# Will Eisner Has Died. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040 "2005-01-04T15:33:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/1 "2005-01-04T15:33:57Z")
I learned about it on LJ, but [his website](http://www.willeisner.com) has a very terse announcement. Drat. He was 86, but I met him a few years ago and he seemed so hale and hearty and lively, I thought he’d last forever. Comics has lost someone who can never be replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/2 "2005-01-04T15:39:09Z")
Oh. _The Spirit_ will never leave Wildwood again. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/3 "2005-01-04T15:54:17Z")
What a giant. Of the industry, of artistry, of innovation, of creativity. And what a legacy he leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/4 "2005-01-04T15:59:56Z")
Damn. First Kelly Freas and now Will Eisner. Not a good start to the year. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/5 "2005-01-04T16:03:04Z")
A shame. He was one of the greats, and too little honored outside the field. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/6 "2005-01-04T16:11:32Z")
Bummer, bummer, bummer. Eisner and the late, great Harvey Kurtzman were my favorite comic artists. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/7 "2005-01-04T16:17:36Z")
Sad news indeed. I thought Death was going to grant him an exception, so his body would be as immortal as his works. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/8 "2005-01-04T16:18:54Z")
☹ Last I heard (Gaiman’s Blog a couple days ago), he was recovering nicely from his surgery. Dammit ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/9 "2005-01-04T18:29:38Z")
[The Spirit](http://www.davegibbonsfansite.com/spirit.jpeg) was the [coolest](http://www.toonopedia.com/spirit.htm) comic book crime-fighter. I loved the mix of [film noir](http://www.top100comics.de/images_comics/17spirit.jpg), humor, and [experimentation](http://www.ecritetdessine.org/images/illustrations/spirit/spirit_1.jpg) with graphic layouts. The most ambitious comic art of the 1940s, it holds up so well today that over a dozen hardcover volumes of reprints have been published. Will Eisner, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/10 "2005-01-04T18:37:32Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > [The Spirit](http://www.davegibbonsfansite.com/spirit.jpeg) was the [coolest](http://www.toonopedia.com/spirit.htm) comic book crime-fighter. I loved the mix of [film noir](http://www.top100comics.de/images_comics/17spirit.jpg), humor, and [experimentation](http://www.ecritetdessine.org/images/illustrations/spirit/spirit_1.jpg) with graphic layouts. The most ambitious comic art of the 1940s, it holds up so well today that over a dozen hardcover volumes of reprints have been published. > > Will Eisner, thank you! I _have_ most of them. Not cheap, but worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/11 "2005-01-04T20:24:01Z")
I have seven Spirit hardcover archive editions, and several of his graphic novels. I had the immense pleasure of meeting Mr. Eisner at the Festival of Cartoon Art in Columbus in 1998. We had the briefest exchange on the humanity of Ebony White as a fully realized sidekick despite his nightmarish stereotypical appearance, which was the unfortunate standard of the era. Although he gracefully declined my boorish attempt to get him to draw an Ebony cartoon for my collection, he did graciously accept my Spirit sketch. He was a scholar and a gentleman. Wow. I’m so sorry he died. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/12 "2005-01-04T20:50:53Z")
Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/13 "2005-01-04T21:17:35Z")
Crap. It usually doesn’t affect me much when a celebrity dies, but this one is more upsetting than most. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/14 "2005-01-04T22:30:18Z")
Trying to explain this to people that don’t read comics is very difficult. But imagine, if you will, that you’re a baseball fan, and Abner Doubleday has just died. The man who not only helped shape your passion, but also paved the way for the stars you love so much today, has just gone on to his Great Reward. There’s a reason that he had his own award, and an equally large reason why it’s the most prestigious in our industry. Rest in peace, Will. You will be remembered fondly. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/15 "2005-01-05T01:24:30Z")
Will Eisner did for comics what Thomas Edison did for electricity. Not a perfect analogy, but it’ll do. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/16 "2005-01-05T01:35:06Z")
Yeah, and now that he’s dead, college liberal arts types can start doing theses on his work, so now maybe he’ll get some freakin’ respect. There’s a lot to learn by deconstructing and examining Eisner’s seminal work in the genre. I do feel sad for his family, though. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/17 "2005-01-05T01:47:13Z")
Aw, nuts! ☹ Truly the passing of a giant of the artform. And if he was not better known outside the trade and fandom, he did not want for props from those who knew what they were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/18 "2005-01-05T04:23:17Z")
In 2001, the English Department at the University of Florida had a symposium for independent comics and creators. They invited guests like Terry Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes, the director of the movie Ghost World and the writer/artist of the graphic novel, Eddie Campbell, an esteemed indie creator and artist on Alan Moore’s masterwork From Hell, and Will Eisner as the guest of honor. I was new in law school at the time, so I was forced to miss most of the symposium since the events were largely during the day while I was taking classes on a different campus. Anyway, I skipped a block of afternoon classes to attend Eisner’s lecture, and I will always be glad I did. The man was so full of warmth and energy and enthusiasm and creativity, and he did so much to advance comics–sequential art, if you want to get pretentious–as a medium (as opposed to a genre) and an art form. He paved the way with new storytelling styles in The Spirit, and invented the “graphic novel” as we know it with A Contract With God. Many cite Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as the most enduring and influential creators in the history of comics, but Eisner should at least rank alongside those other larger-than-life masters. He will always be one of the best, and he will be missed. Dammit, I think I need to break down and buy that 8" Spirit action figure from Big Blast/Graphitti Designs now. My blue fedora is off to you, Mr. Eisner. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/19 "2005-01-05T04:43:19Z")
> [@Master Wang-Ka](#): > > Yeah, and now that he’s dead, college liberal arts types can start doing theses on his work, so now maybe he’ll get some freakin’ respect. There’s a lot to learn by deconstructing and examining Eisner’s seminal work in the genre. > > I do feel sad for his family, though. Just for starters, Central City is easily the rainiest city in all of comics. Eisner did strips where every figure and object was given shape by the rain splashing all over it. No one’s ever done anything like that, that well, before or since. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040/20 "2005-01-06T09:22:40Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > . . . imagine, if you will, that you’re a baseball fan, and Abner Doubleday has just died. . . This is OT, but since this is on The Straight Dope Message Board, I feel the need to set the record straight. Abner Doubleday had nothing to do with the invention of baseball. Baseball was not invented at all - it was derived from older games like rounders and town ball, and developed over many years into the game we know today. The myth about Doubleday was first expounded in 1907 by the Mills Commission - a group organized by Albert Spalding to prove the American origins of the sport. Supposedly, Doubleday had invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. One problem with the story is that Doubleday was at West Point that year. Another problem is that Doubleday - a civil war general and fairly well-known person while he was alive - lived to see the establishment of professional baseball yet in his many letters and other writings never said a word about the sport. Alexander Cartwright is sometimes credited with inventing baseball. He didn’t, but he did organize the Knickerbocker Club in 1845 - the first baseball club with a written set of rules. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-eisner-has-died/283040.md?page=2)