Part of Series
Universally celebrated as one of comics’ most influential creators, Will Eisner broke new ground with nearly every project he undertook during his long and extraordinary career. But no creation was more ambitious, innovative, or ahead of its time than the weekly serial he launched in 1940 - The Spirit! Over the twelve years of its initial publication, this legendary strip revolutionized the cartooning medium, establishing new methods of storytelling, developing new depths of characterization, and demonstrating to readers everywhere that comics could truly be an art form. In the years that followed, fans and professionals alike regularly revisited The Spirit to rediscover the feature’s timeless appeal. To honor the 75th anniversary of Eisner’s historic achievement, DC Comics is proud to present this deluxe edition collecting more than four hundred pages of the Spirit’s four-color adventures. Beginning with his very first appearance in print, WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT: A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS follows the indefatigable criminologist Denny Colt across the decades to his most recent re-imaginings by some of contemporary comics’ greatest talents - including Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell and Darwyn Cooke.
Authors
Will Eisner was born on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, Will Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined. In a career that spanned nearly eight decades—from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics - Will Eisner was truly the 'Father of the Graphic Novel' and the 'Orson Welles of Comics.' He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena, and countless others. During World War II, Will Eisner used the comic format to develop training and equipment maintenance manuals for the US Army. After the war this continued as the Army's "PS Magazine" which is still being produced today. Will Eisner taught Sequential Art at the New York School of Visual Arts for 20 years. The textbooks that he wrote were based on his course and are still bestsellers. In 1978, Will Eisner wrote "A Contract with God," the first modern Graphic Novel. This was followed by almost 20 additional graphic novels over the following 25 years. The "Oscars" of the Comic Industry are called The Eisner Awards, and named after Will Eisner. The Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at San Diego Comic-Con, America's largest comics convention. Wizard magazine named Eisner "the most influential comic artist of all time." Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-prize winning novel "Kavalier and Clay" is based in good part on Eisner. In 2002, Eisner received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, presented by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman.
Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC hit show Heroes, and formerly a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost. A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner (see below), Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.
