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67-425: Will Eisner , co-principal of the comic-book packager Eisner & Iger during the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of comic books , and himself a comics creator, recalled in 1999 that at his company, We had a whole bunch of phony names like Chuck's. We just handed them out with the salary. There was a period in comics beginning with the middle- to late-'30s when none of the artists owned their own drawings. They were hired by

134-491: A 1983 interview with CAC organizer Phil Seuling , he said, "I came back into the field because of you. I remember you calling me in New London , where I was sitting there as chairman of the board of Croft Publishing Co. My secretary said, 'There's a Mr. Seuling on the phone and he's talking about a comics convention. What is that?' She said, 'I didn't know you were a cartoonist , Mr. Eisner.' 'Oh, yes,' I said, 'secretly; I'm

201-757: A closet cartoonist.' I came down and was stunned at the existence of the whole world. ... That was a world that I had left, and I found it very exciting, very stimulating". Eisner later elaborated about meeting underground comics creators and publishers, including Denis Kitchen : I went down to the convention, which was being held in one of the hotels in New York, and there was a group of guys with long hair and scraggly beards, who had been turning out what spun as literature , really popular 'gutter' literature if you will, but pure literature. And they were taking on illegal [sic] subject matter that no comics had ever dealt with before. ... I came away from that recognizing that

268-582: A comic-book insert into the newspapers." ... Martin asked if I could do it. ... It meant that I'd have to leave Eisner & Iger [which] was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal [which] was that we'd be partners in the 'Comic Book Section,' as they called it at that time. And also, I would produce two other magazines in partnership with Arnold. Eisner negotiated an agreement with

335-622: 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

402-468: A ghetto. I sold my part of the enterprise to my associate and then began The Spirit. They wanted an heroic character, a costumed character. They asked me if he'd have a costume. And I put a mask on him and said, 'Yes, he has a costume!'" The Spirit , an initially eight- and later seven-page urban-crimefighter series, ran with the initial backup features "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck" in a 16-page Sunday supplement (colloquially called "The Spirit Section") that

469-474: A line of comic book adaptations of inspiring stories and morality tales like Banner in the Sky , God Is My Co-Pilot , Guadalcanal Diary , The Diary of Anne Frank , and Lost Horizon ; as well as a rough adaptation of Star Wars . After Charlton went defunct in the mid-1980s, Wojtkoski drew for the satiric magazine Cracked and for Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk comic strip , as well as for

536-519: A long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character . These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status. Collectors value first appearances for their rarity and historical value, while many regular readers are interested in viewing how their favorite characters were originally portrayed. Reprints of first appearances are often published, both as single comic books and in trade paperbacks , usually with other early appearances of

603-431: A newly introduced character mysterious until a "secret origin" issue. Some fans consider this a gimmick and prefer the older method. The artistic merit of many first appearances is debatable. The events portrayed in most famous first appearances are continuously retconed , rebooted and/or expanded upon by subsequent writers. Like many golden and silver age comics, first appearances often become dated and do not fit

670-535: A quadruple bypass surgery performed December 22, 2004. DC Comics held a memorial service in Manhattan's Lower East Side , a neighborhood Eisner often visited in his work, at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on Norfolk Street. Eisner was survived by his wife, Ann Weingarten Eisner, and their son, John. In the introduction to the 2001 reissue of A Contract with God , Eisner revealed that

737-475: A release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership". This would include the eventual backup features " Mr. Mystic " and " Lady Luck ". Selling his share of their firm to Iger, who would continue to package comics as the S.M. Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $ 20,000, Eisner left to create The Spirit. "They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes. Comic books were

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804-430: A revolution had occurred then, a turning point in the history of this medium. ... I reasoned that the 13-year-old kids that I'd been writing to back in the 1940s were no longer 13-year-old kids, they were now 30, 40 years old. They would want something more than two heroes, two supermen, crashing against each other. I began working on a book that dealt with a subject that I felt had never been tried by comics before, and that

871-599: A variety of stories and covers for Captain America Comics , Human Torch Comics , Marvel Mystery Comics , Sub-Mariner Comics (where he drew the backup feature " Blonde Phantom "), and the landmark All Winners Comics #21 (Winter 1946/47), featuring Timely/Marvel's first superhero team, the (hyphenated) All-Winners Squad ; Nicholas penciled the cover and the Miss America chapter, and inked penciler Al Avison 's lead chapter. Wojtkoski later worked on

938-558: A year at the Art Students League of New York . Contacts made there led to a position as an advertising writer- cartoonist for the New York American newspaper. 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

1005-402: Is widely considered to have solidified, if not created, the superhero archetype; therefore, his first appearance is not only important to fans of the character but to fans of superheroes and comic books as a whole. Well-preserved copies of Action Comics #1 have been sold at auction for record-breaking prices. A copy graded at 8.0 ("very fine") on the 10-point scale typically used by collectors

1072-469: The Eisner & Iger shop. There he drew the first 11 stories of Blackhawk, the creation of which is also vaguely recorded from the early days of comics, when proper writer-artist credits were not a standard feature. Though reference sources list Eisner as scripter of the first four Blackhawk stories and Dick French beginning with issue #5, Cuidera said he created the character, and that Bob Powell scripted

1139-619: The Fawcett Comics jungle character Nyoka , and spent the remainder of his career in-house at Charlton Comics in Derby, Connecticut . There he enjoyed a remarkable 23-year run as penciler on a single creative team, with inker Vince Alascia (another Timely veteran) and writer Joe Gill . The art team would sometimes sign its work Nicholas & Alascia , as in the panel at left. In 1978–79, Wojtkoski drew comics for editor Vincent Fago on Pendulum Press 's Contemporary Motivators series,

1206-515: The Golden Age Human Torch but is more noteworthy as the first comic book published by industry giant Marvel Comics . It can take many years for a character to attain sufficient popularity after their first appearance to be considered "iconic." By the point a character reaches that level of popularity, it is common for few copies of their first appearance issues to remain. Furthermore, even fewer of those remaining copies will be in

1273-533: The Holabird Ordnance Depot in Baltimore , where a mimeographed publication titled Army Motors was put together. "Together with the people there ... I helped develop its format. I began doing cartoons – and we began fashioning a magazine that had the ability to talk to the G.I.s in their language. So I began to use comics as a teaching tool, and when I got to Washington, they assigned me to

1340-794: The Jewish theater . Eisner's mother, Fannie Ingber, was born to Jewish parents from Romania on April 25, 1891, on a ship bound for the US. Her mother died on her tenth birthday and was quickly followed by her father. An older stepsister thereafter raised her and kept her so busy with chores that she had little time for socializing or schooling; she did what she could later in life to keep knowledge of her illiteracy from her children. Shmuel and Fannie, who were distant relatives, met through family members. 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. Eisner

1407-655: The M16 rifle 's notorious early reliability problems with proper maintenance. Eisner's style helped to popularize these officially-distributed works in order to better educate soldiers on equipment maintenance. While Eisner's later graphic novels were entirely his own work, he had a studio working under his supervision on The Spirit . In particular, letterer Abe Kanegson came up with the distinctive lettering style which Eisner himself would later imitate in his book-length works, and Kanegson would often rewrite Eisner's dialogue. Eisner's most trusted assistant on The Spirit, however,

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1474-775: The School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he published Will Eisner's Gallery , a collection of work by his students and wrote two books based on these lectures, Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative , which are widely used by students of cartooning. In 2002, Eisner participated in the Will Eisner Symposium of the 2002 University of Florida Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels. Eisner died January 3, 2005, in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida , of complications from

1541-423: The pirate strip "The Flame" and the secret agent strip "Harry Karry" for Wow as well. Eisner said that on one occasion a man whom Eisner described as "a mob type straight out of Damon Runyon , complete with pinkie ring, broken nose, black shirt, and white tie, who claimed to have "exclusive distribution rights for all Brooklyn" asked Eisner to draw Tijuana bibles for $ 3 a page. Eisner said that he declined

1608-485: The Elders of Zion , an account of the making, and refutation, of the antisemitic hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion , was completed shortly before his death and published in 2005. In 2008, Will Eisner's The Spirit: A Pop-Up Graphic Novel was published, with Bruce Foster as paper engineer. In his later years especially, Eisner was a frequent lecturer about the craft and uses of sequential art. He taught at

1675-652: The James Branch Cabell Library of Virginia Commonwealth University . VCU's James Branch Cabell Library has served as the repository for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards since 2005. Each year following Comic-Con , nominated and award-winning titles are donated to the library's Special Collections and Archives and made available to researchers and visitors. Approximately 1,000 comic books, graphic novels, archival editions, scholarly titles, and journals are included in

1742-423: The Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom," In a 2004 interview, he elaborated on that meeting: "Busy" invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin [sales manager of The Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate , who] said, "The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books, and they would like to get

1809-672: The VCU library's expansive Comic Arts Collection. On the 94th anniversary of Eisner's birth, in 2011, Google used an image featuring the Spirit as its logo. With Jack Kirby , Robert Crumb , Harvey Kurtzman , Gary Panter , and Chris Ware , Eisner was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, from September 16, 2006, to January 28, 2007. In honor of Eisner's centennial in 2017, Denis Kitchen and John Lind co-curated

1876-492: The adventures, often with covers by Eisner and with a few new stories from him. 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. In 1948, while continuing to do The Spirit and seeing television and other post-war trends eat away at

1943-718: The business of teaching – or selling – preventive maintenance." Eisner then created the educational comic strip and titular character Joe Dope for Army Motors , and spent four years working in The Pentagon editing the ordnance magazine Firepower and doing "all the general illustrations – that is, cartoons" for Army Motors . He continued to work on that and its 1950 successor magazine, PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly , until 1971. Eisner also illustrated an official Army pamphlet in 1968 and 1969 called The M16A1 Rifle specifically for troops in Vietnam to help minimize

2010-694: The character and story, and that when subpoenaed after National Periodical Publications , the company that would evolve into DC Comics, sued Fox, alleging Wonder Man was an illegal copy of Superman, Eisner testified that this was so, undermining Fox's case; Eisner even depicts himself doing so in his semi-autobiographical graphic novel The Dreamer . 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. In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979, Quality Comics publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold "came to me and said that

2077-402: The character. Marvel Comics ' "Essential" line has become popular by giving readers an affordable glimpse into characters' early history. Historically, first appearances tell the origin story for the character, although some, such as Batman and Green Goblin , remained dubious figures for several issues. Modern writers prefer to tell a character's origin across an entire story arc or keep

Charles Nicholas - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-644: The credited creator of the Fox Comics character Blue Beetle , which in various incarnations has continued through three comics companies and into the 21st century. The Blue Beetle first appeared in Fox Comics' superhero anthology series Mystery Men Comics #1 (Aug. 1939), with art by Wojtkoski (as Charles Nicholas), though the Grand Comics Database tentatively credits Will Eisner as the scripter. His family has said Wojtkowski "decided in

2211-474: The debut story before turning the feature over to him: "I never drew a script by French. Powell wrote the first one and I wrote the rest until I went into the service". Eisner, who has also said he was involved in Blackhawk's initial writing, hedged the issue, saying, "Whether or not Chuck Cuidera created or thought of Blackhawk to begin with is unimportant [and] the fact that Chuck Cuidera made Blackhawk what it

2278-743: The ending on that one. We never agree." So trusted were Eisner's assistants that Eisner allowed them to "ghost" The Spirit from the time that he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 until his return to civilian life in 1945. The primary wartime artists were the uncredited Lou Fine and Jack Cole , with future Kid Colt, Outlaw artist Jack Keller drawing backgrounds. Ghost writers included Manly Wade Wellman and William Woolfolk . The wartime ghosted stories have been reprinted in DC Comics ' hardcover collections The Spirit Archives Vols. 5 to 11 (2001–2003), spanning July 1942 to December 1945. On Eisner's return from service and resumption of his role in

2345-557: The family a better income, as he went from one job to another. Without success he also tried his hand at such ventures as a furniture retailer and a coat factory. 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

2412-573: The family's income. He entered working life selling newspapers on street corners, a competitive job where the toughest boys fought for the best locations. Eisner attended DeWitt Clinton High School . With influences that included the early 20th-century commercial artist J. C. Leyendecker , he drew for the school newspaper ( The Clintonian ), the literary magazine ( The Magpie ) and the yearbook , and did stage design , leading him to consider doing that kind of work for theater. Upon graduation, he studied under Canadian artist George Brandt Bridgman for

2479-553: The first Transformers hardcover children's books and coloring books . Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( / ˈ aɪ z n ər / ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist , writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized

2546-885: The first illustrator of the Quality Comics aviator character Blackhawk , in Military Comics #1–11 (Aug. 1941 – Aug. 1942). Cuidera was also an early artist of the superhero Blue Beetle , yet though he claimed, in his very late years, that he was the Charles Nicholas who created that character, comics historians credit Charles Wojtkowski , who also used the Charles Nicholas pseudonym. Cuidera grew up in Newark, New Jersey , and after earning art scholarships graduated from Pratt Institute in 1939. Breaking into comic books at Fox Feature Syndicate , where he drew Blue Beetle stories, he shortly afterward migrated to

2613-536: The first such comic-book "packagers", their partnership was an immediate success, and the two soon had a stable of comics creators supplying work to Fox Comics , Fiction House , Quality Comics (for whom Eisner co-created such characters as Doll Man and Blackhawk ), and others. 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",

2680-513: The government gave me to clean up my affairs before going off" to fight in World War II . He was assigned to the camp newspaper at Aberdeen Proving Ground , where "there was also a big training program there, so I got involved in the use of comics for training. ... I finally became a warrant officer , which involved taking a test – that way you didn't have to go through Officer Candidate School ." En route to Washington, D.C., he stopped at

2747-568: The graphic manual in 1969, The M-16A1 Rifle: Operation and Preventative Maintenance , which was distributed along with cleaning kits to address serious reliability concerns with the M16 rifle during the Vietnam War . Other clients of his Connecticut-based company included RCA Records , the Baltimore Colts football team, and New York Telephone . Eisner credited the 1971 Comic Art Convention (CAC) for his return to comics. In

Charles Nicholas - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-562: The history of New York's immigrant communities, particularly Jews , including The Building , A Life Force , Dropsie Avenue and To the Heart of the Storm . He continued producing new books into his seventies and eighties, at an average rate of nearly one a year. Each of these books was done twice – once as a rough version to show editor Dave Schreiner, then as a second, finished version incorporating suggested changes. Some of his last work

2881-561: The inspiration for the title story grew out of the 1970 death of his leukemia -stricken teenaged daughter, Alice, next to whom he is buried. Until then, only Eisner's closest friends were aware of his daughter's life and death. Eisner has been recognized for his work with the National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Award for 1967, 1968, 1969, 1987 and 1988, as well as its Story Comic Book Award in 1979, and its Reuben Award in 1998. In 1975, he

2948-565: The largest retrospective exhibitions of Will Eisner's original artwork, shown simultaneously at The Society of Illustrators in New York City and Le Musée de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême, France . Both exhibitions were titled Will Eisner Centennial Celebration and collectively over 400 original pieces were included. A catalogue of the same name was released by Dark Horse Books and nominated for multiple Eisner Awards in 2018. First appeared In comic books and other stories with

3015-678: The late 1930s to sell the rights to the character to raise money". As Charles Nicholas, Wojtkoski variously penciled and inked stories for Timely Comics , the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics , where his credits include the character The Defender in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941), and stories in Young Allies Comics #1 (Summer 1941), Tough Kid Squad Comics #1 (March 1942), and Comedy Comics (during 1942). Following World War II military service, he returned to Timely, where, beginning with comics cover-dated Spring 1946, he worked on

3082-517: The modern portrayal of the character. However, some first appearances are considered classics. 1990s-era Spider-Man writer Howard Mackie said that his favorite story featuring the character was his first appearance and origin story in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), stating that writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko "gave us everything we needed, I wanted or could ask for in the least possible space. Every single person who retells

3149-477: The new comic book Wow, What A Magazine! "Comic books" at the time were tabloid-sized collections of comic strip reprints in color. By 1935, they had begun to include occasional new comic strip-like material. Wow editor Jerry Iger bought an Eisner adventure strip called Captain Scott Dalton , an H. Rider Haggard -styled hero who traveled the world after rare artifacts. Eisner subsequently wrote and drew

3216-410: The offer; he described the decision as "one of the most difficult moral decisions of my life". Wow lasted four issues (cover-dated July–September and November 1936). After it ended, Eisner and Iger worked together producing and selling original comics material, anticipating that the well of available reprints would soon run dry, though their accounts of how their partnership was founded differ. One of

3283-408: The origin never improves on the original, they simply expand it." First appearances of popular characters are among the most valuable comic books in existence. Of the "ten most valuable comic books" listed in the spring 2002 issue of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide , seven are first appearances of popular superheroes . Another, Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), is the first appearance of

3350-733: The pristine condition prized by collectors. What few remain can be worth thousands of dollars to interested collectors. For example, in 2004, a copy of Flash Comics #1 (January 1940), the first appearance of The Flash , was auctioned for $ 42,000 and a copy of Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), the first appearance of Captain America sold for $ 64,400. In 2010, another copy of Flash Comics #1 sold privately for $ 450,000. The first appearance of Superman , Action Comics #1 (June 1938), has been regarded as " holy grail " of comic books, due to its cultural significance and rarity (fewer than one hundred copies are thought to exist). Superman

3417-444: The publishers ... [who] used what the pulp magazines used – a thing called a house name. A fake name. So the publishers not only owned the comic strip, they owned the name [of the creator], therefore the guy working for them couldn't lay a claim. That's how the name 'Charles Nicholas' started. Charles Nicholas Cuidera , also known as Chuck Cuidera (September 23, 1915 – August 25, 2001), was an American comic book artist best known as

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3484-642: The readership base of newspapers, he formed the American Visuals Corporation in order to produce instructional materials for the government, related agencies, and businesses. One of his longest-running jobs was PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly , a digest sized magazine with comic book elements that he started for the Army in 1951 and continued to work on until the 1970s with Klaus Nordling , Mike Ploog , and other artists. In addition, Eisner produced other military publications such as

3551-571: The rights of Blackhawk in 1956, the penciler by then, Dick Dillin , and inker Cuidera continued to work on the character for the new owner. Cuidera became the regular inker on a number of DC features and series, including Hawkman and The Brave and the Bold , before leaving comics in 1970. Cuidera, an avid scuba diver, invented and sold a quick-release diver's weight belt, and also taught scuba in New Jersey YMCAs . He retired, and

3618-527: The studio, he created the bulk of the Spirit stories on which his reputation was solidified. 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. During the 1960s and 1970s, various publishers reprinted

3685-427: 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. They agreed that if we had a split-up in any way, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to 'Busy' Arnold and his family, and they all signed

3752-517: The term " graphic novel " with the publication of his book A Contract with God . He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). 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 . Eisner's father, Shmuel "Samuel" Eisner,

3819-491: Was Jules Feiffer , later a renowned cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter in his own right. Eisner later said of their memories of their working methods on the feature, "You should hear me and Jules Feiffer going at it in a room. 'No, you designed the splash page for this one, then you wrote the ending – I came up with the idea for the story, and you did it up to this point, then I did the next page and this sequence here and...' And I'll be swearing up and down that 'he' wrote

3886-569: Was a guest of honor at the 1999 Comic-Con International . Future industry legend Jack Kirby (1917–1994) used the name Charles Nicholas during his fledgling days, in 1940, adopting that house pseudonym during his three-month run as artist of the Fox Feature Syndicate comic strip version of the Blue Beetle. Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski (December 6, 1921 – June 21, 1985) was an American comic book writer-artist best known as

3953-657: Was awarded the Inkpot Award and the second Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême . He was inducted into the Academy of Comic Book Arts Hall of Fame in 1971, and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1987. The following year, the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were established in his honor. In 2015, Eisner was posthumously elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. Comics by Will Eisner are archived in

4020-570: Was born March 6, 1886, in Kolomyia , Austria-Hungary (present-day Ukraine ), and was one of eleven children. He aspired to be an artist, and as a teenager painted murals for rich patrons and Catholic churches in Vienna . To avoid conscription in the army, he moved to New York before the outbreak of World War I . There he found getting work difficult, as his English skills were poor. He made what living he could painting backdrops for vaudeville and

4087-626: Was born in Brooklyn . He grew up poor, and the family moved frequently. Young Eisner often got into physical confrontations when subjected to antisemitism from his schoolmates. Young Eisner was tall and of sturdy build, but lacked athletic skills. He was a voracious consumer of pulp magazines and film, including avant-garde films such as those by Man Ray . To his mother's disappointment, Eisner had his father's interest in art, and his father encouraged him by buying him art supplies. Eisner's mother frequently berated his father for not providing

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4154-417: 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. Following Fox's instructions to create a Superman -type character, and using the pen name Willis, Eisner wrote and drew the first issue of Wonder Comics. Eisner said in interviews throughout his later life that he had protested the derivative nature of

4221-450: Was eventually distributed in 20 newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952. Eisner has cited the Spirit story "Gerhard Shnobble" as a particular favorite, as it was one of his first attempts at injecting his personal point of view into the series. Eisner was drafted into the U.S. Army in "late '41, early '42" and then "had about another half-year which

4288-566: Was is the important thing, and therefore, he should get the credit". As the debut artist who designed the characters, Cuidera is confirmably at least the co-creator. During Cuidera's absence, Reed Crandall had become established on Blackhawk , which would become one of Crandall's signature features. Cuidera segued to work primarily on the Quality character Captain Triumph and later became the company's art director . When Quality sold DC Comics

4355-429: Was man's relationship with God . That was the book A Contract with God .... In the late 1970s, Eisner turned his attention to longer storytelling forms. 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. Eisner continued with a string of graphic novels that tell

4422-493: Was sold at auction for $ 1,000,000 in 2010. Even a copy graded at a much lower 5.5 ("fine minus") sold for $ 956,000 in 2016. Shortly after the record-breaking million-dollar sale of Action Comics #1 in 2010, a copy of Detective Comics #27 featuring the first appearance of Batman was sold for $ 1,075,000 in a Heritage auction. Several factors determine the value of a first appearance. Note: All values are according to ComicsPriceGuide.com and are for editions certified by

4489-583: Was the retelling in sequential art of novels and myths , including Moby-Dick . 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 ". Fagin the Jew is an account of the life of Dickens's character Fagin, in which Eisner tries to get past the stereotyped portrait of Fagin in Oliver Twist . His last graphic novel, The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of

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