Top Ten… Superhero Sidekicks! (Marty Michaels)

6 April, 2010

"It’s about time I wrote something new about comics. I get to swear and mess around more when I write about comics then when I write about movies and, hey, swearing’s always fun. Firstly, an apology in advance: I didn’t intend for Captain America to dominate the top 5 like he has, but there was no way around it. Cap’s had a shitton of sidekicks and the three I picked for this list just so happen to be three of the best sidekicks in comics. Blame Marvel for writing such good characters. Secondly, this blog’s been getting a lot of new readers, so hello to them and thanks for stopping by. Thirdly, I know the sidekick at number seven doesn’t have his origin in comics, but it’s my list so there. Anyway, let’s take a looksee at the top ten superhero sidekicks! Onward!"

Click HERE to read Marty's take on Ebony White!

2010 Will Eisner Award nominees announced!

Comic-Con International has released the nominations for the 22nd Eisner Awards; winners will be announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July.  

The judges, who established the nominees, are academic Craig Fischer (Appalachian State University), librarian Francisca Goldsmith (Infopeople), reviewer John Hogan (GraphicNovelReporter.com), writer James Hudnall, and retailer Wayne Winsett (Time Warp, Boulder).

Comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers now vote for the winners in each category.

Congratulations to Paul Fitzgerald, a life-long friend and co-worker of Eisner's on P.S. Magazine for many years, for his nomination for the book Will Eisner and PS Magazine in the "Best Comics-Related Book" category. You can order it directly from the author by clicking HERE!

 

Our friends at Fantagraphics are having a sale on 2010 Eisner nominated books. Check that out HERE!

2010 Will Eisner Award Nominees

Best Short Story

 “Because I Love You So Much,” by Nikoline Werdelin, in From Wonderland with Love: Danish Comics in the 3rd Millennium (Fantagraphics/Aben malen)

 “Gentleman John,” by Nathan Greno, in What Is Torch Tiger? (Torch Tiger)

“How and Why to Bale Hay,” by Nick Bertozzi, in Syncopated (Villard)

“Hurricane,” interpreted by Gradimir Smudja, in Bob Dylan Revisited (Norton)

 “Urgent Request,” by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim, in The Eternal Smile (First Second)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

Brave & the Bold #28: “Blackhawk and the Flash: Firing Line,” by J. Michael Straczynski and Jesus Saiz (DC)

Captain America #601: “Red, White, and Blue-Blood,” by Ed Brubaker and Gene Colan (Marvel)

Ganges #3, by Kevin Huizenga (Fantagraphics)

The Unwritten #5: “How the Whale Became,” by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)

Usagi Yojimbo #123: “The Death of Lord Hikiji” by Stan Sakai (Dark Horse)

Best Continuing Series

Fables, by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy et al. (Vertigo/DC)

Irredeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!)

Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)

The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)

The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard (Image)

Best Limited Series or Story Arc

Blackest Night, by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Oclair Albert (DC)

Incognito, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel Icon)

Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (VIZ Media)

Wolverine #66–72 and Wolverine Giant-Size Special: “Old Man Logan,” by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven, and Dexter Vines (Marvel)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)

Best New Series

Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick, art by Tony Parker (BOOM!)

Ireedeemable, by Mark Waid and Peter Krause (BOOM!)

Sweet Tooth, by Jeff Lemire (Vertigo/DC)

The Unwritten, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Vertigo/DC)

Best Publication for Kids

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, by Jarrett J. Krosoczeka (Knopf)

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis (Bloomsbury)

Tiny Tyrant vol. 1: The Ethelbertosaurus, by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme (First Second)

The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicArts/Toon)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz hc, by L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, and Skottie Young (Marvel)

Best Publication for Teens

Angora Napkin, by Troy Little (IDW)

Beasts of Burden, by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson (Dark Horse)

A Family Secret, by Eric Heuvel (Farrar Straus Giroux/Anne Frank House)

Far Arden, by Kevin Cannon (Top Shelf)

I Kill Giants tpb, by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura (Image)

Best Humor Publication

Drinky Crow’s Maakies Treasury, by Tony Millionaire (Fantagraphics)

Everybody Is Stupid Except for Me, And Other Astute Observations, by Peter Bagge (Fantagraphics)

Little Lulu, vols. 19–21, by John Stanley and Irving Tripp (Dark Horse Books)

The Muppet Show Comic Book: Meet the Muppets, by Roger Langridge (BOOM Kids!)

Scott Pilgrim vol. 5: Scott Pilgrm vs. the Universe, by Brian Lee O’Malley (Oni)

Best Anthology

Abstract Comics, edited by Andrei Molotiu (Fantagraphics)

Bob Dylan Revisited, edited by Bob Weill (Norton)

Flight 6, edited by Kazu Kibuishi (Villard)

Popgun vol. 3, edited by Mark Andrew Smith, D. J. Kirkbride, and Joe Keatinge (Image)

Syncopated: An Anthology of Nonfiction Picto-Essays, edited by Brendan Burford (Villard)

What Is Torch Tiger? edited by Paul Briggs (Torch Tiger)

Best Digital Comic

Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl, www.abominable.cc

Bayou, by Jeremy Love, http://zudacomics.com/bayou

The Guns of Shadow Valley, by David Wachter and James Andrew Clark, www.gunsofshadowvalley.com

Power Out, by Nathan Schreiber, www.act-i-vate.com/67.comic

Sin Titulo, by Cameron Stewart, www.sintitulocomic.com/

Best Reality-Based Work

A Drifting Life, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)

Footnotes in Gaza, by Joe Sacco (Metropolitan/Holt)

The Imposter’s Daughter, by Laurie Sandell (Little, Brown)

Monsters, by Ken Dahl (Secret Acres)

The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)

Stitches, by David Small (Norton)

Best Adaptation from Another Work

The Book of Genesis Illustrated, by R. Crumb (Norton)

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation, adapted by Michael Keller and Nicolle Rager Fuller (Rodale)

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, adapted by Tim Hamilton (Hill & Wang)

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)

West Coast Blues, by Jean-Patrick Manchette, adapted by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album—New

Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzuccheilli (Pantheon)

A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

The Book of Genesis Illustrated, by R. Crumb (Norton)

My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter, adapted by Darwyn Cooke (IDW)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint

Absolute Justice, by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Doug Braithewaite (DC)

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld (Pantheon)

Alec: The Years Have Pants, by Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf)

Essex County Collected, by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf)

Map of My Heart: The Best of King-Cat Comics & Stories, 1996–2002, by John Porcellino (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips

Bloom County: The Complete Library, vol. 1, by Berkeley Breathed, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)

Bringing Up Father, vol. 1: From Sea to Shining Sea, by George McManus and Zeke Zekley, edited by Dean Mullaney (IDW)

The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley’s Cartoons 1913–1940, edited by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics)

Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, by Gahan Wilson, edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

Prince Valiant, vol. 1: 1937–1938, by Hal Foster, edited by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)

Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Walt McDougall, and W. W. Denslow (Sunday Press)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books

The Best of Simon & Kirby, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, edited by Steve Saffel (Titan Books)

Blazing Combat, by Archie Goodwin et al., edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

Humbug, by Harvey Kurtzman et al., edited by Gary Groth (Fantagraphics)

The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures deluxe edition, by Dave Stevens, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)

The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Abrams ComicArts/Toon)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material

My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill, by Jean Regnaud and émile Bravo (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

The Photographer, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemerier (First Second)

Tiny Tyrant vol. 1: The Ethelbertosaurus, by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme (First Second)

West Coast Blues, by Jean-Patrick Manchette, adapted by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Years of the Elephant, by Willy Linthout (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

The Color Trilogy, by Kim Dong Haw (First Second) 

A Distant Neighborhood (2 vols.), by Jiro Taniguchi (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

A Drifting Life, by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn & Quarterly)

Oishinbo a la Carte, written by Tetsu Kariya and illustrated by Akira Hanasaki (VIZ Media)

Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka, by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (VIZ Media)

Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)

Best Writer

Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Daredevil, Marvels Project (Marvel) Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon)

Geoff Johns, Adventure Comics, Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Superman: Secret Origin (DC)

James Robinson, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)

Mark Waid, Irredeemable, The Incredibles (BOOM!)

Bill Willingham, Fables (Vertigo/DC)

Best Writer/Artist

Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter (IDW)

R. Crumb, The Book of Genesis Illustrated (Norton)

David Mazzuccheilli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)

Terry Moore, Echo (Abstract Books)

Naoki Urasawa, Naoki Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys, Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka (VIZ Media)

Best Writer/Artist–Nonfiction

Reinhard Kleist, Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness (Abrams ComicArts)

Willy Linthout, Years of the Elephant (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza (Metropolitan/Holt)

David Small, Stitches (Norton)

Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team

Michael Kaluta, Madame Xanadu #11–15: “Exodus Noir” (Vertigo/DC)

Steve McNiven/Dexter Vines, Wolverine: Old Man Logan (Marvel)

Fiona Staples, North 40 (WildStorm)

J. H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC)

Danijel Zezelj, Luna Park (Vertigo/DC)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)

émile Bravo, My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)

Mauro Cascioli, Justice League: Cry for Justice (DC)

Nicolle Rager Fuller, Charles Darwin on the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation (Rodale Books)

Jill Thompson, Beasts of Burden (Dark Horse); Magic Trixie and the Dragon (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Carol Tyler, You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics)

Best Cover Artist

John Cassaday, Irredeemable (BOOM!); Lone Ranger (Dynamite)

Salvador Larocca, Invincible Iron Man (Marvel)

Sean Phillips, Criminal, Incognito (Marvel Icon); 28 Days Later (BOOM!)

Alex Ross, Astro City: The Dark Age (WildStorm/DC); Project Superpowers  (Dynamite)

J. H. Williams III, Detective Comics (DC)

Best Coloring

Steve Hamaker, Bone: Crown of Thorns (Scholastic); Little Mouse Gets Ready (Toon)

Laura Martin, The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures (IDW); Thor, The Stand: American Nightmares (Marvel)

David Mazzuccheilli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)

Alex Sinclair, Blackest Night, Batman and Robin (DC)

Dave Stewart, Abe Sapien, BPRD, The Goon, Hellboy, Solomon Kane, Umbrella Academy, Zero Killer (Dark Horse); Detective Comics (DC); Northlanders, Luna Park (Vertigo)

Best Lettering

Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? (Abrams ComicArts)

David Mazzuccheilli, Asterios Polyp (Pantheon)

Tom Orzechowski, Savage Dragon (Image); X-Men Forever (Marvel)

Richard Sala, Cat Burglar Black (First Second); Delphine (Fantagraphics)

Adrian Tomine, A Drifting Life (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism

Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas (TwoMorrows)

ComicsAlliance, www.comicsalliance.com

Comics Comics, edited by Timothy Hodler and Dan Nadel (www.comicscomicsmag.com) (PictureBox)

The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth, Michael Dean, and Kristy Valenti (Fantagraphics)

The Comics Reporter, produced by Tom Spurgeon (www.comicsreporter.com)

Best Comics-Related Book

Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel, by Annalisa Di Liddo (University Press of Mississippi)

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle (Abrams ComicArts)

The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga, by Helen McCarthy (Abrams ComicArts)

Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater, by Eric P. Nash (Abrams ComicArts)

Will Eisner and PS Magazine, by Paul E. Fitzgerald (Fitzworld.US)

Best Publication Design

Absolute Justice, designed by Curtis King and Josh Beatman (DC)

The Brinkley Girls, designed by Adam Grano (Fantagraphics)

Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, designed by Jacob Covey (Fantagraphics)

Life and Times of Martha Washington, designed by David Nestelle (Dark Horse Books)

Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, designed by Philippe Ghielmetti (Sunday Press)

Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? designed by Neil Egan and Brian Fies (Abrams ComicArts)

The Neatorama Bill Morrison Interview/Simpsons Giveaway

Image via Wikipedia

By David   
Mar 31, 2010 

burninglily: What’s your muse? What was the deciding factor, that it moment when you just “knew” you were going to do this for the rest of your life?

Bill Morrison: As I mentioned earlier, I’ve wanted to be a comic book artist since I was a kid, but I think the moment I knew I wanted to make this my life’s work was when we won the Eisner Award™ for Simpsons Comics #1. Will Eisner’s work inspired me and influenced me from the moment I was aware of it, so receiving the award named for him meant a great deal to me, and made me want to be a part of the art form he called “sequential art.” By the way, if you missed it way back in 1993, we’ve included a reprint edition of the historic Simpsons Comics #1 inside The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis book!


Click HERE to Keep Reading!

The Spirit novels: How I Spent My 10-Year Vacation by James Vance

The world of comics still cropped up from time to time in unexpected ways. Out of the blue, Howard Chaykin raised the possibility of representing Kings to TV producers. (Despite my respect for Howard, I passed. That book, to me, was ancient history, and I was frequently too stubborn for my own good in those days.) Kate still heard from the legion of Omaha fans, a large number of whom had formed an online group that thrives to this day. Vertige Graphic put out a beautiful – and unexpected – French reprint of Kings, and a Swedish version was reportedly in the works. And Will Eisner hired Kate and me to write a novel about The Spirit.
 

That Spirit project proved to be a revelation. Kate was a collaborator’s dream, turning out marvelous copy and urging me to take no prisoners in melding our alternate chapters into a uniform style. Though we were adapting someone else’s brainchild, in the process we were also doing real creative work for the first time in years, and it was inspiring to flex those muscles again. Will was happy with the final result, and our agents Denis Kitchen and Judy Hansen were urging us to write more novels of our own devising. I was shocked to find that the part of our lives that we’d packed away so unceremoniously turned out to still be exciting.

The only downside had been Kate’s inexplicable lapses in energy that slowed the process and occasionally frustrated all of us, Will included. But we’d managed to capture the essence of the feature in its late-‘40s prime, and – with an eye toward selling a series of Spirit novels – Will asked us for another. If we weren’t exactly back in comics, we were actively involved with its in-laws.

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

Was 'The Spectre' inspired by Eisner's Spirit? (Blimey!)

"Believed to be dead but secretly living under a cemetery and emerging to fight crime, The Spectre was clearly inspired by Will Eisner's The Spirit in conception, if not in art."

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

Santa's elves go on strike! (Yet Another Comics Blog)

Santa's elves go on strike on Will Eisner's cover to P.S. Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #157 (1965).

Click HERE to see more!

Will Eisner Don Quixote sketch (SGrettis)

FitzWorldUS: New blog on Will Eisner and PS Magazine!

During its nearly six decades of publication, PS Magazine has survived numerous close-calls in confrontations involving art style, characterization, and reflections of military life that were considered by some authorities to be "to the prejudice of good order and discipline." Most of these dustups occurred in the magazine's first 21 years, the period when Will Eisner held the contract for providing creative art and pre-press production services. Some were resolved with abject capitulation, compromises were reached in others, and in many the solutions came from Eisner's artistic nimbleness and fancy footwork. The most effective and on-going solution was a strategic retreat into a time-warp or the worlds of literature, entertainment, and folk-lore...

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

1958 Will Eisner “Spaceman Discovers Christmas” Comic (Andertoons.com)

Distributed by Ben Franklin Stores (and possibly other retailers). Rather than pages of product promotion, the complete comic is the story of a space alien named J.B. Grook who lands in his flying saucer and is escourted around town learning about what Christmas is all about (not a religious comic, rather giving to others, etc.). Produced by Will Eisner’s commercial studio, Promotional Publications, with art by and/or supervised by Eisner, creator of the Spirit.

Click here to keep reading at ANDERTOONS.com!

High-Res Will Eisner original Spirit pages (CHIUStream)

The website CHIUStream has high-res images from Will Eisner's "The Spirit" Sunday pages.


Check it out HERE!

Will Eisner Shows You How to Get a Job – Educational Comic Book Scans from 1969 (Cartoon SNAP)

“You’re Hired” is an educational comic by The Spirit’s Will Eisner.

Click HERE to jump to the entire eight-page instructional epic, originally published in 1969.

The typography of Will Eisner (PulpHope)

Baseline magazine's 1990 feature on the comics typography of Will Eisner. Baseline is an excellent design publication, I highly recommend it. They have long championed comics and poster art, every issue is good--some are amazing.

Click HERE to see examples of Eisner's typography!

Free Comics!: Will Eisner’s Complete Run of PS Magazine (Comix 411)

You’re probably familiar with Will Eisner‘s work on The Spirit, and maybe you’ve read The Contract With God trilogy, but are you familiar with his WWII panels for “Joe’s Dope Sheet”? Courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University, 254 complete issues of Eisner’s work for PS magazine are available for viewing here. (Posted by Kris Madden, Comix 411)

Book captures spirit of magazine cartoonist (Redstone Rocket)

Legendary Will Eisner
illustrated PS Magazine

by Kelley Lane Sivley

Staff writer
kelleylanesivley@att.net

August 12, 2009 11:30 AM

As the Army's PS Magazine celebrates its 58th year in publication, a book about its history is hot off the presses.

The author, Paul Fitzgerald, tells the history of celebrated graphic novelist and artist Will Eisner, who spent 21 years bringing the material in PS Magazine to life.

"PS, the Preventive Maintenance Monthly has been in existence for over 58 years. In any organization that's been around that long, you run the risk of losing the institutional memories, the earliest anecdotes and stories, and the actual truth involved with your organization's origin," Stuart Henderson, production manager at PS Magazine, said. "None of our current staff members were with PS during those early years. I know of only four living people who were, and one of them is Paul Fitzgerald."

Fitzgerald served in the Army at the close of World War II. After his uniformed days were over, he went to West Virginia University and graduated in journalism. When one of his former professors took over editorship with PS Magazine, then located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., he offered a newly created position to Fitzgerald.

"I was the managing editor of a weekly newspaper in Elkton, Md., which is about 20 miles north of Aberdeen Proving Ground," Fitzgerald said. "He reached out and recruited me as his managing editor. I was the first managing editor of PS Magazine."

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

Order Paul Fitzgerald's book only by clicking HERE!

Artist Eddie Campbell on Will Eisner and PS Magazine (The Fate of an Artist)

Sunday, 30 August 2009

The usual summary of comic book artist Will Eisner’s career follows the formula that he drew the Spirit all through the 1940s except for the war years and a bunch of ‘graphic novels’ from 1978 till the end of his life in 2005. There’s a long missing period between 1951 and 1978 during which he packaged and adapted cartoon art to commercial purposes, which has not been readily available for our scrutiny or pleasure. It is sometimes summarily dismissed as being of little interest.

The last time I wrote about Will Eisner’s 'middle period,' was in defence of the artist in a letter to the Comics Journal (#270) following publisher Gary Groth’s piece in their big Eisner obituary issue (#267) which could only be explained as spiteful. I though it was unnecessary, not because it was an inappropriate time, but because it was… unnecessary. Not wanting to allow my comments to stand isolated, Gary hemmed them in with another batch of his own (much as I am doing here in return), from which I quote:

“I’ve seen the litany of banal explanations for Eisner’s abandoning of the art form for the world of business… I acknowledge that it’s eminently possible that we have reached the point where a training manual for the pentagon or an informational educational story arguing against national health care is indistinguishable from an artist’s exploration of the human condition, and refraining from lamenting this state of affairs is not so much uncivilized as a bourgeois evasion.”

I cannot see, as I get further and further from my eleven-year-old self who first read Eisner in 1966, how the cranking out of a weekly comic book for twelve years about a mask-wearing hero can be art of a sort but turning the same techniques to an instructional magazine about equipment maintenance for living, working soldiers, cannot be. I’m sure Eisner and most reasonable beings saw and see them both as commercial enterprises.

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

Review: Will Eisner's "A Family Matter"

Publisher: WW Norton

2009, 72 pages, $15.95

By Ian Chant

A birthday. A reunion. A death in the family. These are the small stories captured so eloquently in A Family Matter, one of the last works of graphic fiction icon Will Eisner.

I learned to read on superhero comic books, and when I was still a kid they turned on me with a vengeance. The much maligned Spiderman ‘Clone Saga’ pushed me out of a lifetime of comics reading. But holed up in a public library one rainy northwest afternoon, Will Eisner brought me back to the fold. I picked up a copy of A Contract With God and got hooked all over again. Will Eisner’s stories of life in the tenements of New York proved that the funny pages of my youth could just as easily be a place for serious storytelling, for exploring, small, personal, everyday narratives with phenomenal grace and depth. A Family Matteris one of those stories, and while it doesn’t stand alongside the finest works in his catalog, Eisner’s evocative illustrations breathe real life into an otherwise banal story.

Like many of the tenement stories, A Family Matter is a melodrama, and it carries every burden that implies, occasionally bending under the weight of a storyline that can feel overwrought and dialogue that is frequently simplistic. The story moves along at a breakneck pace, and it is to its detriment that Eisner seems intent on covering too large a story in too brief a span. But it’s rendered gorgeously, the art work loosed from its traditionally paneled moorings, the images flowing naturalistically into one another. Scenes from the past and present collide, and the action of the tale occurs as much in the minds eye of its cast as it does in the here and now, a storytelling style that lends itself to Eisner’s flowing visuals. This loose, simultaneous storytelling brilliantly illuminates the unforgiven wrongs that lie just beneath the surface of too many family reunions. The wounds of the past constantly make themselves felt anew, forcing their way into the present against the wishes and better judgment of Eisner’s cast.

Click HERE to Keep Reading!

Comix Friday: Will Eisner’s “new” releases (JWeekly.com)

Friday, July 31, 2009
by rachel freedenberg

It seems like every couple of months there's something new from Jewish comic legend Will Eisner arriving in our newsroom mailbox. Of course, none of it is actually new, but since 2005 W.W. Norton and Co. has been reprinting Eisner's works under the umbrella of the Will Eisner Library. The final books in the series have just been released, finishing off the library with 21 books, including 14 graphic novels.

The latest (and last) releases are "A Family Matter," "Life on Another Planet" and "Minor Miracles." None of these are as well-known as Eisner titles like "A Contract With God," "The Plot," "Comics and Sequential Art" and "The Spirit," but I'm sure they're plenty worthy to round out the series.

It might be blasphemy to admit this, but I've never much liked Eisner's drawing style - it's a little cartoony and exaggerated for me. But I'm looking forward to reading these books - particularly "A Family Matter," which looks dark and juicy.

Álbum de Will Eisner inaugura coleção dedicada às 'graphic novels' (Jornal do Brasil)

Marco Antonio Barbosa, JB Online

RIO - Há muitos apostos – todos positivos – que podem ser reunidos ao nome de Will Eisner. O quadrinista americano (1917-2005) é creditado como introdutor da influência da linguagem cinematográfica nas HQs. Criou um dos mais icônicos super-heróis de todos os tempos, o Spirit (1940). E foi um dos primeiros a apostar no formato hoje conhecido como graphic novel: histórias longas, narrativas adultas, abordagens literárias. Um dos mais interessantes aspectos de sua longa obra, entretanto, às vezes fica em segundo plano: seu papel como arguto observador do cotidiano urbano. É essa faceta que sobressai no belíssimo álbum Nova York: a vida na grande cidade (Tradução de Augusto Pacheco Calil. 440 páginas, R$ 55), que inaugura o Quadrinhos na Cia., novo selo da Companhia das Letras dedicado apenas à dita “arte sequencial”.

O calhamaço de mais de 400 páginas é, na verdade, a compilação de quatro graphic novels que o artista lançou num momento que, para qualquer outro artista, poderia ser considerado como “crepuscular”. No fim da década de 70, com mais de 40 anos de carreira nas costas, Eisner apostou firme no formato dos “romances gráficos”, combinando uma abordagem artística absolutamente realista com uma rara percepção da poesia (e do surrealismo) que se esconde nos becos e vielas desfavorecidos da Grande Maçã. Nova York, a grande cidade (1986), O edifício (1987) e Pessoas invisíveis (1993), além do Caderno de tipos urbanos (uma coleção de vinhetas essencialmente visuais sobre a cidade) estão no pacote.

Click HERE to Keep Reading (or Pretending)!

Happy 110th B-Day, "Busy" Arnold from Providence! (Examiner.com)

By Sam Gafford

Today, May 20th, is the 110th birthday of Everett "Busy" Arnold, one of the prime movers of the Golden Age of comics! And he was born in Providence, RI, to boot!

Growing up in Rhode Island, Everett had a nasty habit of talking in class which earned him the nickname, "busybody". Shortened to "Busy", it would stick with him for the rest of his life. After graduating from Brown University in 1921, "Busy" worked in various printing companies and was the Eastern sales representative for NYC's Goss Printing Company during which time he sold presses to Eastern Color Printing which would later publish the first American comic book, Famous Funnies #1, in 1934.

After investing in several comic book enterprises, "Busy" formed his own company (Comic Favorites, Inc.) in collaboration with three newspaper comic strip syndicates. In 1937, "Busy" published Feature Funnies which mixed reprints of popular comic strips like "Joe Palooka" with new material purchases from the new comic "studios". These "studios" were companies built solely to supply the exploding comics market with material that they produced and then sold to publishers. For most of his new material, "Busy" relied on the successfull Eisner and Iger studio. Unlike many other small publishers of the time, however, "Busy" also cultivated an 'in-house' staff of creators.

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Forgotten Will Eisner Photo @ SVA, 1978-79

From former Will Eisner student Brian Postman:

i just discovered this photo existed 2 days ago!....it's from 1978-1979,and it's will's class at sva...i'm in it to the right of will...also mike carlin, keith williams, mike clark, bob pizzo, bob dunn, kevin yenosonis.... this was taken by a classmate with mike clark's camera....this would have been a great photo for your book,but i know it's too late....anyway i thought you'd get a kick out of seeing it.

best,

brian

brianpostman.com/
comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=13619

Top comic-book minds pick New York’s finest (New York Magazine)

Image by annulla via Flickr

Blah, blah, blah... and then there's this:

Keith Mayerson, comics professor, SVA:
Will Eisner’s New York: Life in the Big City (Will Eisner, 2006)
“Classic stories of humans versus city-as-machine, by the comic-story master.”

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Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage hosts comic-book exhibit (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Zap! Pow! Bam! The Super Hero: The Golden Age of Comic Books
What: An exhibit covering origins and history of comic books.
When: Through Jan. 4.
Where: The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, 2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood.
Info: For tickets and details, call 216-593-0575 or go to MaltzJewishMuseum.org.

by Michael Sangiacomo / Plain Dealer Reporter

Monday September 15, 2008, 11:59 PM

The single, framed piece of yellowed paper from the early 1940s is unique and priceless in the truest sense of the words. The page has Joe Shuster's story pencil drawings of Superman with an inscription by Jerry Siegel to Batman artist Jerry Robinson. Siegel quips that if he had seen Robinson's art first, he might have hired him to draw Superman. The creators of Superman sharing a moment with the guy who created The Joker.

A comic fan's dream.

That's just one of more than 100 pieces on display at The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, where "Zap! Pow! Bam! The Super Hero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950" exhibit begins Tuesday.

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