisner's later graphic novels were entirely his own work, he had a studio working under his supervision on ''The Spirit''. In particular, [[letterer]] Abe Kanegson came up with the distinctive lettering style which Eisner himself would later imitate in his book-length works, and Kanegson would often rewrite Eisner's dialogue.<ref name="sim1">[[Dave Sim|Sim, Dave]], "My Dinner With Will & Other Stories," ''Following Cerebus'' No. 4 (May 2005)</ref>

Eisner's most trusted assistant on ''The Spirit,'' however, was [[Jules Feiffer]], later a renowned cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter in his own right. Eisner later said of their memories of their working methods on the feature, "You should hear me and Jules Feiffer going at it in a room. 'No, you designed the splash page for this one, then you wrote the ending&nbsp;– I came up with the idea for the story, and you did it up to this point, then I did the next page and this sequence here and...' And I'll be swearing up and down that 'he' wrote the ending on that one. We never agree."<ref name="sim1" />

So trusted were Eisner's assistants that Eisner allowed them to "ghost" ''The Spirit'' from the time that he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 until his return to civilian life in 1945. The primary wartime artists were the uncredited [[Lou Fine]] and [[Jack Cole (artist)|Jack Cole]], with future ''[[Kid Colt, Outlaw]]'' artist [[Jack Keller (comics)|Jack Keller]] drawing backgrounds. Ghost writers included [[Manly Wade Wellman]] and [[William Woolfolk]]. The wartime ghosted stories have been reprinted in [[DC Comics]]' hardcover collections ''The Spirit Archives'' Vols. 5 to 11 (2001–2003), spanning July 1942 to December 1945.

===Post-war comics===

On Eisner's return from service and resumption of his role in the studio, he created the bulk of the ''Spirit'' stories on which his reputation was solidified. The post-war years also saw him attempt to launch the comic-strip/comic-book series ''Baseball,'' ''John Law,'' ''Kewpies,'' and ''Nubbin the Shoeshine Boy;'' none succeeded, but some material was recycled into ''The Spirit''.<ref>Andelman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oNeqDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 pp. 139-41].</ref>

''The Spirit'' ceased publishing in 1952. During the 1960s and 1970s, various publishers reprinted the adventures, often with covers by Eisner and with a few new stories from him.

===American Visuals Corporation===
During his World War II military service, Eisner had introduced the use of comics for training personnel in the publication ''Army Motors'', for which he created the cautionary bumbling soldier Joe Dope, who illustrated various methods of [[preventive maintenance]] of various military equipment and weapons. In 1948, while continuing to do ''The Spirit'' and seeing television and other post-war trends eat away at the readership base of newspapers, he formed the American Visuals Corporation in order to produce instructional materials for the government, related agencies, and businesses.{{sfn|Schumacher|2010}}

One of his longest-running jobs was ''[[PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly]],'' a [[digest size]]d magazine with comic book elements that he started for the Army in 1951 and continued to work on until the 1970s with [[Klaus Nordling]], [[Mike Ploog]], and other artists. In addition, Eisner produced other military publications such as the graphic manual in 1969, ''[http://www.ep.tc/problems/25/index.html The M-16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventative Maintenance]'', which was distributed along with cleaning kits to address serious reliability concerns with the [[M16 rifle]] during the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|Schumacher|2010}}

Other clients of his Connecticut-based company included [[RCA Records]], the [[History of the Indianapolis Colts|Baltimore Colts]] football team, and [[New York Telephone]].

==1970s–2005: Godfather of the graphic novel==

===Graphic novels===
Eisner credited the 1971 [[Comic Art Convention]] (CAC) for his return to comics. In a 1983 interview with CAC organizer [[Phil Seuling]], he said, "I came back into the field because of you. I remember you calling me in [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], where I was sitting there as chairman of the board of Croft Publishing Co. My secretary said, 'There's a Mr. Seuling on the phone and he's talking about a comics convention. What is that?' She said, 'I didn't know you were a [[cartoonist]], Mr. Eisner.' 'Oh, yes,' I said, 'secretly; I'm a closet cartoonist.' I came down and was stunned at the existence of the whole world. ... That was a world that I had left, and I found it very exciting, very stimulating".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Gary|last=Groth|author-link=Gary Groth|url=http://archives.tcj.com/267/e_groth.html|title=Will Eisner: Chairman of the Board|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320043853/http://archives.tcj.com/267/e_groth.html |archive-date=2011-03-20 |magazine=[[The Comics Journal]]|issue=267|date=May 2005}}</ref>

Eisner later elaborated about meeting [[underground comics]] creators and publishers, including [[Denis Kitchen]]:
{{blockquote|I went down to the convention, which was being held in one of the hotels in New York, and there was a group of guys with long hair and scraggly beards, who had been turning out what spun as [[literature]], really popular 'gutter' literature if you will, but pure literature. And they were taking on illegal [sic] subject matter that no comics had ever dealt with before. ... I came away from that recognizing that a revolution had occurred then, a turning point in the history of this medium. ... I reasoned that the 13-year-old kids that I'd been writing to back in the 1940s were no longer 13-year-old kids, they were now 30, 40 years old. They would want something more than two heroes, two supermen, crashing against each other. I began working on a book that dealt with a subject that I felt had never been tried by comics before, and that was man's relationship with [[God]]. That was the book ''[[A Contract with God]]''....<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/volume1/issue1/eisner/ | title= Transcript, Will Eisner's keynote address, Will Eisner Symposium| publisher= The 2002 University of Florida Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels}}</ref>}}

[[File:Contractwithgod.png|thumb|[[Trade paperback (comics)|Trade paperback]] edition of ''A Contract with God''; the concurrent 1,500-copy hardcover release did not use the term "graphic novel" on its cover.]]
In the late 1970s, Eisner turned his attention to longer storytelling forms. ''[[A Contract with God|A Contract with God: and Other Tenement Stories]]'' (Baronet Books, October 1978) is an early example of an American graphic novel, combining thematically linked short stories into a single square-bound volume. Eisner continued with a string of graphic novels that tell the history of New York's immigrant communities, particularly [[Jew]]s, including ''The Building'', ''A Life Force'', ''Dropsie Avenue'' and ''To the Heart of the Storm''. He continued producing new books into his seventies and eighties, at an average rate of nearly one a year. Each of these books was done twice&nbsp;– once as a rough version to show editor Dave Schreiner, then as a second, finished version incorporating suggested changes.<ref>Sim, Dave, "Advice & Consent: The Editing of Graphic Novels" (panel discussion with Eisner and [[Chester Brown]]) and [[Frank Miller]] interview, both ''Following Cerebus'' No. 5 (August 2005).</ref>

Some of his last work was the retelling in [[sequential art]] of novels and [[Mythology|myth]]s, including ''[[Moby-Dick]]''. In 2002, at the age of 85, he published ''[[Epic of Sundiata|Sundiata]]'', based on the part-historical, part-mythical stories of a West African king, "The Lion of [[Mali]]". ''[[Fagin the Jew]]'' is an account of the life of Dickens's character Fagin, in which Eisner tries to get past the stereotyped portrait of Fagin in ''[[Oliver Twist]]''.

His last graphic novel, ''[[The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', an account of the making, and refutation, of the [[antisemitic]] [[hoax]] ''[[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]]'', was completed shortly before his death and published in 2005.

In 2008, Will Eisner's ''The Spirit: A Pop-Up Graphic Novel'' was published, with [[Bruce Foster]] as paper engineer.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=MacDonald|first1=Heidi|title=When the Gift is a Graphic Novel|website=PublishersWeekly.com|date=Oct 20, 2008|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/11219-when-the-gift-is-a-graphic-novel.html|access-date=18 December 2016}}</ref>

===Teaching===

In his later years especially, Eisner was a frequent lecturer about the craft and uses of sequential art. He taught at the [[School of Visual Arts]] in New York City, where he published ''Will Eisner's Gallery'', a collection of work by his students<ref>{{Cite book|title=Will Eisner : champion of the graphic novel|last=Levitz|first=Paul|publisher=Abrams|year=2015|isbn=9781613128640|location=New York|oclc=930648436}}</ref> and wrote two books based on these lectures, ''[[Comics and Sequential Art]]'' and ''[[Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative]]'', which are widely used by students of cartooning. In 2002, Eisner participated in the Will Eisner Symposium of the 2002 University of Florida Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels.<ref>Eisner, Will. [http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/volume1/issue1/eisner/ "Keynote Address from the 2002 'Will Eisner Symposium'"], ''ImageTexT''<!--spelled OK with cap I and two cap Ts-->, vol. 1, No. 1 (2004). [[University of Florida]] Department of English. Retrieved 2011-02-02. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110513105731/http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v1_1/eisner/ WebCitation archive].</ref>

==Death==
Eisner died January 3, 2005, in [[Lauderdale Lakes, Florida]], of complications from a quadruple [[Coronary artery bypass surgery|bypass surgery]] performed December 22, 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=7363&si=121 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050418055800/http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=7363&si=121 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 18, 2005 |title=Gemstone Publishing: ''Industry News'' (January 7, 2005): "In Memoriam: Will Eisner" |publisher=Scoop.diamondgalleries.com |access-date=February 2, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.sfwa.org/news/weisner.htm "Will Eisner (1917–2005)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821161735/http://sfwa.org/news/weisner.htm |date=August 21, 2007 }}, ''SF&F Publishing News'', Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, January 4, 2005. Retrieved 2011-02-02 [https://web.archive.org/web/20150222014528/http://www.sfwa.org/archive/news/weisner.htm WebCitation archive].</ref> DC Comics held a memorial service in Manhattan's [[Lower East Side]], a neighborhood Eisner often visited in his work, at the [[Angel Orensanz Center|Angel Orensanz Foundation]] on Norfolk Street.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080618102907/http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=259&ai=48748&ssd=3/19/2005&arch=y ""DC Comics Celebrates Will Eisner"], "Scoop" (column), Gemstone Publishing, Inc. / Diamond International Galleries, March 19, 2005. Retrieved 2011-02-02.</ref>

Eisner was survived by his wife, Ann Weingarten Eisner, and their son, John.<ref>Gravett, Paul. [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jan/08/guardianobituaries.books "Obituary: Will Eisner: He pioneered American comic books, and established the graphic novel as a literary genre"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', January 8, 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130326031104/http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/jan/08/guardianobituaries.books WebCitation archive].</ref><ref>Boxer, Sarah. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/05/books/05eisner.html "Will Eisner, a Pioneer of Comic Books, Dies at 87"], ''The New York Times'', January 5, 2005.</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1480482/Will-Eisner.html Obituaries: Will Eisner], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', January 6, 2005.</ref> In the introduction to the 2001 reissue of ''A Contract with God'', Eisner revealed that the inspiration for the title story grew out of the 1970 death of his [[leukemia]]-stricken teenaged daughter, Alice, next to whom he is buried. Until then, only Eisner's closest friends were aware of his daughter's life and death.

==Awards and honors==

Eisner has been recognized for his work with the [[National Cartoonists Society]] Comic Book Award for 1967, 1968, 1969, 1987 and 1988, as well as its Story Comic Book Award in 1979,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.reuben.org/ncs-awards/division-awards/#comic|title= Division Awards Comic Books|year= 2013|publisher= [[National Cartoonists Society]]|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130121103443/http://www.reuben.org/ncs-awards/division-awards/#comic|archive-date= January 21, 2013|url-status= live|access-date= December 16, 2013}}</ref> and its [[Reuben Award]] in 1998. In 1975, he was awarded the [[Inkpot Award]] and the second [[Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot| title = Inkpot Award| date = December 6, 2012}}</ref>

He was inducted into the [[Academy of Comic Book Arts]] Hall of Fame in 1971, and the [[Kirby Award|Jack Kirby Hall of Fame]] in 1987. The following year, the [[Eisner Award|Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards]] were established in his honor. In 2015, Eisner was posthumously elected to the [[Society of Illustrators]] Hall of Fame.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2015 Hall of Fame Inductee: Will Eisner|url=https://www.societyillustrators.org/will-eisner|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506232406/https://www.societyillustrators.org/will-eisner|archive-date=May 6, 2017|access-date=May 23, 2018|publisher=[[Society of Illustrators]]|language=en}}</ref>

Comics by Will Eisner are archived in the James Branch Cabell Library of [[Virginia Commonwealth University]].<ref>{{cite web|title=2017 News {{!}} Will Eisner Week|url=https://www.library.vcu.edu/about/news/2017/new-online-gallery-honors-comic-artist-great-will-eisner.html|website=VCU Libraries|access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref> VCU's James Branch Cabell Library has served as the repository for the [[Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards]] since 2005. Each year following [[Comic-Con]], nominated and award-winning titles are donated to the library's Special Collections and Archives and made available to researchers and visitors. Approximately 1,000 comic books, graphic novels, archival editions, scholarly titles, and journals are included in the VCU library's expansive Comic Arts Collection.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Eisner Awards: the Oscars of the Comics Industry · VCU Libraries Gallery|url=https://gallery.library.vcu.edu/exhibits/show/eisner-awards|website=gallery.library.vcu.edu|access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref>

On the 94th anniversary of Eisner's birth, in 2011, [[Google]] used an image featuring the Spirit as its logo.<ref>Seifert, Mark. [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/06/google-celebrates-will-eisners-94th-birthday-with-the-spirit-google-logo/ "Google Celebrates Will Eisner's 94th Birthday with the Spirit Google Logo"], [[Rich Johnston#Bleeding Cool|BleedingCool.com]], March 6, 2011.</ref><ref>Archive of [https://web.archive.org/web/20110307010718/http://www.google.com/ Google March 6, 2011, main page]</ref>

With [[Jack Kirby]], [[Robert Crumb]], [[Harvey Kurtzman]], [[Gary Panter]], and [[Chris Ware]], Eisner was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the [[Jewish Museum (New York)|Jewish Museum]] in New York City, from September 16, 2006, to January 28, 2007.<ref>{{cite web|title=Exhibitions: Masters of American Comics|url=http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/Comics|access-date=August 10, 2010|publisher=The Jewish Museum|archive-date=May 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511174819/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/Comics|url-status=deviated}}. .</ref><ref>Kimmelman, Michael. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/arts/design/13comi.html "See You in the Funny Papers"](art review), ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 13, 2006.</ref> In honor of Eisner's centennial in 2017, [[Denis Kitchen]] and John Lind co-curated the largest retrospective exhibitions of Will Eisner's original artwork, shown simultaneously at The Society of Illustrators in New York City and Le Musée de la [[Bande dessinée|Bande Dessinée]] in [[Angoulême|Angoulême, France]]. Both exhibitions were titled ''Will Eisner Centennial Celebration'' and collectively over 400 original pieces were included.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.societyillustrators.org/exhibits/will-eisner-centennial|title=Society of Illustrators {{!}}|website=www.societyillustrators.org|language=en|access-date=2018-05-23|archive-date=July 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725064927/https://www.societyillustrators.org/exhibits/will-eisner-centennial|url-status=dead}}</ref> A catalogue of the same name was released by [[Dark Horse Comics|Dark Horse Books]] and nominated for multiple Eisner Awards in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-eisner-awards-2018-nominations-20180426-story.html|title='My Favorite Thing Is Monsters' and 'Monstress' lead 2018 Eisner Awards nominations|last=Brown|first=Tracy|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 27, 2018|access-date=2018-05-23}}</ref>

==Original books==
{{div col|colwidth=40em}}
* {{cite book | title = Odd Facts | year = 1975 | publisher = Tempo Star Books | isbn = 0-441-60918-X}}
* {{cite book | title = A Contract with God | year = 1978 | publisher = Baronet Books | isbn = 0-89437-035-9| title-link = A Contract with God }}
**  DC Comics reissue {{ISBN|1-56389-674-5}}
* {{cite book | title = Life on Another Planet (Signal From Space) | year = 1983 | isbn = 0-87816-370-0| title-link = Life on Another Planet | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = Comics and Sequential Art | year = 1985 | isbn = 0-9614728-0-4| title-link = Comics and Sequential Art | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Poorhouse Press }}
* {{cite book | title = New York: The Big City | year = 1986 | isbn = 0-87816-020-5 | edition = softcover| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
**Hardcover reprint 2000 {{ISBN|1-56389-682-6}}
* {{cite book | title = The Dreamer | year = 1986 | isbn = 1-56389-678-8| title-link = The Dreamer (comics) | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = DC Comics }}
* {{cite book | title = The Building | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-87816-024-8| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = A Life Force | year = 1988 | isbn = 0-87816-038-8| title-link = A Life Force | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = Art of Will Eisner | year = 1989 | edition = 2nd | publisher = Kitchen Sink | isbn = 0-87816-076-0}}
* {{cite book | title = To the Heart of the Storm | year = 1991 | isbn = 1-56389-679-6| title-link = To the Heart of the Storm | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = DC Comics }}
* {{cite book | title = The Will Eisner Reader | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-87816-129-5| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = Invisible People | year = 1993 | isbn = 0-87816-208-9| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = Dropsie Avenue | year = 1995 | isbn = 0-87816-348-4| title-link = Dropsie Avenue | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = Will Eisner Sketchbook | year = 1995 | publisher = Kitchen Sink | isbn = 0-87816-399-9 | edition = softcover}}
**Hardcover edition {{ISBN|0-87816-400-6}}
* {{cite book | title = Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative | year = 1996 | isbn = 0-9614728-3-9| title-link = Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Poorhouse Press }}
* {{cite book | title = The Princess and the Frog | year = 1996 | isbn = 1-56163-244-9| last1 = Grimm | first1 = Jacob | last2 = Grimm | first2 = Wilhelm }}
* {{cite book | title = A Family Matter | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-87816-621-1| title-link = A Family Matter (comics) | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Kitchen Sink Press }}
* {{cite book | title = Last Day in Vietnam | year = 2000 | isbn = 1-56971-500-9| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Dark Horse Comics }}
* {{cite book | title = The Last Knight | year = 2000 | isbn = 1-56163-251-1| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | last2 = Saavedra | first2 = Miguel de Cervantes }}
* {{cite book | title = Minor Miracles | year = 2000 | isbn = 1-56389-751-2| last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = DC Comics }}
* {{cite book | title = Will Eisner's Shop Talk | year = 2001 | publisher = Dark Horse Comics | isbn = 1-56971-536-X}}
* {{cite book | title = The Name of the Game | year = 2002 | isbn = 1-56389-865-9| last1=Eisner | first1=Will | publisher = DC Comics }}
* {{cite book | title = Sundiata: A Legend of Africa | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-1561633326| last1=Eisner | first1=Will | publisher = NBM Publishing }}
* {{cite book | title = Fagin the Jew | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-385-51009-8| title-link = Fagin the Jew | last1 = Eisner | first1 = Will | publisher = Doubleday }}
* {{cite book | title = The Name of the Game | year = 2003 | publisher = DC Comics | isbn = 1-56389-869-1}}
* {{cite book | title = Will Eisner's John Law: Dead Man Walking | year = 2004 | publisher = IDW | edition = softcover | isbn = 1-932382-27-5}}
**Hardcover edition {{ISBN|1-932382-83-6}}
* {{cite book | title = The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion | year = 2005 | publisher = WW Norton | isbn = 0-393-06045-4| title-link = The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion }}
{{div col end}}

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

===Works cited===

{{Refbegin}}

* {{cite book |last = Schumacher |first = Michael |title = Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics |url = https://archive.org/details/willeisnerdreame0000schu |url-access = registration |year = 2010 |publisher = [[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn = 978-1-60819-524-4 }}<!-- Schumacher 2010 -->

{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Feiffer, Jules, ''The Great Comic-Book Heroes'', {{ISBN|1-56097-501-6}}.
* Jones, Gerard, ''Men of Tomorrow'' {{ISBN|0-434-01402-8}}.
*[[Jim Steranko|Steranko, Jim]], ''The Steranko History of Comics 2'' (Supergraphics, 1972).
*[http://toonopedia.com/spirit.htm The Spirit] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240528055738/https://www.webcitation.org/6sZaIr4NJ?url=http://toonopedia.com/spirit.htm Archived] from the original on August 8, 2017.
*Fitzgerald, Paul E. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11308-2004Jun2.html "Every Picture Tells A Story: His Pen and Wit Sharper Than Ever, Graphic Novelist Will Eisner Takes On Religious Intolerance"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', June 3, 2004. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020072010/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11308-2004Jun2.html |date=October 20, 2012 }}.
*Robinson, Tasha. [http://avclub.com/content/node/22822 "Interview: Will Eisner"], ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' / ''[[The Onion]]'', September 27, 2000. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090522060719/http://www.avclub.com/articles/will-eisner,13679/ WebCitation archive].
*Jacks, Brian. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081227154445/http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/11/veterans-day-exclusive-the-spirit-creator-will-eisners-wartime-memories/ "Veterans Day Exclusive: 'The Spirit' Creator Will Eisner's Wartime Memories"], [[MTV.com]], November 11, 2000. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727141108/http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/11/veterans-day-exclusive-the-spirit-creator-will-eisners-wartime-memories/ |date=July 27, 2011 }}.
*{{cite journal|last=Benton|first= John|url=http://www.tcj.com/will-eisner-having-something-to-say/ |title=Will Eisner: Having Something to Say|journal=[[The Comics Journal]] |number=267 |date=May 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318005835/http://www.tcj.com/will-eisner-having-something-to-say/ |archive-date=March 18, 2011|url-status=live}} Archive of {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080429235436/http://www.tcj.com/267/i_eisner.html |date=April 29, 2008 |title=material trimmed from print-magazine interview }}. Interview conducted September 10, 1968; originally published in ''[[Witzend]]'' No. 6 (Spring 1969).
* [http://www.reocities.com/area51/aurora/2669/intrview.html "Interview with Jerry Iger"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001230038/http://www.reocities.com/area51/aurora/2669/intrview.html |date=October 1, 2012 }}, ''Cubic Zirconia Reader'', 1985. [https://archive.today/20240524224554/https://www.webcitation.org/5qfDBUrIc?url=http://www.oocities.com/area51/aurora/2669/intrview.html WebCitation archive]
*{{cite news | url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jan-07-wp-9373-story.html| work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 7, 2001|title=Making It: A Pioneering Spirit in Pen and Ink – Graphic Novel's Father Has Been Innovator in Comics Since the '30s|first= Susan |last=Vaughn| access-date= October 7, 2016|archive-date=October 7, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161007201930/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jan/07/news/wp-9373 | url-status=live}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110313172639/http://www.willeisner.com/ WillEisner.com (archived 2011-03-19)] at WebCite (webcitation.org)
* {{IMDb name|0252162}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=1411|title=Will Eisner}}
* {{LCAuth|n82130513|Will Eisner|98|}}
*[http://rave.ohiolink.edu/archives/ead/xOhCoUCR0003 The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: Will Eisner Collection Guide (primary source material)]
*Villain Paper [https://www.villainpaper.com/series/the-spirit "Fiction House The Spirit"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119181931/https://www.villainpaper.com/series/the-spirit |date=November 19, 2016 }}
{{Will Eisner}}
{{The Spirit}}
{{Blue Beetle}}
{{Inkpot Award 1970s}}
{{Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisner, Will}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American artists]]
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[[Category:Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners]]
[[Category:Harvey Award winners for Best Cartoonist]]
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