By BOB ANDELMAN (email)
Mr. Media Radio

Will Eisner, circa 1997,  in ‘Portrait of a Sequential Artist’

Andrew Cooke and Jon Cooke – yes, they’re brothers – have devoted roughly eight years of their lives to producing and distributing the documentary film, Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist.

I know the Brothers Cooke pretty well and feel their pain because for several years, we were on somewhat similar career tracks.

Back in 2002, I met Will Eisner when he interviewed me to help him write his autobiography. Three years later, that became the only authorized biography that one of the founding fathers of modern comic books and graphic novels cooperated on, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life.

What I didn’t know for the longest time as I spent hour upon hour with Will was that paralleling my book research were Andrew and Jon Cooke, who were simultaneously developing a documentary on the American master.

We connected by phone for the first time about midway through our respective projects and both debuted the finished products at a graphic novels symposium at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC in October 2005 – 10 months after Eisner’s passed away at age 87.

Sadly, it’s taken Andrew and Jon this long to get a DVD of their wonderful documentary, Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist, out to the public. But it was well worth the wait and I’m delighted to help my old comrades get the word out.  

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist Website  

ANDREW COOKE audio excerpt: “The best times making this movie were the quiet times and those times were shared in the company of his wife, Ann. So witty and engaged, so charming together. I just really enjoyed their company.” 

Bob Andelman is the author or co-author of 10 books, including ‘The Profiler’ with Pat Brown, ‘Built From Scratch’ with the founders of The Home Depot, and ‘Will Eisner: A Spirited Life.’ • Follow Bob on Twitter or Facebook.

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