Broken Frontier

Denis Kitchen, former publisher of Kitchen Sink press, stands behind a podium in a semi-crowded theater at the Hammer Museum speaking of one of his mentors: Will Eisner. Eisner, who had created The Spirit in the 1940s and who decades later had sparked the institution of the phrase “Graphic Novel” with the landmark book A Contract with God, was the subject of a new documentary film, by Andrew and Jon Cooke: Will Eisner - The Spirit of an Artistic Pioneer.

To Kitchen, it’s apparent that Will Eisner was more than just a comics legend, but a man who has had a meaningful place in his life. When Will Eisner passed away last January, it had an incredible impact on the comics world, but there on stage was one of the people who knew him and learned so very much. Kitchen tells that since Will’s death, a box of archival film footage and tapes from Eisner’s interviews for Shop Talk had been found that would be included in the film, and that even still the current documentary was only “nearly complete.”

“New York was also the center of the world,” says the narrator as the film begins. As far as the comics industry was concerned, this was almost certainly the case. With very few exceptions, most of the cartoonists in the country lived in New York. Montages of artists and comics from throughout history play over a bluesy jazz soundtrack.

As the film takes the audience through the life of one of its heroes, it takes them through a rough history of comics as well. From the earliest days in the transition from newspaper to bound comic book, through to the advent of the graphic novel. In the very beginning, newspaper folks might be embarrassed to note, that comics were what sold the papers, rather than news or reporting. Comics were so popular that someone thought they could sell on their own, without the news.

Among the notable comics luminaries appearing in the film are Art Spiegelman, Gil Kane and Michael Chabon, who shares insight about the Jewishness of comics. Jews couldn’t get work in other writing venues, so comics was a good place to make a living. As well, mind-blowing author Kurt Vonnegut, who explains that Eisner’s power came from the “knowledge that life is full of pain.” Eisner had an impact on so many of the creators to come after him. He seemed to be one of the first who could acknowledge that comics could be seen as art, especially when comics were seen as largely disposable, like fishwrap. Eisner was a person who saw potential where other people saw throwaway entertainment.

In a Shop Talk interview with the late Jack Kirby, probably one of the most influential comics artists of all time, Kirby notes that a “scar or a life experience” is what makes stories so vital. He tells of his own summer vacations spent on the fire escape of his apartment building. One of comics' greatest imaginations was born in the ghettoes of New York.

Eisner’s family experience also explains a lot of his legend. His father was a Viennese painter who immigrated to the U.S. in 1915, and who went on to create backdrops for Yiddish theater productions. On the other hand, his mother was more practical. She “had grave doubts about how I would end up,” confessed Eisner, on screen. These were the two complementary sides of Eisner’s persona: the artist and the businessman.

The one conspicuously missing period in the film is that from 1940 to 1972, when Eisner spent his time doing educational comics. Denis Kitchen would later explain that the Gleeful Guides and P*S magazine, while far from Eisner’s best work “made his mother happy.” During this period, Eisner worked more as a businessman, in charge of the American Visuals corporation. In fact, when he first got the invitation to attend a comic book convention by Phil Seuling in 1972, his secretary asked Eisner with a doubtful look in her eye whether he’d been a cartoonist. His answer, of course, was “yes.”

It’s difficult to encapsulate the impact that Will Eisner had on the comic book industry. Art Speigelman describes one of Eisner’s ideas:  “Each page of a comic book is a surprise that hides the page after it.” It was far from the only technical advance that Eisner discovered. In fact, a statement like that only scrapes the tip of the iceberg.

While the film does have a way to go before feeling complete, it’s clear that it hit a mark with the audience, as a crowd of college students and comics fans gathered around Denis Kitchen, asking him questions about where to find Eisner’s work and for more about the man himself. Of course, Kitchen made sure to mention the recent release of the A Contract with God trilogy as well as Jon B. Cooke’s recent Will Eisner tribute issue of Comic Book Artist Magazine.

It seems that even after his passing Eisner’s love for comics and his pioneering spirit will inspire generations to come.