the spirit of will eisner

Exhibition Overview

This exhibit looks back Will Eisner’s incredibly long and influential career. It follows him through his time working as a teenage cartoonist for advertisers through the last of his long-form comics work, the graphic non-fiction The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which he completed at the age of 88. His influence on comics storytelling is immense. The expressiveness of his characters, panel framing, creative page layouts, the use of shadow to create mood and tone, his story length, and subject matter—all of these pushed the boundaries of what comics could do.

Will eisner
(1917-2005)

Image: Courtesy Will Eisner Studios, ©Will Eisner Studios Inc.

The lasting legacy that Will Eisner has in sequential art cannot be overstated—he is known as the “Champion of the Graphic Novel.” Eisner entered the field as a teenager in the mid-1930s, when the comic book industry in the United States was 
in its infancy. As an early comic book packager for publishers, he created such characters as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle; Blackhawk; Uncle Sam; and Dollman. His innovative storytelling, dynamic layouts, and the artwork in his newspaper insert series, The Spirit (1940–1952), has inspired generations of cartoonists. An astute businessman, the 23-year-old creator of The Spirit was remarkably able to negotiate ownership of his intellectual property during an era in which creator equity was virtually unheard of.

The Spirit has remained in print, with only minor time gaps, since its inception. As a draftee and Warrant Officer during World War II, Eisner developed and refined the use of comics for instructional and educational purposes. The comics format proved to be an excellent approach to teaching GIs about the proper maintenance of their equipment and, in the process, saved many lives. The result, Eisner’s PS* Magazine, is still being published today. After The Spirit’s run ended in 1952, he focused on the use of the format as a teaching tool by creating comics for the government and private industry. But inspired, in part, by the underground
 comix movement of the early 1970’s, he returned to comics and created A Contract with God, the first modern graphic novel in 1978. At a time when most of his contemporaries were retiring, Eisner went on to create more than 20 additional graphic novels and numerous short graphic stories. Late in his busy career, he taught comics at the New York School of Visual Arts, incorporating his curriculum into an acclaimed trilogy of analytical and instructional textbooks. He completed his last major work, The Plot, shortly before his 88th birthday. Among the honors bestowed upon Eisner are the Reuben Award, the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award, the Yellow Kid Award, The Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, and multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards, the latter of which are named in his honor and presented annually at San Diego Comic-Con.