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 Well, damn.Will Eisner died.  Not entirely surprising; he was old, and we were lucky enough to see him work long past the point when most cartoonists burn out or hang it up. Will Eisner created The Spirit, one of the best newspaper cartoons ever conceived. The Spirit wasn’t a superhero; he was just a big rugged guy in a blue suit and a red necktie who used his brains to find the bad guys and his fists to knock their teeth out. The strips Eisner drew after he returned from WW2 teach you all you need to know about comics. One of the things that truly makes me proud of this site is this: not because it’s a great page, and not because I found it and posted it, but because someone showed it to Mr. Eisner a few years ago, and it gave him a laugh. He sent me some autographed books in return. A good and decent man, from what I've heard, and I believe in the last few years he knew how many people loved his work. Which is good. I mean, here's a guy who drew pictures for a living in the 40s, and if he'd showed up at my door Jan 2, 2005, I could drive him around town from one store to the other, and show him where they kept his books. Some guys would say "well, of course." Others would be humbled and grateful. Guess which one I think he was. I suppose we’re lucky that no one has made a Spirit movie, because it would have starred Ben Affleck and had the usual Danny Elfman oompah-oompah score. If they’d made it in the 70s, it would have starred Elliot Gould, no doubt, with a Chick Corea score with jazzy electric piano and lots of whacka-chicka guitars. But someone needs to make a Spirit movie. Hard-core 40s. Do it all in CGI, shoot it like Citizen Kane: the first Pixar-quality adult adventure computer-generated movie. In the last few years was working on a graphic novel about the true story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, of all things. I hope he finished it. We need it. Big heavy bookwork tonight, so no big heavy Bleat; such is January. At least it’s going well; I like this book, a lot, and have hit that point where it no longer leaves me drenched in flop sweat to consider it. I leave you with today’s Barbie picture:  It’s My Size Hosannah Barbie flogging Blog! Because here in the amen corner of the wingnut choir, we’re all singing from the same hymnal! And of course there’s Meet Joe Ohio, con’t. Ah, what the hell. Here’s a movie of Gnat balancing Hugh’s book on her head. |
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