BIOGRAPHY:

"If The Spirit were all that Eisner had done, that would in itself be remarkable. The fact that he has continued to produce such a sustained and consistent body of excellent work right up to the present day is nothing short of astonishing"
Alan Moore from The Spirit Archives 1

Will Eisner (1917-2005) is universally recognised as the master of comic book art. He worked professionally in the comics medium from 1936 and is the widely acclaimed creator of The Spirit, a newspaper insert comic book appearing every Sunday between 1940 and 1952. Receiving an honorable discharge from the US Army in 1945 he returned to The Spirit strip he had created and began producing perhaps the most inventive and influential comics of his career. Underlying his constant experimentation with page layouts and panel progressions was his passion that the comic medium was truly an art form - a view that was considered a gross presumption that produced ridicule at that time.

"The cinema influence on me was not as strong as the the theatre influence. I was always strongly attached to it, and I see my work as live theatre. The lighting and the so-called camera angles that people attribute to my work come largely from an interest in lighting. Y'see, I'm a city dweller. I was born a city dweller. City people see things in a different light than people who live in the countryside... I only saw things lit by street lamps and window lights."
Will Eisner interviewed in Arc #29

However, during his time in the army, Will Eisner discovered the educational potential that the comic medium had to offer. In the 1950's he started the American Visuals Corporation, supplying clients with comic related material. Their most notable contract was for the production of P*S* magazine for the US Department of Defence, using comics as an instructional tool to teach GI's technical concepts.

After a gap of over 25 years, Will returned to telling his own stories in the comics format and was one of the earliest pioneers of the graphic novel format. In 1978 he released the ground breaking A Contract With God to wide acclaim, drawing on his early experiences of life in the tenement buildings of Brooklyn, New York in the 1920's and 1930's.

"I'm writing about an era and a time that occurred, that I felt ought to be reported on. What I've done is drawn upon my own experiences, or the experiences of other people that I've heard. A lot of the work is autobiographical, a lot of it is stories, ideas, incidents and events that I've picked up from what I've seen."
Will Eisner interviewed in Arc #29

Since 1988, one of the comic industry's major awards has borne his name and the Eisner Awards have now become a widely accepted standard of quality.

Interviews:
Time.com (2003)
American Book Sellers (2003)
The Miami Hearld (2003)
The Comics Journal #249 (2002)
The Onion (2000)
The Comics Journal #89 (1984)

Resources:
Recommended by... Will Eisner
Will Eisner.com
The Spirit Database
The Swann Foundation Lecture
Ninth Art: Will Eisner Thumbnail
Paul Gravett: Eisner Profile
The Comics Reporter: Eisner Remembered

Reviews:
Boston.com: The Plot
Virtual Jerusalem: The Plot
Time.com: The Plot
Time.com: Name Of The Game

To The Heart Of The Storm
DC, 1991
The master of graphic storytelling gives us a thinly disguised autobiographical novel that examines how the anti-Semitism a young man experiences in the America of the 1920's and 30's shapes his personality and life. It is told through flash backs as the young man rides a troop train to basic training immediately after the entry of the USA into World War II. It captures a turbulent era in American history when the country was inexorably marching to war, carrying along all its ethnic, racial and religious misunderstandings.

The Name Of The Game
DC, 2001
An epic tale spanning three generations of power and privilege won through the struggles of marriage. It is the story of three families, all descendants of Jewish immigrants, and their struggle for status. The wealthy seek to insure the family's fortune with marriage and heirs, and the less well off use it to attain wealth and social standing.

"The Name Of The Game is a family saga: moving, brutal, ironic; in which a simple ink line - an eyebrow, a frown, the set of someone's shoulders, says more than words ever could. It's a savory stew of love and ambition, of history and Judaica that is both a pleasure to read and an education."
Neil Gaiman

A Contract With God
DC, 1978
"In this book I have attempted to create a narrative that deals with intimate themes. In four stories, housed in a tenement, I undertook to draw on memory culled from my own experiences and that of my contemporaries. I have attempted to tell how it was in a corner of America that is still to be revisited... It is important to understand the times and the place in which these stories are set. Fundamentally, they are not unlike the world of today for those people living in crowded proximity and depersonalized housing. The importance of dealing with the ebb and flow of city existence and the overriding effort to escape seems never to change for the inhabitants."
Will Eisner from the introduction.

The Plot
WW Norton & Co
The Plot is a rebuttal to the myth surrounding a fictional work created by Russian anti-semites, which outlined the purported plan by Jews to rule the world in The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion. Although The Times newspaper revealed in 1921 that The Protocols was a hoax, millions continue to believe its fictitious plot is true. Now, a new generation, fuelled by anti-Semitism and the many Internet sites that spread hateful messages, has adapted the text to suit its purposes. In The Plot, Will Eisner explains how and why the Protocols were crafted and exposes their twisted history, from 19th century Russians to modern-day Klan members to Islamic fundamentalists. By setting the record straight, Eisner hoped he could raise public consciousness of anti-Semitism throughout the world and draw attention to the nefarious ways in which governments use propaganda to influence public opinion.

"I was surfing the Web one day when I came across this site promoting The Protocols to readers in the Middle East. I was amazed that there were people who still believed The Protocols were real, and I was disturbed to learn later that this site was just one of many that promoted these lies in the Muslim world. I decided something had to be done."
Will Eisner

The Spirit Archives
DC, 1940-1952
With the world believing him dead, Denny Colt strides forth as The Spirit fighting crime and criminals beyond the reach of the law - knuckling thugs, charming women and oozing style. The only problem is that he's human flesh and blood - and killable. Highly respected and influential to this day, The Spirit was originally a newspaper insert comic book appearing every Sunday between 1940 and 1952. The Spirit was at it's most inventive during its post-war run (1946 to 1952) after Will Eisner returned to the strip having served in the army during World War II.

Graphic Novels:
The Plot: The Secret Story Of The Protocols (2005)
Fagin The Jew (2003)
The Name Of The Game (2001)
Last Days In Vietnam (2000)
Minor Miracles (2000)
A Family Matter (1998)
Dropsie Avenue : The Neighborhood (1995)
Invisible People (1992)
To The Heart Of The Storm (1991)
Will Eisner Reader (1991)
City People Notebook (1989)
A Life Force (1988)
The Building (1987)
New York : The Big City (1986)
The Dreamer (1986)
Life On Another Planet (1983)
A Contract With God (1978)

The Spirit Archives:
Vol 1-4: Pre-War Spirit (June 1940 to June 1942)
Vol 5-11: The War Years (July 1942 to December 1945)
Vol 12 onwards: Post-War Spirit (January 1946-1952)
During World War II, Will Eisner served in the US Army and handed over production of The Spirit to various assistants. The Spirit Archives volume 5 to 11 therefore contain little of his own work.

Comic Theory:
Shop Talk (2001)
Graphic Storytelling (1985)
Comics & Sequential Art (1985)

Classics Illustrated:
Sundiata (2003)
The Princess & The Frog (2003)
The Last Knight: An Introduction To Don Quixote (2000)
Moby Dick (1998)

Other:
Eisner/Miller: Interviews (2005)
The Will Eisner Companion (2004)
Will Eisner Sketchbook (2004)