The Eisner Award was named in his honor, and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. ==1917–1936: Early life== ===Family background=== Eisner's father, Shmuel "Samuel" Eisner, was born March 6, 1886, in Kolomyia, Austria-Hungary, and was one of eleven children.
He made what living he could painting backdrops for vaudeville and the Jewish theater. Eisner's mother, Fannie Ingber, was born to Jewish parents from Romania April 25, 1891, on a ship bound for the US.
William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur.
They had three children: son Will Erwin, born on his father's birthday in 1917; son Julian, born February 3, 1921; and daughter Rhoda, born November 2, 1929. ===Early life=== Eisner was born in Brooklyn, New York City.
They had three children: son Will Erwin, born on his father's birthday in 1917; son Julian, born February 3, 1921; and daughter Rhoda, born November 2, 1929. ===Early life=== Eisner was born in Brooklyn, New York City.
They had three children: son Will Erwin, born on his father's birthday in 1917; son Julian, born February 3, 1921; and daughter Rhoda, born November 2, 1929. ===Early life=== Eisner was born in Brooklyn, New York City.
The family situation was especially dire following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that marked the beginning of the Great Depression.
In 1930, the situation was so desperate that Eisner's mother demanded that he, at thirteen, find some way to contribute to the family's income.
By 1935, they had begun to include occasional new comic strip-like material.
Eisner also drew $10-a-page illustrations for pulp magazines, including Western Sheriffs and Outlaws. In 1936, high-school friend and fellow cartoonist Bob Kane, of future Batman fame, suggested that the 19-year-old Eisner try selling cartoons to the new comic book Wow, What A Magazine! "Comic books" at the time were tabloid-sized collections of comic strip reprints in color.
Eisner said that he declined the offer; he described the decision as "one of the most difficult moral decisions of my life". == 1936–1941: Comics industry and The Spirit == ===Eisner & Iger=== Wow lasted four issues (cover-dated July–September and November 1936).
Eisner's original work even crossed the Atlantic, with Eisner drawing the new cover of the October 16, 1937 issue of Boardman Books' comic-strip reprint tabloid Okay Comics Weekly. In 1939, Eisner was commissioned to create Wonder Man for Victor Fox, an accountant who had previously worked at DC Comics and was becoming a comic book publisher himself.
Turning a profit of $1.50 a page, Eisner claimed that he "got very rich before I was 22," later detailing that in Depression-era 1939 alone, he and Iger "had split $25,000 between us", a considerable amount for the time. Among the studio's products was a self-syndicated Sunday comic strip, Hawks of the Sea, that initially reprinted Eisner's old strip Wow, What A Magazine! feature "The Flame" and then continued it with new material.
Eisner's original work even crossed the Atlantic, with Eisner drawing the new cover of the October 16, 1937 issue of Boardman Books' comic-strip reprint tabloid Okay Comics Weekly. In 1939, Eisner was commissioned to create Wonder Man for Victor Fox, an accountant who had previously worked at DC Comics and was becoming a comic book publisher himself.
It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952.
Army in 1942 until his return to civilian life in 1945.
5 to 11 (2001–2003), spanning July 1942 – December 1944. ===Post-war comics=== On Eisner's return from service and resumption of his role in the studio, he created the bulk of the Spirit stories on which his reputation was solidified.
5 to 11 (2001–2003), spanning July 1942 – December 1944. ===Post-war comics=== On Eisner's return from service and resumption of his role in the studio, he created the bulk of the Spirit stories on which his reputation was solidified.
Army in 1942 until his return to civilian life in 1945.
He continued to work on that and its 1950 successor magazine, PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly until 1971.
It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952.
The post-war years also saw him attempt to launch the comic-strip/comic-book series Baseball, John Law, Kewpies, and Nubbin the Shoeshine Boy; none succeeded, but some material was recycled into The Spirit. The Spirit ceased publishing in 1952.
Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $20,000, Eisner left to create The Spirit.
During the 1960s and 1970s, various publishers reprinted the adventures, often with covers by Eisner and with a few new stories from him. ===American Visuals Corporation=== During his World War II military service, Eisner had introduced the use of comics for training personnel in the publication Army Motors, for which he created the cautionary bumbling soldier Joe Dope, who illustrated various methods of preventive maintenance of various military equipment and weapons.
Eisner also illustrated an official Army pamphlet in 1968 and 1969 called The M16A1 Rifle specifically for troops in Vietnam to help minimize the M-16 rifle's notorious early reliability problems with proper maintenance.
Eisner also illustrated an official Army pamphlet in 1968 and 1969 called The M16A1 Rifle specifically for troops in Vietnam to help minimize the M-16 rifle's notorious early reliability problems with proper maintenance.
During the 1960s and 1970s, various publishers reprinted the adventures, often with covers by Eisner and with a few new stories from him. ===American Visuals Corporation=== During his World War II military service, Eisner had introduced the use of comics for training personnel in the publication Army Motors, for which he created the cautionary bumbling soldier Joe Dope, who illustrated various methods of preventive maintenance of various military equipment and weapons.
He continued to work on that and its 1950 successor magazine, PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly until 1971.
In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God.
A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories (Baronet Books, October 1978) is an early example of an American graphic novel, combining thematically linked short stories into a single square-bound volume.
However, a transcript of the proceeding, uncovered by comics historian Ken Quattro in 2010, indicates Eisner in fact supported Fox and claimed Wonder Man as an original Eisner creation. ===The Spirit=== In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979, Quality Comics publisher Everett M.
"They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes.
In 2002, at the age of 85, he published Sundiata, based on the part-historical, part-mythical stories of a West African king, "The Lion of Mali".
"Busy" Arnold "came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom," In a 2004 interview, he elaborated on that meeting: Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright The Spirit, but "[w}ritten down in the contract I had with 'Busy' Arnold —and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership—Arnold agreed that it was my property.
William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur.
However, a transcript of the proceeding, uncovered by comics historian Ken Quattro in 2010, indicates Eisner in fact supported Fox and claimed Wonder Man as an original Eisner creation. ===The Spirit=== In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979, Quality Comics publisher Everett M.
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