126 - Eisner

Eisner WILL EISNER THE SPIRIT Kitchen Sink Original cover of the comic book *The Spirit* #36 published by Kitchen Sink in October 1987. Signed. India ink and blue pencil on paper 26 × 35.5 cm (10.24 × 13.98 in.) In 1952, Eisner, disillusioned by the direction the U.S. comic book industry was taking—where major publishers were stripping creators of the rights to their own works (think Superman and Batman…)—stopped drawing comics. He founded a communications agency where he focused primarily on educational and advertising illustration, notably for the U.S. military. But in 1971, Phil Seuling called him to invite him to be the guest of honor at his first U.S. comic book convention. At this event, he met the greatest underground comic book artists of the time: Robert Crumb, Bill Griffith, Spain Rodriguez… And he was blown away by their freedom of expression. From then on, he entrusted one of their publishers, Dennis Kitchen, with the task of republishing his *Spirit* classics, for which he redrew the covers in his modern style. This cover is particularly interesting because it illustrates an episode co-written with Jules Feiffer, his assistant, who would later become one of the most respected editorial cartoonists in the United States: the story of Tootie Compote, a guy who can take down his opponent with a single line or a simple gesture. This seven-panel story, as conceptual as it gets, gives us this cover where we see Denny Colt, the Spirit, struggling against a swarm of grotesque bandits—a truly frenzied scene—while Tootie Compote, sitting right on the ground, casually sends his opponent to the mat with the power of a simple fluid. A magnificent work featuring the fluid artwork characteristic of Will Eisner’s genius. Didier Pasamonik