WILL EISNER'S LIVING LEGACY

[MattBrady]

By nearly anyone’s view, it hasn’t been a good week for the comics industry. With the death of Will Eisner, a palpable void in the industry opened up – a void that will never be filled. While many conversations circulating throughout the industry in the days following the announcement mused on who would now stand as comics’ elder statesman, advocate and innovator, and how the world will never see the likes of Will Eisner again, others took solace in how prolific Eisner was during the course of his life, and how both the industry and the publishing world will make sure that none of his contributions are forgotten or fall from the public eye. While history is tragically full of creators who were allowed to fade from the public’s memory, the combined efforts of several publishers will make sure that Eisner’s legacy of art and inspiration live on for decades.

At DC Comics, Eisner’s The Spirit, which has been the home to the reprints of Denny Colt and company since 2000 will continue to appear in the publisher’s Archive Editions. Currently, DC has published fifteen Spirit volumes, of, according to DC, a projected run of 24 volumes in total. Given DC’s publishing frequency of the volumes, this will keep Spirit volumes coming for roughly the next three years.

In other Spirit sightings, Eisner’s final Spirit story will appear in Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #6 due from Dark Horse in April. The story features Eisner’s Spirit meeting Michael Chabon’s Escapist – a very touching meeting of the two creator’s fictional analogues. The story is written and drawn by Eisner, with art assists by Alex Saviuk. (The Spirit ® © 2005 Will Eisner. The Escapist TM ® © 2005 Michael Chabon)

DC also released The Will Eisner Companion by N.C. Christopher Couch, an authorized, hardcover overview of Eisner’s work in December.

As the official obituary from DC revealed, WW Norton, in addition to publishing Eisner’s last complete work, The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in May, has also acquired worldwide rights to the Will Eisner Library graphic novel backlist, which was previously held by DC.

The Library is made up of 14 of Eisner’s graphic novels, including A Contract with God, Dropsie Avenue, A Life Force, Name of the Game, The Heart of the Storm, and others. Norton will begin publishing these graphic novels in a new format, with new material, in November of 2005. According to Eisner’s editor at Norton, Robert Weil, speaking to A Spirited Life eNewsletter the new material includes a bridge piece connecting A Contract with God, Dropsie Avenue and A Life Force together as one epic.

Acclaimed novelist Umberto Eco wrote the introduction for The Plot.

Dark Horse will remain as publishers for Eisner’s Last Day in Vietnam, The Will Eisner Sketchbook, Shop Talk Hawks of the Sea and the upcoming Miller/Eisner, now scheduled for an April release.

Also, coming out via Dark Horse’s M Press is the authorized biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, by Bob Andelman, who maintains the Spirited Life eNewsletter as well.

Along with Andleman’s Bob Greenberger has also written a biography of Eisner, coming from Rosen Books’ new Library of Graphic Novelists. Posting on his blog, Greenberger said: “In 2004, I received the opportunity to produce his biography as part of Rosen Books’ new Library of Graphic Novelists and it wasn’t easy squeezing his life into a mere 18.000 words. It’ll be out in a few months and I am deeply saddened he won’t be around to see his life celebrated in this way.”

Last, but by no means least, Eisner’s “textbooks,” that is Comics and Sequential Storytelling and Graphic Storytelling will continue to be distributed by F+W Publications, which has distributed the titles for the past few years. The books were published through Eisner’s own Poorhouse Press.

“It was Will’s last vestige of publishing,” Eisner’s agent and longtime friend Denis Kitchen said. “Those have gone through multiple, multiple printings. So, until the contact between Poorhouse and F+W expires, F+W will have them. At that point, Ann and the agency will look at it to see if we want to renew it with them, or take them somewhere else.”

Kitchen brought to light one sad note to Eisner’s lasting legacy concerning the textbooks though: “What was on Will’s drawing board when he died was the third part of the instructional trilogy. When I saw it in November, it was penciled and organized, but he still had quite a ways to go on it. It would have been called Expressive Anatomy, which would have completed what he was trying to show people over the years – how to make comics the Will Eisner way.

“It is conceivable that there might be enough in there that something could be put together by someone else, someone that Will would’ve trusted to handle it.”

Finally, IDW, which recently published a new collection of John Law stories, starring Eisner’s character, written and drawn by Gary Chaloner. IDW told Newsarama that they are currently considering publishing a second volume of new John Law stories.

If nothing else, the above work stands, and will continue to stand as a living testament to Eisner’s influence on the industry and medium he dearly loved - a vital, important collection of stories, instruction, and examples of how comics can continue to reach for their full potential. The man himself may be gone, but in comics, he will never be forgotten.

[HowAreWeToLive]

i cant wait for The Plot.

[Michael C Lorah]

I'm really looking forward to The Plot, Eisner/Miller, The Escapist and the rest of the Spirit Archives. I regret that I'll never have a chance to shake the man's hand, but I'll continue to enjoy (and re-enjoy) his work in whatever form I can find.

I'll probably wind up picking up the extended editions of the graphic novel trilogy too, just to see how he fit it all together.

[Velvet Glove]

I had already really been thinking about Eisner/Miller but now it's a must have, I'm really interested in hearing what these two masters of the medium have to say about it.

[WolverineX]

Will Eisner worked with Frank Miller?

[Zadillo]

Originally posted by WolverineX
Will Eisner worked with Frank Miller?

If you click on the link above, you will be taken to the Newsarama story to explain what Miller/Eisner refers to.

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/show...threadid=13893

-Zadillo

[Sparvid]

How many Spirit-stories did Eisner do after the strip ended in the 50s? And will all of those make it to the final Archive book?

[dr.no]

Originally posted by Zadillo
If you click on the link above, you will be taken to the Newsarama story to explain what Miller/Eisner refers to.

http://www.newsarama.com/forums/show...threadid=13893

-Zadillo

And that book still isn't published!

[smileyguy]

Originally posted by dr.no
And that book still isn't published!

So when is the book coming out???? It looks nice and interesting. Any updates on the status?

[Chris1]

Originally posted by HowAreWeToLive
i cant wait for The Plot.

Yea, that book is going to be really good. Too bad Eisner won't be around to talk about it.

[dr.no]

Originally posted by smileyguy
So when is the book coming out???? It looks nice and interesting. Any updates on the status?

It was resollicited in the january issue of previews. The one with the Jim Lee/Alex Ross cover art.