The Passing of a Giant
I just found out that Will Eisner passed away on January 3rd of this year - a revelation that truly saddens me. Though I have been designing games for a long time, my first true hobby love was comics - specifically, creating and collecting them. When I was in middle and high school, I wanted nothing more than to write and draw comics, and threw myself fully at the study of pen and ink art, writing, and the great masters of the medium like Bernie Wrightson, Frank Miller, Barry Windsor Smith, Jack Kirby, Alan Moore, Steve Ditko and Will Eisner. Eventually, the comics bubble burst, and I discovered a new hobby - Magic: The Gathering - which drew my money and attention away.
But I still love the medium, and in the years since, I've gone out of my way to stick with the old and new greats, like Frank Miller's Sin City, Azzarello and Rizzo's 100 Bullets, and almost anything by Brian Michael Bendis. I've come to appreciate comics as a unique visual storytelling medium, one that has grown up as I have grown up, with 'adult' titles forming a valuable and interesting sector of the market. Today, I can realize when I pick up Eisner's A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, that the evolution of comics into something other than 4 color funnybooks is almost entirely due to Will Eisner's efforts. Books like Contract and Last Day in Vietnam were the trailblazing first steps into the now-popular graphic novel format - stories not afraid to run hundreds of pages, like an actual book, instead of biweekly exploits and shallow plots; to address adult issues, realities and sensibilities. I believe that this contribution alone, the revelation that comics could be more than "just comics" to the world at large, may have saved the medium from death, and instead allowed it to thrive.
It's little secret that the stories I created from those first days in comics not only inspired my love of storytelling, but sharpened my talents as a creator and businessperson to allow me to do what I am today. From that love of creation, I learned about dedication to a purpose, hard work, good storytelling, and ultimately of the importance of chasing your passion. So thank you, Mr. Eisner - may you rest in peace.
I just found out that Will Eisner passed away on January 3rd of this year - a revelation that truly saddens me. Though I have been designing games for a long time, my first true hobby love was comics - specifically, creating and collecting them. When I was in middle and high school, I wanted nothing more than to write and draw comics, and threw myself fully at the study of pen and ink art, writing, and the great masters of the medium like Bernie Wrightson, Frank Miller, Barry Windsor Smith, Jack Kirby, Alan Moore, Steve Ditko and Will Eisner. Eventually, the comics bubble burst, and I discovered a new hobby - Magic: The Gathering - which drew my money and attention away.
But I still love the medium, and in the years since, I've gone out of my way to stick with the old and new greats, like Frank Miller's Sin City, Azzarello and Rizzo's 100 Bullets, and almost anything by Brian Michael Bendis. I've come to appreciate comics as a unique visual storytelling medium, one that has grown up as I have grown up, with 'adult' titles forming a valuable and interesting sector of the market. Today, I can realize when I pick up Eisner's A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, that the evolution of comics into something other than 4 color funnybooks is almost entirely due to Will Eisner's efforts. Books like Contract and Last Day in Vietnam were the trailblazing first steps into the now-popular graphic novel format - stories not afraid to run hundreds of pages, like an actual book, instead of biweekly exploits and shallow plots; to address adult issues, realities and sensibilities. I believe that this contribution alone, the revelation that comics could be more than "just comics" to the world at large, may have saved the medium from death, and instead allowed it to thrive.
It's little secret that the stories I created from those first days in comics not only inspired my love of storytelling, but sharpened my talents as a creator and businessperson to allow me to do what I am today. From that love of creation, I learned about dedication to a purpose, hard work, good storytelling, and ultimately of the importance of chasing your passion. So thank you, Mr. Eisner - may you rest in peace.
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