Eisner, Will (1917-2005), was an American cartoon artist and author. He was one of the most influential figures in the history of modern comic strips and comic books. He inspired generations of comics artists by advancing the appearance and storytelling power of comics. Eisner was also a pioneer in creating comics for educational and vocational purposes. He developed training and instructional manuals for schools and for such clients as the United Nations and the United States Department of Defense.
Eisner created many major comics characters, notably the mysterious masked private detective known as the Spirit. Eisner’s A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories (1978) is a landmark in the development of the graphic novel. A graphic novel is a book-length story that combines pictures and text. A Contract with God, Eisner’s first graphic novel, is a collection of four autobiographical stories that deal seriously with such adult themes as religion and prejudice.
William Erwin Eisner was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on March 6, 1917. He began drawing comics in high school. He sold his first comic feature in 1936. Eisner created “The Spirit” in 1940. It ran until 1952 as a weekly multipage adventure series in newspapers. However, “The Spirit” did not appear from 1942 to 1945, when Eisner was serving in the United States Army during World War II. Eisner analyzed the unique relationship between text and visual images in comics in Comics and Sequential Art (1985). In 1988, the annual Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were established in his honor to reward achievements in American comic books.
Eisner produced a steady flow of comics collections and graphic novels until his death on Jan. 3, 2005. His Life, in Pictures: Autobiographical Stories was published in 2007, after his death.
See also Graphic novel.
