DAMMIT

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Newsarama is reporting that Will Eisner passed away from complications related to his recent quadruple bypass.

Eisner, Kelly Freas…God, is this year off to a crappy start.

I’m looking right at the Eisner Award plaque I got back in 1992, which I had him autograph on the back. What a great moment that was in my life.

I know they both had good runs and left behind an incredible body of work, but that just doesn’t really mollify it, y’know?

PAD

57 comments on “DAMMIT”

  1. Aww geeze… man that blows… he was, well, the Man. If Kirby was King, Eisner was Emperor.

    Sheesh.

    Now I’m bummed.

    Travis

  2. The only way I ever interacted with Mr. Eisner was online. Thank goodness he was willing to use the internet. I spoke to him twice, once to ask about upcoming projects, another to tell him how much his work meant to me.

    Both times he was patient and courteous, even though he wasn’t officially ‘in public’.

    I’m gonna miss his work, and seeing him on my Buddy List.

  3. That’s a real shame. Eisner was one of the real artists of the comic book medium, both in “traditional” stories (THE SPIRIT showed that tales about a masked crimefighter could be much more than simple slugfests) and his looks at everyday city life. He will be truly missed.

  4. His loss is one of those that leaves us all diminished. I’m glad that, unlike so many other innovators, he lived to see his work recognized for what it was.

  5. I had never met Mr. Eisner, though I had seen him at conventions. I am, however, friends to both Kelly Freas’s daughter, Jacqui, and his widow, Laura. I was at Kelly’s funeral yesterday. It was a lovely
    combination of crying and laughter (which always makes the best kind of funeral). The biggest laugh
    was when Jerry Pournelle got up to say something
    and was introduced by the rabbi as “One of the greatest writers in Science Fiction today: Larry Niven!”

  6. I met Mr. Eisner at a Small Press Expo in Bethesda.

    I still remember one of the things he said during a panel: “Style is the failure to be perfect.”

    I asked him to sign a paperback (All About P’Gell) I’d picked up at the Expo, and told him how I’d loved his work when I saw it age 11 (the Warren reprints), but I was too young to really appreciate it at the time. He looked at me and said “You appreciated it.”

    I’m just glad that “The Plot” is coming out. I bought “Fagin the Jew” on sight, and loved it.

    Ðámņ. I was expecting this as soon as I saw he’d *had* major heart surgery. I knew the odds. And I know he had a rich body of work, an active mind, and was clearly having fun all the way.

    But this hurts.

  7. Will Eisner was key to helping comics evolve into what they are for us today. Whether a person considers themselves an Eisner fan or not, everyone should know that the best that the medium has produced is somehow influenced by his vision and his work.

    …. I’m going to dig out some of my Kitchen Sink reprints of the Spirit.

    Fred

  8. Another great one has left us. That’s all I can really say about it. We will definitely miss Will.

  9. Back in 1973, as an ignorant fanboy, I sent Will Eisner my ENTIRE portfolio, replete with its bad original art, and asked him to look it over.

    Not only did he respond, he wrote a wonderful and sincere letter back, and invited me to stop by his studio any time if I happened to be in the New York area.

    I later wrote to hime a few other times, and every time he responded in the same friendly and professional manner — as if he was talking to a peer, rather than the wet-nosed, starry-eyed, comic artist wannabe that I was.

    My point? Not only was Will Eisner one of the most talented and innovative people to ever draw comics, he seemed to be a very, very nice person, as well.

    He will be greatly, GREATLY missed.

  10. When I heard Eisner was having health problems, I feared this would be the result. I’ve been an admirer of his work since I latched onto a copy of The Great Comic Book Heroes with its reprint of a Spirit story, and the more of his work I’ve read, the more I admired him and his contributions to the medium.

    I also admired the man… I’ve done a transcription or two of panels which he was on, and he always struck me as someone who, no matter how important he was to the medium, never let his ego get in the way… no matter how much he deserved it.

    Losing him definitely gets the new year off on a sad start.

    Jon

  11. I work for W. W. Norton, which will publish Will’s The Plot this Spring.

    A couple of months ago Will visited the Norton offices for a meeting with his editor. My boss, knowing what an Eisner fan I am, said, “You have to go meet Will Eisner.” I always am shy meeting authors (what the heck do I say to them?) but I finally said to myself, “Geez, the guy’s 87, he won’t be around forever, and I’ll be sorry if I never shake his hand and say hi.” So i went to meet him, and was bowled over with his friendliness, enthusiasm, genuine spirit (no pub intended) and wonderful humor. I gave him a copy of The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 which Norton distributes for Fantagraphics, and Will thanked me a lot and we had a wonderful discussion about Charles Schulz and other cartoonists.

    I only got to meet him for maybe five minutes, but those were a very important five minutes to me. I’m sure he’s met thousands of fans wanting their one or two or five minutes with him, and from what I see in honors to him, he did his very best to make you feel as important as you considered he was.

    To answer my own earlier question: what the heck do you say to a man who has impressed you, influenced you, delighted and inspired you with his work? You shake his hand and say “I’m a big fan. Your work has meant a lot to me, Mr. Eisner.”

    And he smiles back and says, “Call me Will.”

    Rest in Peace, Will. But, like Denny Colt, the grave isn’t big enough to hold him—he will live forever.

  12. I went on the CBLDF Cruise with Will in 2000. Each night we got to have dinner with different pros. The last afternoon I mentioned that of the people I would most like to dine with Will was the One. That night he sat in the chair to my right. Ann was on his right.

    The conversation was probably the best I have ever had. The whole time I was sitting there thinking “Will FREAKIN’ Eisner!” Among other things we talked of his time drawing training manuals in the army during WWII. As a result of that conversation I went home and did my graduate research on the effect of graphic novels on adult learner motivation.

    That 90 minutes with Will was the shortest I have ever experienced.

    When I try to explain his influence on my friends who don’t know I tell them he was to comics as Lucas, Spielberg, and Scorcese summatively are to movies. He redefined everything.

    -tpl

  13. I never met Will Eisner. I’ve read his books on the craft of comics, seen him present at two of the awards ceremonies named after him, and read a smattering of his comics work. But I never met the man in person. And now I won’t.

    “Shìŧ” doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now.

  14. Wating for Byrne to say that Eisener wasn’t a hero. And he wrote thousands of words in hope that one would be in the right place.

  15. Peter: I offer you my condolences on the loss of your friends. Although I never had the pleasure of their company, I have enjoyed the work of both Mr. Eisner and Mr. Freas for many years. And while I understand that nothing mollifies their passing but, my god, when they were alive, they were ALIVE and enriched so many of our lives along the way.

    Mark W.

  16. The only thing more disappointing than Mr. Eisner’s death (not one of, but THE Great in comics art) is what little attention it will doubtlessly receive in the mainstream media. But then, what could I expect from an institution that thinks the Scott Peterson murder trial is front-page news?

    Bah. We are all the lesser for his passing.

    –R.J.

  18. Um, give the mainstream news sources some time. This is just going through the comics and online sources. I’m sure there’ll be NYT and Associated Press obits in the next day or so; Neil Gaiman’s already mentioned trying to explain Will’s influence to a reporter.

    An acquaintance’s traditional toast right after midnight at New Year’s is “To a year that doesn’t suck yet”. So far, 2005 is off to a land speed record for removing that “yet”.

    As for Will, what everyone else said. I had the honor and pleasure of chatting with him briefly a few times at San Diego, and was always impressed with how friendly, kind, and enthusiastic about his work and the comics medium he was. You never would’ve believed he was 87 unless you did the math on his age and when his work first appeared; he was still vital, sharp, and turning out work that made much younger creators look like wimps.

  20. I never met him, but read his works. I am at a loss for words. Ironic, since his affected so many. My condolences to his family, friends and admirers.

  21. Give it time. I just checked for media obits for Kelly (whose funeral was yesterday). There are now over 175 of them on the net on mainstream media, most of them less than three hours old.

    On the plus side, the first one I heard on the air, was a local news feed from our NPR station yesterday. I heard it just as I was pulling up to Kelly & Laura’s house for the after-funeral gathering.

    (Arrangements are already being made to get Laura a copy.)

    So, I am sure the Eisner information will follow soon.

  22. God, this is already a horrible year for comics. Eisner was a legend… Between this and Dreamwave closing shop, I ALREADY want to curl into a ball until 2006.

  23. Don’t know if this could help much, but how about offering the press an article about him. that way more people will be able to learn about who he is.

  24. This is very sad news. I never met Mr. Eisner, but I’ve seen several interviews with him and read some of his work, so I recognize the unique influence that he brought to the medium of visual storytelling. I’m saddened to learn of his loss.

    At the same time, I’m embarrassed to admit that I own very little of his work. I haven’t been avoiding it, but I never made an attempt to seek it out. I’d honestly like to seek it out now, and honor his memory by doing something I think he’d very much appreciate: reading and experiencing his work in this medium that I love.

    I’m going to buy a few graphic novels of Mr. Eisner’s in the next day or two. Anyone have any suggestions for particularly outstanding volumes? I’d be interested in checking out the Spirit, so should I start with the first Archives volume, or is there another really fantastic entry point? Give me some suggestions, and I will pick some of his work up. I’ve long been meaning to explore Mr. Eisner’s work, and now is my opportunity to dive in head first.

    My condolences to his family and friends in the professional community. It’s said that a man is measured by the love he has shared, and it’s clear that Mr. Eisner was, is, and shall always be one of the finest men the medium has ever known. His contributions are uncontested. 🙁

  25. I was bummed to read about it on Mark Evanier’s blog. When it comes to long-lived, nice-guy, experts passing away (Eisner, Carl Barks, etc.) I usually have a short moment of, “Aw, Ðámņ” followed by a much longer sense of, “Wow, what an incredible/successful life.” I’ve also seen Will Eisner at cons. I’d be very lucky to do one-quarter as well as he did while remaning a class act.

    I’m a bit suprised that, “The Plot” will come out, as I thought he hadn’t finished it yet. I’ve read most of his non-Spirit works (and a little of the Spirit.) Now we’ll never get that Denny O’Neil-written Eisner-draw Batman-Spirit crossover that so many hoped for. Darn.

    Lastly, kudos to Russ Maheras for the AP hookup.

  26. Dammit, indeed.
    I was fortunate enough to meet Will Eisner at SPX in Bethesda a couple of years ago, shook his hand and made sure to tell him how I’d enjoyed his work for 25 years. I knew he wouldn’t be around forever, but I was sure hoping he’d be able to keep creating new work as long as he wanted to.

    I also met Kelly Freas at a con back in the 1980s. One of my friends had commissioned him to do a painting of her, and her husband introduced me to Freas, mentioning that I was also an artist. I looked around the room at the six or seven fully-rendered drawings Freas had done in preparation for the final work, and thought, “No, no, I’m just a scribbler, THIS is an artist.”

    What a rotten way to start the year…

    Paul

  27. and for Michael Cravens I would suggest hitting your nearby library to see what they have, mine has a bunch of his gook works (I’m in San Jose.)

    My favourite is probably Dropsie Avenue, in some ways I consider it one of his most optomistic works.

  29. I only discovered his work a few years ago. I worked in a comic shop and spent too long not reading the good stuff. One week I went through Dark Knight and a couple of Eisners, starting with New York.
    From there I kept reading more and more, loving his works, even picking up the Spirit Archives.

    The good thing about this is he will be deified by his fans more so than he ever has, keeping his memory and his works alive.

    Ðámņ. I’m the only person I know these days who knows about Eisner. I’ll have to teach people, then at least I can toast him for being the god of the graphic novel.

  30. Terrible news. In 1988 I Met Mr. Eisner in San Diego on a shuttle en route from the airport to the hotel I was staying for a Comic convention. He was a charming gentleman. I bought a copy of Comics and Sequential Art at the show hoping I could track him down for an autograph. Sadly, that never happened but I do cherish all of Mr. Eisner’s works in my collection.

  31. Tom wrote: “So, I am sure the Eisner information will follow soon.”

    True enough. Editor & Publisher broke the story, followed by the Chicago Tribune. After a pause, AP Miami’s story hit the wires, and now the story is now in 87 news outlets (and counting). Don’t know how far along the NYC AP reporter got on his story, but it looks like his counterpart in Miami beat him to the wires.

    What is nice is that the story is blooming VERY fast, meaning a lot of people outside the comics industry think that Will’s legacy is important and noteworthy.

    A tip of the hat to you, Will. May your legacy never die.

  33. I have to admit that I haven’t read any of his work. I’ve been meaning to because I heard it was good, but never got around to it. Not just his graphic novels, but I also want to check out stuff like [I]Comics and Sequential Art[/I] and [I]Graphic Storytelling[/I]. Oh well, I know what some of that $50 Borders gift card will go to now.

  34. It was 1999. Atlanta, Georgia. Dragon*Con. I had a multi-fold purpose for making the road trip from Little Rock to Atlanta. On one hand, it was the second time that I was meeting my erstwhile partner in comics, Pat Nestor, as we hastened to pimp out as much preemptive hype of our new comic THE GECKO to as many people as possible. On the other hand it was my birthday weekend, and truly my innermost, secret plan was to meet, and perhaps talk to one of my biggest influences in the comics business, Will Eisner.

    I snagged the convention schedule upon arrival and got the lay of the land in the retailer

  35. Michael summed it up nicely up there, though I’ll paraphrase: “well, f**k” is about the only reaction I’ve got, and it’s not really doing things justice.

    I had the chance to meet Eisner briefly at an Ithacon in the late ’80s — I was a college-age snotnosed punk at the time and so didn’t really register on what a big deal that was until much later in life when I started paying a great deal more attention to the “how” of comics creation.

    Freas, Eisner, and my wife’s grandmother all in the same 36-hour period: what the hëll’s next, a plague of locusts?

    One of the true, true giants. I hope the mainstream obits do him some justice.

    TWL

  36. And, at the moment, a photo and link to the AP obit is front and center on the http://www.boston.com homepage, which is the Boston Globe site.

    Btw, the obit has one error I spotted. Denny Colt was not a coroner prior to being the Spirit.

  37. Dammit.

    If Bad Things Come In Threes… who’s next?

    I never met Eisner, but i can trace my fascination with his work back to the Harvey reprints in the mid-Sixties.

    Kelly i knew and considered a friend, if not a particularly close one, and i always looked forward to running into him at cons here and there.

    It’s hard to get my mind around either of their deaths.

    Eisner’s influence is so pervasive we sometimes don’t recognise it — i was pointing out to Kate just yesterday the cinematic techniques in Brooke McEldowney’s “9 Chickweed Lane” and explaining Eisner’s early useage of such. (For strips that could almost seem to be part of a Spirit story in their use of “camera angle”, see the “9 Chickweed Lane” strips for 12/27 and 12/28 2004 and todays, 1/4/05, at http://www.comics.com/comics/chickweed/index.html)

  38. Although I only Knew Will Eisner through his work I feel like I’ve lost a member of my family.

    Had to read PAD’s posting twice before it sank in.

  39. In the past 24 hours, I found out that my great uncle had a heart attack, some of my friends have been laid off at work, Will Eisner has died, and my grandfather has colon cancer. All in all, a real šhìŧŧÿ day. My condolences to the Eisner family and friends. I never met the man but I always wanted to. Thanks to everyone who has shared their stories about him.

    F-

  40. Btw, Eisner’s passing has made the “front page” of Yahoo!, at least for a few hours – the stories change frequently, but making it shows that it’s gotten some attention.

  41. Everyone (and Michael Cravens in particular),
    If you are looking for a GREAT Will Eisner book to buy, for longtime fans or for the uninitiated, may I suggest “The Will Eisner Companion: The Engineering Spirit Of The Father Of The Graphic Novel” by N.C. Christopher Couch and Stephen Weiner.
    I JUST received a preview copy to review right before Christmas, and it is phenomenal. It contains critical and historical essays on his work, encyclopedic listings and critical examinations of “The Spirit” and other Eisner graphic novels, color reprints of two complete “Spirit” stories (“Gerhard Shnobble” and a classic retelling of the Spirit’s origin), an introduction by Denny O’Neil, over 200 illustrations and a chronology, bibliography and a suggested reading list.
    Phew!
    It was so cool, I asked DC, which published it, if I could interview Eisner because I wanted to do a story to give the book some publicity. DC told me Eisner was “not available” but of course never told me about his health issues.
    So he will forever remain one of the giants of the industry that I never met or interviewed.
    Ðámņ! Seeing as how I was also in the process of setting up an interview with Jerry Orbach about the new “Law and Order” show he’s in, this has been one hëll of a week.

  42. I’ve been trying to write and rewrite a thought to express my grief and emptiness about how losing Will and Kelly and Julie had literally ripped a gaping hole in the very fabric of the Comics Universe over the past year…….
    Y’know?…..that’s it. A gaping hole in the very fabric of the Comics Universe.
    I’ll need some time to bring some coherency to my train of thought. Sorry…..

  45. I just found out at another site right now.

    I had signed up for his class when I was in art school, but I switched because he required a heavy homework load. As I gradually learned more and more of his reputation, I wondered at times if I could’ve at least sat in on his classes, just to see what it was like to see him teach.

    Unfortunately, the only graphic novel of his I’ve read to date, Life On Another Planet, which I read while in Italy last April, was not very good, IMHO, but it’s sad that he’s gone, as his book on sequential art was an excellent read, and studying his panel layouts in my other classes was fascinating.

  47. Eisner’s work–“The Spirit,” “Comics & Sequential Art,” any of his graphic novels–should be required reading for anyone who wants to write/draw comics. Or for anyone who loves a good story well told, for that matter.

  48. Gad, to take a _class_ in storytelling from _that_ guy.

    If he was anything in class like he was at that panel discussion at SPX in Bethesda, Luigi, the homework would have been *worth* it.

    Of course, I also made a point of buying both Life on Another Planet and Last Day in Vietnam when I’d heard he died. I liked LoAP, but I suspect it would have seemed dated to people who grew up after the cold war.

  49. I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Eisner back in 2000 (I think) at Megacon. Never met Mr. Freas. And nope, nothing anyone can say can make me feel their deaths have not diminished the light in the world. RIP Gentlemen…

  50. I read an article about them in this morning’s Baltimore Sun. You know, a man has picked a decomposing arm chair out of a trash heap and tried to sell it for thousands of dollars, calling it “art” while doing nothing other than FINDING THE CHAIR. And without these two great men, the current industry of illustrated stories, in any format (comic book, graphic novel, webcomic) would not exist in its current format. Close? Maybe. As respected? UH-uh.

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