EARTH PRIME TIME: WILL EISNER WEEK 2013

Today we get to celebrate comics by remembering the birthday of the father of the graphic novel, Will Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005). Known for creating The Spirit and longer stories such as A Contract With God, Eisner continues to be a reigning influence on comics and graphic storytelling. The high school friend of Bob Kane started his comics career at an early age and continued working until his death. Tufts University screens the 2007 film Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist on Thursday as we celebrate Will Eisner Week at Earth Prime Time.

Sure, we’ve gushed about Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but a man important to comic books has escaped the public’s consciousness over the years. Will Eisner’s cinematic visions of the comic book page alongside a kinetic lettering style continues to define the look of the comic book page as professional artists continue to learn from his masterful storytelling techniques.

The Spirit is perhaps Eisner’s most notable work. The presumed dead police detective Denny Colt establishes a hideout in Central City’s Wildwood Cemetery.

The Spirit was a dashing vigilante, hunting down his arch enemy, The Octopus, and solving crimes with sidekick Ebony White. The stories ran the gamut of crime and detective noir to romance and horror.

Many great comic artists have had their hands on the domino-masked hero, from launching the career of Wally Wood in 1952 to modern day vintage illustrators Darwyn Cooke (New Frontier) and J. Bone (Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror). Sin City’s Frank Miller made the jump to full time director and filmmaker, only to release a vacant and vapid adaptation of the character on screen in 2008′s The Spirit.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: BILL FINGER – SECRET CO-CREATOR OF BATMAN WITH MARC TYLER NOBLEMAN

The stories of how comics are made are half the reason we pay so much attention to the brightest and most talented creators out there today. We want to be able to say we have been paying attention to an artist right from the beginning, or that a writer has had his breakthrough arc on a particular series. Much of this idea runs parallel to following the hottest underground bands in the music business. When Simon and Kirby created Captain America or when Jack teamed up with Stan Lee to create the Marvel Universe, there was no telling the effect superheroes would have on the culture.

Marc Tyler Nobleman has written many books about comic book history. He joins Earth Prime Time today to tell us about his new book, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, drawn by Ty Templeton, and how Bill’s legacy affects the comic market today.

DIGBOSTON: Marc, thanks for taking the time to talk with us about your book today. I don’t think I’m overstating by saying this is an important book for Batman fans or Batmanians. Has the Bill Finger story always been interesting to you?
Marc Tyler Nobleman: I don’t remember when I learned the “Batman created by Bob Kane” credit was inaccurate, other than that it was sometime after college. Soon after I sold the manuscript for my first superhero picture book, Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, Bill’s story grabbed me as a natural (not to mention more heartbreaking) follow-up.

In a sense, his story is even more important—Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster lived long enough to win back credit and compensation for their icon, but Bill Finger didn’t.

There has not been much coverage of this topic beyond the comic book convention scene crowd. Comic book historians and other creators certainly know a bit about the story, but for the first time you are presenting the information so that there is less mystery surrounding the origin of Batman’s creation. Why did you want to write this book?
For the reason you just stated! Comics diehards indeed know the name Bill Finger, but his contribution to pop culture is so significant that I feel the mainstream should know the back story, too. That’s also why I wrote it as a picture book for older readers.

I want kids to grow up knowing the truth about Batman’s creation rather than learning about it (like me), as an adult—if at all.

A rare photo of Batman Co-Creator Bill Finger from Green Lantern #1 (1941)

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