He was a comic book pioneer. He was the first to master the art of story telling and did things that are so cutting edge that even to this day few artists have come close to achieving what he has done.
He was the first to put pictures in manuals. During World War II he was drafted into the army where he illustrated manuals. He fought so they could have more illustrations. He also created a cartoon character that had misadventures during the war and who helped boost the morale of the troops.
He ran a studio with Bob Kane, Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, and Jack Cole.
He worked in advertizing, too, in the late 50's and 60's.
In the 70's he did two brilliant things: 1) He invented the graphic novel. He wanted to tell stories in a more complete way, and so he published a novel told by pictures. This single handedly reinvented how comics are published. 2) he wrote a book on what he called "Sequential Art". Once again, he reinvented comics, but this time, he gave things names and explained how things worked. He continued making graphic novels until the end. His last book should be published this year.
He was a teacher. Not only did he write a book about comic art, but he taught it for 14 years at the New York School of Visual Arts, Neil Gaiman said it "like getting God in to run your Bible Studies group."
Finally, he was a champion of civil rights. That being said, he made an enormous blunder in his youth by making the Spirit's sidekick be nothing more then a bigoted stereotype of a black man. He regretted that, wrote many stories that told the tales of hate against the Jewish people. Not being Jewish myself, I never fully appreciated some of these stories, but they are still stirring, none the less.
I met Will Eisner back in 1998. UMASS Amherst decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the graphic novel by having Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, James O'Barr, Aaron McGruder, and a whole host of other people there. Unlike a convention where it's all for the fans, this was a meeting of the minds. Brilliant panels and marvelous discussions on many topics related to comics. It was perhaps one of the best weekends of my life.
The first night I was there was the night of the reception. I was wearing a Moxy Fruvous T-Shirt when someone comes up from behind me and says, "Hey, Moxy Fruvous, great band." I turned around and I recognized him immediately, it was Scott McCloud. Scott and I began a conversation which encompassed Moxy Fruvous, music and then it turned to a mutual friend of ours, Rich Harrington.
He said "Rich was always a great cartoonist..." before he could finish the thought an elderly gentleman swivelled around in his chair and said in a Brooklyn accent said "Cartoonist? Did someone say cartoonist?"
I recognized him immediately, it was Will Eisner. Will joined us in our conversation. I call him Will because that is how Scott McCloud introduced me to him. Will and Scott caught up with each other and asked how each other's wives were. After Will and Scott found out each other's wives weren�t there, Will turned to me and asked if I had a wife or a girlfriend. I said "no."
With a twinkle in his eye, Will said, "If I had known that, we could have blown off this shin-dig and gone to a strip club."
Now if my talel ended there it still would have been a great story, but we stuck it out through the party, even though there were naked women to ogle and wave dollar bills at. Scott and Will entered into their open-ended discussion about computers as a future form of story telling. This discussion lasted the rest of the night, in the end, there were 20 of us discussing this. Part way through this discussion (two hours later), Will turns to me and grabs my arm. He said "Son, I feel like the old farmer who said to the inventer of the internal combustion engine, 'This will never work!'"
The conversation meandered its way across the subject, and Will Eisner stood his ground while still admitting he might be wrong, with the wisdom and humility of a king. It was midnight and the people said they were closing up. People got their books autographed, and told Will Eisner how much his work meant to him. I made a friend that night, Dan, he and I boarded the elevator. The elevator was full. Dan was on one side of me, and Will Eisner was on the other side. Dan was starstruck.
As we stopped on the 4th floor, I blurted out "Fourth floor, women's lingerie!" A chuckle rolled through the elevator.
The doors opened to reveal an attractive woman in a mini skirt, a halter top, and fishnets standing there. All of us took one look at her and erupted in laughter. She didn't get on the elevator, and when the doors closed, we realized what we did, and cracked up laughing again. Will Eisner turned to me and said "Son, how much did you pay her to stand there?"
That is how I remember Will Eisner. I don't think of him with that look of defeat when I handed him a newspaper clipping the next day reporting the passing of his long time friend Bob Kane.
Legacy
"Will Eisner was our Orson Welles," said Neil Gaiman, author of comic-book series "The Sandman" and the Hugo Award-winning novel "American Gods."
"He came into comics when everybody else saw them as cheap and disposable. Will perceived comics as an art form. Not only that, he had the chops and skill and vision to create comics that showed other people that they were an art form. "There's a reason the Oscars of comic books are the Eisners."
"He was still learning," said Gaiman. "He was better than any of us and he was trying to find stories that could be told and different ways of telling them."
"He continued to produce work in his 80s that was challenging, unprecedented and of master craftsman level," Paul Levitz said. (from the Chicago Tribune)
We all know his legacy will be remembered. I just hope when I am 87, I can be that spry.
