Will Eisners søndags-tillæg til amerikanske aviser, “The Spirit”, debuterede i juni 1940, men allerede i 1942 blev Eisner indkaldt til hæren, og måtte overlade den populære noir krimi serie til andre tegnere og forfattere de næste tre år. Spirit, med det borgerlige navn Denny Colt, var speciel idet han ikke besad hverken superkræfter eller overnaturlige kræfter, han var med Eisners egne ord, en “middle-class crimefighter”. Eisner var så heldig at få lov til at tegne instruktions-tegneserier til hæren i de tre år han gjorde militær tjeneste.
Da Eisner vendte tilbage til “The Spirit” i 1945 efter militær tjenesten, fortsatte og videreudviklede han denne noir serie indtil 1952, sammen med assistenter som Klaus Nordling og – surprise – Jules Feiffer!
Tænk, at Will Eisner og Jerry Iger takkede nej til at købe “Superman” serien af de to unge jødiske talenter, Jerry Siegel og Joe Shuster. Han kunne have blevet mange-millionær! I dollars vel at mærke! Det er næsten som da Decca takkede nej til The Beatles i 1962 med begrundelsen, “Guitar groups are on the way out.”
fra http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/05/books/05eisner.html
With the conclusion of the Spirit, Mr. Eisner spent much of his time for the next 25 years running the American Visual Corporation, a producer of educational, Army and government comic books. This part of his career is often given short shrift, but Mr. Kitchen, whose Kitchen Sink Press reprinted all of the postwar Spirit comics from 1973 to 1998, said that Mr. Eisner’s instructional comics made for the United States Army during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War were some of his greatest innovations.
Military manuals used to be “ugly and dry,” Mr. Kitchen said. Mr. Eisner changed all that. “He used words and pictures together to show soldiers how to do everything from putting their lives back together after war to cleaning their tanks.”
Og hvis I gerne vil lære at rengøre en M-16 riffel, kan I læse Will Eisners instruktions-tegneserie manual fra 1. juli 1969 på siden http://www.ep.tc/problems/25/
COMICS WITH PROBLEMS #25 – May 2008 – Presenting Will Eisner’s M-16 Rifle Manual. Eisner Studios were responsible for the art, the U.S. Army provided the copy.
Shown below: two copies, one still sealed in its original army plastic.
Click the image to proceed through the comic for the first page of instruction, entitled, “How To Strip Your Baby”…
Vi har faktisk fået nogle af de bøger Eisner producerede på American Visuals Corporation, på Bogfabrikken for år tilbage.
fra http://www.deniskitchen.com/docs/bios/bio_will_eisner.html
MILITARY CAREER and EDUCATIONAL COMICS… From 1942-45 Will Eisner served three years as a Warrant Officer in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.. There, during World War II, he created motivational posters and pioneered the use of cartoons for instructional purposes with the publication Army Motors. His innovative approach, combining hard information within cartoon plots proved so effective that he privately contracted with the U.S. Army in 1951 to produce P*S, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly and continued to produce the magazine for many years afterward. He formed American Visuals Corporation in 1948 to supply similar educational comics to clients ranging from the U.S. Government’s Job Corps to General Motors. He also formed a separate company which produced a wide array of cartoon-based educational materials for schools across America.
Denne lille sag af Will Eisner udkom på dansk i 1989, original titlen er “Living With Your Parents”:
Og endnu en charmerende bog i 1986, original udgaven er fra 1974 og har titlen “Will Eisner’s gleeful guide to communicating with plants”:
Og så var der også Astrologi bogen, som vi fik i to udgaver på dansk, fra Frederik E i 1984, og fra Bogfabrikken i 1989, så danskerne har vel været stærkt optaget af stjernetegn i fattigfirserne. Original titlen er “Will Eisner’s gleeful guide to living with astrology”, og det er vel det man gør med astrologi – man lever med det!
Og endnu en bog af Eisner på dansk om skattefar, eller som amerikanerne siger, “Uncle Sam”, fra Bogfabrikken i 1987. Dog mener jeg vort broderland Sverige havde verdens højeste skattetryk i 1987. Denne triste rekord har Danmark nu:
Og så vil jeg gerne afslutte denne lille præsentation af dette lille, store, ikke helt uvæsentlige hjørne af Pantheon tegneren Will Eisners enorme produktion, med fire forsider af “P.S. Magazine – Preventive Maintenance Monthly”, produceret af Eisner til den amerikanske hær:
Og da vi ikke skal regne med, at noget forlag vil være dumdristige nok til at genoptrykke dette blad, kan I læse alle 229 numre plus de tre special hæfter, som Eisner skabte fra 1951 til 1972, på http://dig.library.vcu.edu/cdm4/index_psm.php?CISOROOT=/psm
Eisner began a 24 year absence from the comic book world when he founded the American Visuals Corporation in the late 1940s to produce commercial work. As one of the biggest names in the industry, Eisner attracted some of the best aspiring comic artists. Artists you will find in PS Magazine include: Murphy Anderson (Strange Adventures, Mystery in Space, Adam Strange, The Flash, Green Lantern); Mike Ploog (Creepy, Planet of the Apes, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing); Don Perlin (Werewolf by Night, Ghost Riders, The Defenders); Dan Spiegle (Space Family Robinson, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Korak); and comic strip artist/writer Andre LeBlanc (“The Phantom,” “Flash Gordon,” “Rex Gordon, MD”).
Each issue of PS Magazine consisted of a color comic book style cover, often designed and drawn by Eisner; eight full pages of four color comic continuity story in the middle; and the rest was filled with technical, safety, and policy information printed in two color to save money. The continuity story starred his earlier character and was called “Joe’s Dope Sheet.” Each episode offers the same cautionary tale: a soldier who ignores preventive maintenance learns of its importance in the end. Eisner commanded a high level of freedom to create the continuity section and he used his colorful comic style to draw the reader in.
Eisner had always believed that the comics medium had teaching potential and the work of American Visuals Corporation helped confirm this for him. The company produced educational cartoons and illustrations and giveaway comics for a variety of clients and industries. Eisner took on a number of roles within the company. In the case of PS Magazine, he created the continuity section and the art of each issue based upon the technical manuscripts provided to him by the Army’s PS staff. As part of his contract with the magazine, Eisner was sent on location to places like Japan, Korea, and Vietnam in order to meet soldiers and better understand the situations they and their equipment experienced.