Editing Will Eisner (section)

== 1936–1941: Comics industry and ''The Spirit'' ==

===Eisner & Iger===
{{Main|Eisner & Iger}}

''Wow'' lasted four issues (cover-dated July–September and November 1936). After it ended, Eisner and Iger worked together producing and selling original comics material, anticipating that the well of available reprints would soon run dry, though their accounts of how their partnership was founded differ. One of the first such comic-book "packagers", their partnership was an immediate success, and the two soon had a stable of comics creators supplying work to [[Fox Comics]], [[Fiction House]], [[Quality Comics]] (for whom Eisner co-created such characters as [[Doll Man]] and [[Blackhawk (DC Comics)|Blackhawk]]), and others. Turning a profit of $1.50 a page, Eisner claimed that he "got very rich before I was 22,"<ref>Mercer, Marilyn, "The Only Real Middle-Class Crimefighter", ''New York'' (Sunday supplement, ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]''), January 9, 1966; reprinted ''Alter Ego'' No. 48, May 2005</ref> later detailing that in [[Great Depression|Depression-era]] 1939 alone, he and Iger "had split $25,000 between us",<ref>Heintjes, Tom, ''The Spirit: The Origin Years'' #3 (Kitchen Sink Press, September 1992)</ref> a considerable amount for the time.

Among the studio's products was a self-syndicated Sunday comic strip, ''Hawks of the Seas'', that initially reprinted Eisner's old strip ''Wow, What A Magazine!'' feature "The Flame" and then continued it with new material.<ref>[http://toonopedia.com/hawkseas.htm ''Hawks of the Sea''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20120717130134/http://toonopedia.com/hawkseas.htm Archived] from the original on March 15, 2012.</ref> Eisner's original work even crossed the Atlantic, with Eisner drawing the new cover of the October 16, 1937, issue of [[Boardman Books]]' comic-strip reprint tabloid ''Okay Comics Weekly.''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Heritage Comics and Comic Art Signature Auction #828|last1=Dowell|first1=Gary|last2=Holman|first2=Greg|publisher=Heritage Capital Corporation|year=2008|isbn=978-1599672489|editor-last=Halperin|editor-first=James|pages=84}}</ref> Another Eisner & Iger product - created by Eisner, but soon left to  his stable of assistants - was the 1938 short-form comedy strip ''[[Archie O'Toole]]''.

In 1939, Eisner was commissioned to create [[Wonder Man (Fox Publications)|Wonder Man]] for [[Fox Publications#Victor Fox|Victor Fox]], an accountant who had previously worked at [[DC Comics]] and was becoming a comic book publisher himself. Following Fox's instructions to create a [[Superman]]-type character, and using the pen name Willis, Eisner wrote and drew the first issue of ''Wonder Comics.'' Eisner said in interviews throughout his later life that he had protested the derivative nature of the character and story, and that when subpoenaed after [[National Periodical Publications]], the company that would evolve into DC Comics, sued Fox, alleging Wonder Man was an illegal copy of Superman, Eisner testified that this was so, undermining Fox's case;<ref name=spirited44-45>Andelman, Bob. ''Will Eisner: A Spirited Life'' (M Press: [[Milwaukie, Oregon]], 2005) {{ISBN|978-1-59582-011-2}}, pp. 44–45</ref> Eisner even depicts himself doing so in his semi-autobiographical graphic novel ''[[The Dreamer (graphic novel)|The Dreamer]]''.<ref>''[[The Dreamer (graphic novel)|The Dreamer: A Graphic Novella Set During the Dawn of Comic Books]]'' ([[DC Comics]] : New York City, 1986 edition) {{ISBN|978-1-56389-678-1}}. Reissued by [[W. W. Norton & Company]] : New York City, London, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-393-32808-0}}, p. 42</ref> However, a transcript of the proceeding, uncovered by comics historian Ken Quattro in 2010, indicates Eisner in fact supported Fox and claimed Wonder Man as an original Eisner creation.<ref>Quattro, Ken. [http://thecomicsdetective.blogspot.com/2010/07/dc-vs-victor-fox-testimony-of-will.html "DC vs. Victor Fox: The Testimony of Will Eisner"], ''The Comics Detective'', July 1, 2010.</ref>

===''The Spirit''===
{{Main|Spirit (comics character){{!}}The Spirit}}
[[File:TheSpirit21Cover.jpg|260px|thumb|Eisner's cover for ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]'' ([[Quality Comics]]) #21, June 1950.]]
In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979,<ref>"Art & Commerce: An Oral Reminiscence by Will Eisner." ''Panels'' #1 (Summer 1979), pp. 5–21, quoted in {{cite web|last=Quattro|first= Ken|url= http://www.comicartville.com/rareeisner.htm |title=Rare Eisner: Making of a Genius| publisher=Comicartville Library |year= 2003| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20031218092230/http://www.comicartville.com/rareeisner.htm |archive-date=December 18, 2003|url-status=live}}</ref> Quality Comics publisher [[Everett M. "Busy" Arnold]] "came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom," In a 2004 interview,<ref name="ae48">Will Eisner interview, ''Alter Ego'' No. 48 (May 2005), p. 10</ref> he elaborated on that meeting:

{{blockquote|"Busy" invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin [sales manager of [[The Des Moines Register|The Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate]], who] said, "The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books, and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers." ... Martin asked if I could do it. ... It meant that I'd have to leave Eisner & Iger [which] was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal [which] was that we'd be partners in the 'Comic Book Section,' as they called it at that time. And also, I would produce two other magazines in partnership with Arnold.}}

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright ''The Spirit,'' but "[w]ritten down in the contract I had with 'Busy' Arnold&nbsp;&mdash;and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership&mdash;Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in any way, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to 'Busy' Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership".<ref name="ae48" /> This would include the eventual backup features "[[Mr. Mystic]]" and "[[Lady Luck (comics)|Lady Luck]]".

Selling his share of their firm to Iger, who would continue to package comics as the S.M. Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $20,000,<ref>[[Denis Kitchen|Kitchen, Denis]]. "Annotations to ''The Dreamer'', in Eisner, Will, ''The Dreamer'' ([[W.W. Norton & Company]], New York, 2008), p. 52. {{ISBN|978-0-393-32808-0}}</ref> Eisner left to create ''The Spirit.'' "They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes. Comic books were a ghetto. I sold my part of the enterprise to my associate and then began The Spirit. They wanted an heroic character, a costumed character. They asked me if he'd have a costume. And I put a mask on him and said, 'Yes, he has a costume!'"<ref>Will Eisner interview, [http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/16eisner.html ''Jack Kirby Collector'' #16 (June 1997)]</ref>

''The Spirit'', an initially eight- and later seven-page urban-crimefighter series, ran with the initial backup features "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck" in a 16-page Sunday supplement (colloquially called "The Spirit Section") that was eventually distributed in 20 newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies.<ref>Eisner, ''The Dreamer'', "About the Author", p. 55</ref> It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952.<ref name=gcd1940series>{{cite web|url=http://www.comics.org/series/10295/|title=GCD :: Series :: The Spirit}}</ref> Eisner has cited the Spirit story "Gerhard Shnobble" as a particular favorite, as it was one of his first attempts at injecting his personal point of view into the series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cartoonician.com/eisner-wide-open/|title=Eisner Wide Open|work=Hogan's Alley|access-date=January 15, 2013|archive-date=June 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620092240/http://cartoonician.com/eisner-wide-open/|url-status=dead}}</ref>