Misunderstood Masterpieces 1.26.10: Sheena (411Mania.com)

Cover of Sheena

Hot zebra-riding action is just the beginning!

Posted by Will Helm on 01.26.2010

…or, A Very Pointed Commentary on the Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa. With Nudity.

Since the early days of cinema, one of the easiest methods of "skirting" the taboo subject of nudity on film was accomplished by finding excuses to have characters in loincloths. First beginning popularly with the Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan series – though there are, of course, earlier examples, the "noble savage" of literature became a heroic archetype, often set against the backdrop of evil imperialism and modern civilization. Unsurprisingly, not long after publication of Tarzan of the Apes in 1914, films debuted featuring this character, complete with the stereotypical loincloth, heralding a genre that would continue to this day, for the most part.

While Tarzan was the original savage Caucasian, there were rival characters, most interestingly the female Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Introduced by Will Eisner – creator of The Spirit – and Jerry Iger (collectively as "W. Morgan Thomas"). Sheena debuted in the pages of the British magazine Wags in 1937. Eventually, the character would prove popular enough to garner her own book, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, in 1942. In the mid-50s, Sheena was adapted into a syndicated television series starring Irish McCalla, who became an early sex symbol of the medium.



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Toy-A-Day Day 153: The Spirit (Will Eisner)

The Spirit (Denny Colt) is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared in Spirit Section #1 (June 2 1940), a seven-page insert into American Sunday-newspaper comics sections. He currently appears in comic books published by DC Comics.

The Spirit chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. The stories range through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and expectations.

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Will Eisner Week 2010 (WillEisner.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Will Eisner Week will take place from February 28th to March 6th, 2010.  

Join WillEisner.com in an ongoing celebration promoting graphic novel literacy, free speech awareness, and the legacy of Will Eisner.

This is the second annual celebration of Will Eisner's contribution to comics and American culture and is offered as a springboard to advance education of comics and graphic novels in all communities around the world.  

This year's theme is The Reading Revolution: Will Eisner and the American Graphic Novel. 

Public events are currently being planned during Will Eisner Week including venues at The Minneapolis College of Art & Design, The Savannah College of Art and Design, and by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in New York City.  If your organization is interested in participating or receiving information please e-mail the website administrator or post in the Forum under the Will Eisner Week topic.  

In addition to events, a variety of academic papers and group activity assignments are being generously donated by comic educators and will be available on this site. Our wish is that these materials will inspire you to have your own events in your community. Ideas include events held at schools, libraries, and book groups. 

Will Eisner Week is a collaborative project of The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation, and a variety of Comic Institutions.  Will Eisner Week is chaired by Assistant Professor Barbara Schulz from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design assisted by the Will Eisner Week organizing committee. 

The Spirit novels: How I Spent My 10-Year Vacation by James Vance

The world of comics still cropped up from time to time in unexpected ways. Out of the blue, Howard Chaykin raised the possibility of representing Kings to TV producers. (Despite my respect for Howard, I passed. That book, to me, was ancient history, and I was frequently too stubborn for my own good in those days.) Kate still heard from the legion of Omaha fans, a large number of whom had formed an online group that thrives to this day. Vertige Graphic put out a beautiful – and unexpected – French reprint of Kings, and a Swedish version was reportedly in the works. And Will Eisner hired Kate and me to write a novel about The Spirit.
 

That Spirit project proved to be a revelation. Kate was a collaborator’s dream, turning out marvelous copy and urging me to take no prisoners in melding our alternate chapters into a uniform style. Though we were adapting someone else’s brainchild, in the process we were also doing real creative work for the first time in years, and it was inspiring to flex those muscles again. Will was happy with the final result, and our agents Denis Kitchen and Judy Hansen were urging us to write more novels of our own devising. I was shocked to find that the part of our lives that we’d packed away so unceremoniously turned out to still be exciting.

The only downside had been Kate’s inexplicable lapses in energy that slowed the process and occasionally frustrated all of us, Will included. But we’d managed to capture the essence of the feature in its late-‘40s prime, and – with an eye toward selling a series of Spirit novels – Will asked us for another. If we weren’t exactly back in comics, we were actively involved with its in-laws.

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The Secret Files of Dr. Drew: A fascinating Will Eisner side project, 1949/50 (TrickCoin.net)

by Frank M. Young

December 30, 2009 

 

Towards the end of the creative peak-era of Will Eisner's weekly comic book/strip The Spirit, the Eisner Studio had a strong team churning out innovative comics material.

Writers Jules Feiffer and Marilyn Mercer, background artist Jerry Grandenetti and peerless letterer Abe Kangeson were key components in a finely-oiled funnybook machine. All contributed greatly to the high quality of the post-war Spirit feature. (Other notables who contributed to post-war Eisner product include Klaus Nordling, Andre LeBlanc and Dan Barry.)

Eisner's hand was still deeply felt in the series. His growing ambitions to push comics past their humble street-smart status, and into something that rivaled literature and cinema, found their first strong expression in the 1946-1950 run of The Spirit.

Although Eisner certainly leaned heavily on his creative team, he left his distinct imprint on the work that issued from his studio. He drew from their strengths and made their distinct talents assets in mass media work of high quality

A lesser-known side project of the post-war Eisner Studio appeared in the checkered pages of a comic magazine published by Fiction House. Their comix imprint was as "spicy" and lowbrow as their pulp magazines. Cleavage, violence and sexual suggestion are rife in the assembly-line Fiction House product.


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Was 'The Spectre' inspired by Eisner's Spirit? (Blimey!)

"Believed to be dead but secretly living under a cemetery and emerging to fight crime, The Spectre was clearly inspired by Will Eisner's The Spirit in conception, if not in art."

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Santa's elves go on strike! (Yet Another Comics Blog)

Santa's elves go on strike on Will Eisner's cover to P.S. Magazine: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #157 (1965).

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Will Eisner Don Quixote sketch (SGrettis)

FitzWorldUS: New blog on Will Eisner and PS Magazine!

During its nearly six decades of publication, PS Magazine has survived numerous close-calls in confrontations involving art style, characterization, and reflections of military life that were considered by some authorities to be "to the prejudice of good order and discipline." Most of these dustups occurred in the magazine's first 21 years, the period when Will Eisner held the contract for providing creative art and pre-press production services. Some were resolved with abject capitulation, compromises were reached in others, and in many the solutions came from Eisner's artistic nimbleness and fancy footwork. The most effective and on-going solution was a strategic retreat into a time-warp or the worlds of literature, entertainment, and folk-lore...

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1958 Will Eisner “Spaceman Discovers Christmas” Comic (Andertoons.com)

Distributed by Ben Franklin Stores (and possibly other retailers). Rather than pages of product promotion, the complete comic is the story of a space alien named J.B. Grook who lands in his flying saucer and is escourted around town learning about what Christmas is all about (not a religious comic, rather giving to others, etc.). Produced by Will Eisner’s commercial studio, Promotional Publications, with art by and/or supervised by Eisner, creator of the Spirit.

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Eisner Awards Now Accepting Submissions for 2010 (Hypergeek.ca)

Comic-Con International, the largest comic book and popular arts event in the United States, announced today that submissions are now being accepted for consideration by the judges for the 2010 Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards. Publishers wanting to submit entries should send one copy each of the comics or books they wish to nominate and include a cover letter indicating what is being submitted and in what categories.

The tentative categories include best short story, best continuing comic book series (at least two issues must have been published in 2009), best limited comic book series (at least half of the series must have been published in 2009), best new series, best publication for kids, best publication for teens, best humor publication, best anthology, best digital comic, best graphic album–new material, best graphic album-reprint, best reality-based work, best archival collection, best U.S. edition of foreign material, best writer, best writer/artist, best penciler/inker (individual or team), best painter (interior art), best lettering, best coloring, best comics-related book, best comics journalism periodical or website, and best publication design. The judges may add, delete, or combine categories at their discretion. The cover letter should include both a mailing address and an e-mail address.

Creators can submit materials for consideration if: (a) their publisher is no longer in business; (b) their publisher is unlikely to participate in the nomination process; or (c) they have severed connections with the publisher or have similar reasons for believing that their publisher is unlikely to consider nominating them or their work.

Publishers may submit a maximum of five nominees for any one category, and the same item or person can be submitted in more than one category. Each imprint, line, or subsidiary of a publisher may submit its own set of entries. There are no entry fees.

All submissions should be sent before the deadline of March 8, 2010, to:

Jackie Estrada
Eisner Awards
8340 Allison Ave.
La Mesa, CA 92941

The best digital comic category is open to any new, professionally produced long-form original comics work posted online in 2009. Webcomics must have a unique domain name or be part of a larger comics community to be considered. The work must be online-exclusive for a significant period prior to being collected in print form. The URL and any necessary access information should be emailed to us by clicking hereby clicking here. The Eisner Award nominees will be announced in April, and online voting (as well as pdf ballots) will be available to professionals in the comics industry, including creators, editors, publishers, distributors, and retailers. The results will be announced by celebrity presenters at the gala awards ceremony on the evening of July 23 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. » Click here for the Call for Entries pdf Anyone with questions about submitting entries for the awards can e-mail Ms. Estrada by clicking hereby clicking here.

Classic Spirit Statue (Dark Horse Toys)