Thursday, January 06, 2005

Personal Thoughts On Eisner's Passing By Jason Kenney So I've had a couple days to think about it and I'm still not sure exactly what to say. Most of my thoughts have probably been expressed better by others, so I'll leave the great speaches and memorials to those who are better at them. But I'll at least share my thoughts, however brief they may be. Will Eisner defined not only a genre and a culture but a century and a country. Comic books in the form that they are known was derived in Depression America from shops like Eisner's. He was there in the beginning, helping turn what was a form of collecting comic strips into an art form of it's own. "Sequential Art" and "Graphic Novel" are terms that would not exist were it not for him. Comic books as a whole would not exist were it not for Eisner. Unfortunately a portion of the comic world seems to fail to see this. To know who Will Eisner is and what he means to the medium. "Comics and Sequential Art" is a foreign book to many fans and would be creators. The name "Will Eisner" elicits blank stares and shrugged shoulders. How one can claim to be a comic fan, to care about the books and the stories and the art and the form as a whole and still be oblivious to Will Eisner is beyond me. That on the HEROES mailing list a post about Todd McFarlene declaring bankruptcy or even Dreamware closing shop brings more responses than the passing of the man that made all of this possible is simply astounding and depressing. Will Eisner was the man behind comics. Not Stan Lee, not Jack Kirby, not Alan Moore, not Frank Miller. None of them could have done what they did without Will Eisner. The man created the form. The man created a culture that lives to this day, that continues to excite countless minds young and old. I'm at a loss for more words so I'll close with Trevor's: "I don't know. Comics, they're for kids, right? Well their daddy just died." posted by Jason Kenney Thursday, January 06, 2005 - - Post a Comment Comments: