Tuesday, January 04, 2005

RIP Will Eisner

Comics

Like many other comics fans around the world, I am still in shock over the death of Will Eisner. One more link to the history of comics is gone. Hell, he was more than a link; he was comics history. He was there at the beginning and has been creating, writing, and drawing ever since. I can’t think of anyone else who was as active through all phases if comics history.

Eisner was a link to the past, but also to the future for comics. He didn’t invent the graphic novel, but he was one of the first to tap into its potential. He was an early visionary who saw that this artform had the potential to do much, much more than tell stories about men in tights slugging each other. He believed in comics as literature and art. He made comics that were literature and art.

There was a period of time when he drew instruction manuals for the military. Of course, they were in comic form. When my dad was in the Army, he would bring some of them home to me to read. It was my first exposure to comics as an educational medium and is probably what sparked my interest in this particular style of comics story.


Thankfully, there are more and more people all the time who take up Eisner’s torch for comics. His inspiration and influence will live on.

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