The Art of WILL EISNER: A Pioneer Who Revolutionized the World of Comics
When in 1988 the San Diego Comic-Con established an awards ceremony to recognize outstanding artists in the industry, the name chosen for the statues surprised no one: The Eisner name had been synonymous with excellence in comics for decades. From publishing his first pages at 19 until his death at 85, Will Eisner dedicated every day of his life to developing the medium in every imaginable capacity. Possessing both a keen business sense and insatiable creative aspirations, Eisner shaped the industry in his wake, and entire generations of artists unabashedly recognize him as their master.
In this journey through the life of one of the key players in American comics, we’ll discover how Will Eisner, known as the Spirit of Comics and the Godfather of the Graphic Novel, forever transformed the world of sequential art. Get ready to immerse yourself in a fascinating story that will inspire you to explore your own creative potential in the world of comics.
The First Strokes of a Genius
William Erwin Eisner was born on March 6, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York, but was raised primarily in the Bronx. The dilapidated apartment buildings he lived in left an indelible mark on his formative years and would become a constant source of inspiration throughout his career.
His father, a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine with an artistic vocation, always encouraged his son’s creative aspirations. From a very young age, Eisner was a voracious reader, fully immersing himself in pulp sensibility and devouring every story magazine he could get his hands on. On weekends, the cinema became his second home, nurturing his visual imagination.
At 13, in the midst of the Great Depression, Eisner began working as a newsboy. Although the job didn’t pay enough to make a big economic difference, it allowed him access to the comic strips of all New York newspapers. It was during this time that he became an avid follower of comic titans like George Herriman and E.C. Segar, just as the medium was entering an era of rapid development.
During his time at DeWitt Clinton High School, where he was a classmate and friend of Bob Kane (future creator of Batman), Eisner participated in various editorial and artistic projects. He created illustrations, caricatures, stage designs for plays, small comic strips, and even published his own literary magazine. These early experiences were crucial in developing his skills and finding his creative voice, laying the foundation for his future career in the world of comics.
The First Steps in the Industry
After leaving school and studying drawing under George Bridgman at the Art Students League of New York, Eisner got a job lettering ads on the night shift of the advertising department at the New York American newspaper. This was just the beginning of a series of jobs that would allow him to gain experience and skills in various aspects of the publishing and advertising industry.
Soon, Eisner was doing illustrations for pulps and magazines, drawing small comics for advertisements, and sending cartoon samples to all the magazines in New York. He jumped from job to job in various printing houses and publishers, trying to make it as a commercial artist in the brutal 1930s. This stage of his life not only provided him with valuable technical skills but also taught him the importance of perseverance and adaptability in an ever-changing industry.
In 1936, at the age of 19, Eisner took a giant step in his career when he headed with his portfolio to the offices of the boys’ magazine “Wow, what a magazine!”. Although initially editor Jerry Iger was too busy to pay attention to him due to a crisis at the printing press, Eisner proved his worth by quickly solving the problem thanks to his engraving knowledge acquired in previous jobs.
First cover art of Eisner’s career, in Wow, what a magazine! #3
Impressed, Iger bought four pages from him and commissioned more material. However, the joy was short-lived, as “Wow, what a magazine!” closed its doors after only 4 issues, without paying Eisner and leaving Iger out of a job. This setback, far from discouraging him, ignited his entrepreneurial spirit and led him to propose an innovative idea that would change the course of his career and the comics industry.
The Birth of a Revolutionary Studio
In 1936, the “Comic Book” format was still a novelty in the United States, but it was proving to be immensely popular and profitable. The cheap pulp magazines, tabloid-sized, that reprinted daily newspaper strips in color for just 10 cents, were selling like hotcakes, gaining more and more space at newsstands.
Eisner, with his keen business sense, foresaw that these magazines would soon run out of cheap daily strips to reprint. Recognizing that Iger had editorial experience and contacts in the industry, he proposed forming a partnership in which Eisner would draw original comics for Iger to sell to publishers.
With just 35 dollars gathered from various commercial jobs, they rented a tiny office in Midtown Manhattan, and thus the Eisner & Iger studio was born. At first, Eisner was the only artist, signing with different pseudonyms to appear as if it was a large studio. He used anagrams and phonetic games like Erwin Willis, Willis Nerr, and Willis B. Rensie, among others.
However, Eisner & Iger soon became a breeding ground for talent, through which some of the most important figures of the Golden Age of comics passed, such as Jack Kirby, Lou Fine, and Mort Meskin. The studio pioneered in applying the assembly process to comic drawing, recruiting artists specialized in character design, penciling, inking, covers, and other specific aspects.
One of Eisner’s first series, signing as Willis Rensie, during his time at the Eisner & Iger studio
This innovative way of working allowed the studio to produce at its peak more than 200 complete pages of comics per month, giving life to characters that reached great popularity such as Blackhawk or Sheena the Jungle Queen. The studio’s success not only provided Eisner with the financial stability to support his family but also allowed him to perfect his skills and experiment with different styles and techniques.
Despite the success, Eisner harbored a deeper ambition in his soul. He was convinced that comics had an unimaginable expressive potential and was eager to experiment with how to exploit it. This concern would lead him to make a risky decision that would change not only his career but also the history of comics.
The Spirit: A New Paradigm in Comics
By the late 1930s, comic books had become a true popular phenomenon, driven by Superman’s surprising success. Newspapers, noticing that these magazines were competing with their comics sections, sought a way to counteract this trend.
In this context, around Christmas 1939, Eisner received a proposal that would change his career. The Des Moines Register Tribune Syndicate was looking for an artist to produce a weekly tabloid-sized comic book, to be distributed in Sunday newspapers around the country. The offer required producing 7 complete pages of comics each week and supervising a small group of artists on another 9.
Although Eisner had a fairly secure job in his studio, the novelty of the concept attracted him considerably. He saw in this proposal the opportunity to move out of the niche of comic books, aimed primarily at a child audience, and reach a more adult audience with his work. Convinced that the medium had unimaginable expressive potential, Eisner was eager to experiment and exploit these possibilities.
Thus, on July 2, 1940, “The Spirit” was born, one of the most revolutionary series of the Golden Age of comics. Although the protagonist wore a mask (a reluctant concession by Eisner to the demand for a “costumed character”), The Spirit was conceived more as a police series, with clear influence from Film Noir and the pulps that Eisner had so enjoyed in his youth.
Eisner always put a lot of effort into The Spirit’s splash pages, playing with the logo typography in innovative ways.
This influence was clearly manifested in the graphic resources that Eisner used throughout the series: cinematic points of view, play of shadows, and climatic effects that sought to generate the appropriate atmosphere for the criminal world of the big city. Eisner conceived the comic as a film or play, where the artist was not only the director and cameraman but also all the actors.
He placed special emphasis on his characters clearly expressing their mood through body language. This “narrative anatomy” would become one of his specialties, efficiently exploiting it throughout his career and setting a new standard in how to tell stories visually.
Effective use of light and shadow play in this page of The Spirit
Although the noir atmosphere was a constant in The Spirit, Eisner did not limit himself to the police genre. While Spirit was nominally the hero of the series, he often functioned as just another character in the plot, and in many chapters, he barely appeared. Spirit served more as a point of view, a trigger through which Eisner could tell short stories in the tradition of O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe.
From one week to the next, The Spirit could go from police to science fiction, from horror to slapstick, from adventure to tragedy, without losing its identity. This versatility allowed Eisner to explore a wide range of themes and narrative styles, demonstrating the comic’s ability to address complex and mature stories.
Final page of Gerhard Shnobble, the story in which Eisner considered he best achieved his literary ambitions in The Spirit.
But it was in page compositions where Eisner really consolidated himself as a master of the medium. Motivated by the sincere belief that he was working in an art form with yet unimagined possibilities, Eisner conscientiously dedicated himself to exploring the possibilities of comics.
Throughout the 12 years he did The Spirit, Eisner experimented with all kinds of layouts, structures, and graphic approaches, trying to expand the limits of what was possible in 7 pages of comics. From manipulating the reading rhythm through panel design to metatextual elements to surprise the reader, week after week Eisner pushed comics towards narrative possibilities never seen before.
In this page, Eisner uses page design to communicate a mundane scene in a visually striking and narratively effective way
The Spirit came to be read by 5 million people each week, consolidating Eisner as one of the most respected artists in the industry. However, in the early 1950s, Eisner again felt it was time to look for something new. The typical paranoia of McCarthyism had reached comic books, and Eisner felt frustrated by the contempt he received from society for drawing “those horrible brain-rotting rags,” despite all the care and craftsmanship he put into his work.
In 1952, The Spirit came to an end, but Eisner’s legacy in narrative and visual innovation in comics was just beginning. His next project would lead him to apply his narrative skills in a completely new field, demonstrating once again his versatility and vision as an artist.
PS Magazine: Art in the Service of Education
After the end of The Spirit, Eisner focused his attention on applying his narrative obsession to a new project: PS, the Preventive Maintenance Monthly. Thanks to some contacts from his time in the army during World War II, he got the contract to design and illustrate this visual supplement to the training manuals of the armed forces.
The goal was to motivate soldiers to take care of their equipment, a seemingly dry topic that Eisner managed to transform into something attractive and understandable. He took on this new challenge with enthusiasm, applying his knowledge of composition and his skill with the pen to communicate the dry maintenance instructions in a clear and digestible way, and even entertaining when circumstances allowed.
Eisner put his skill with female anatomy to use in several pin-ups and posters for PS
For 20 years, Eisner focused on PS, demonstrating how the art of comics could be effectively applied in educational and technical contexts. This work not only allowed him to continue developing his skills as an artist and visual communicator, but also opened new possibilities for the use of comics in non-traditional settings.
While Eisner worked on PS, his legend steadily grew among the flourishing comic book fandom. His noir style proved extremely attractive to new generations of artists, and his graphic experimentation and literary sensibility were rediscovered and particularly appreciated among artists of the flourishing underground like Art Spiegelman and Denis Kitchen, who reprinted The Spirit exposing it to a new generation.
The Renaissance of a Master: The Era of the Graphic Novel
At 60, when most people think about retiring, Eisner decided it was the right time to return to drawing for the mass public. Recognizing that the adult audience he had desired for his comics had finally formed, Eisner set out once again to be at the forefront, seeking to reach new audiences and explore the potential of comics for creative expression at levels rarely seen before.
Drawing on his memories of his childhood in the Bronx, and inspired by Lynd Ward’s woodcut novels, Eisner drew a series of short stories, connected by the dilapidated apartment building in which they take place. In these stories, he explored themes of disillusionment, identity, and grief, in a personal and expressive style that resembled nothing that could be found on shelves or in the newly appeared comic shops.
Once the work was completed, Eisner went out to offer it to different book publishers, with the aim of being able to place his comics in bookstores, facing an adult and sophisticated market. In 1978, “A Contract With God” went on sale in bookstores around the United States, ushering in a new era in comic distribution and consolidating the concept of the “graphic novel”.
Expressive and emotional page from A Contract With God. Eisner is recognized as one of the best rain artists – Frank Miller affectionately calls scenes of characters walking melancholically in the rain “Eisnershpritz” in homage.
“A Contract With God” represented a radical break from traditional comic conventions. Although it clearly used the language of comics, in addition to all the tricks Eisner had learned during The Spirit, the work offered a completely different reading experience from what was customary in a comic until that date.
Eisner discarded panel borders whenever he could, preferring open and dramatic panels that gave weight to the tragedy unfolding in the stories. He incorporated lettering as a fundamental part of the page, promoting not only clear reading of the story but also communicating the emotion of a scene through the letters themselves. He even printed the story in sepia ink, giving it a strangely nostalgic tone suitable for stories based on memories of his youth.
If The Spirit reprints had made Eisner a classic artist, “A Contract With God” definitely established him as a master among masters. Not only did he earn the respect of his peers, but he also innovated the concept of the graphic novel, opening the door to the country’s bookstores for comics and generating a space of support for new formats and projects.
Far from resting on his laurels, Eisner took advantage of the space he had found and drew 19 more graphic novels in his later years, until his death in 2005. Each of these works expanded the limits of what was possible in comics, exploring mature and complex themes with a depth and sensitivity rarely seen in the medium.
All the narrative skill of the mature Eisner, from layout to expressive anatomy, are on display in this page from 1982.
Will Eisner’s Educational Legacy
In addition to enjoying the fruits of his creative work, Eisner dedicated himself to communicating the knowledge he had acquired throughout his career to a new generation of artists. He gave talks and seminars on the potential of comics around the world, sharing his vision and experience with enthusiasts and professionals alike.
For years, Eisner was a professor of sequential art at the School of Visual Arts, teaching one of the world’s first academic-level comic drawing classes. This teaching experience not only allowed him to train new talents but also led him to systematize and articulate his knowledge about the medium in a way that could be transmitted and studied.
The result of these classes was “Comics and Sequential Art,” a conscientious study of the functioning of the different elements that are part of comics. This book quickly became essential reading material for anyone interested in the medium, offering a deep and detailed vision of the principles of sequential art.
Comics and Sequential Art includes “Hamlet on a rooftop,” a sequence in which Eisner illustrates Shakespeare’s famous monologue in an urban setting, while explaining step by step his use of narrative anatomy.
“Comics and Sequential Art” is not only a technical manual but also a declaration of principles about the artistic and communicative potential of comics. In its pages, Eisner demonstrates how visual and textual elements combine to create a unique language, capable of transmitting complex ideas and deep emotions in a way that no other medium can match.
This book, along with his subsequent theoretical works, has influenced generations of artists and has contributed significantly to the academic legitimization of comic studies. If you’re interested in delving deeper into the art of comics, these resources are essential for your training.
Will Eisner’s Enduring Legacy
Will Eisner’s work is extensive, varied, and highly attractive, but possibly his educational facet is the most significant expression of his legacy. From the first day he put pencil to paper, Eisner was convinced that comics were not just a pastime for pre-teens or vulgar entertainment, but a modern and vital means of expression with unlimited potential.
Both in The Spirit and in his graphic novels, Eisner explored the limits of what was possible in comics, and encouraged thousands of artists to follow him. His influence can be seen in the work of countless creators who have continued to push the boundaries of the medium, from formal innovators like Chris Ware to visual storytellers like Marjane Satrapi.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the current comics scene, in which the medium encompasses such a wide range of expressions that it’s dizzying, is built on the foundations that Eisner passionately drew. From the most conventional superhero comics to the most experimental graphic novels, all owe something to Will Eisner’s vision and pioneering work.
Eisner’s legacy reminds us that comics are a powerful and versatile medium of expression, capable of addressing any topic and reaching any audience. It challenges us to continue exploring, experimenting, and pushing the limits of what is possible in sequential art.
If you feel inspired by Will Eisner’s story and want to follow in his footsteps in the world of comics, remember that the path begins with constant practice and dedicated study. Ready to take the next step in your artistic journey? Discover how you can develop your skills here.
The innovative spirit and passion for the medium that Eisner demonstrated throughout his career continue to be a source of inspiration for artists and readers alike. His life and work remind us that comics are an ever-evolving art form, always ready to surprise us with new ways of telling stories and expressing ideas. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next Will Eisner, ready to revolutionize the world of comics with your unique vision.
