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WILL
EISNER
(1917-2005)
• Original art: Complete 7-page story, “The
Spirit and the Saga of Old 78” a.k.a. “The Wreck
of Old 78” (August 13, 1950)
By
1950 Will
Eisner was involved in
another business (educational comics) and had had less
time to devote to the
demanding schedule of his 7-page weekly Spirit
strip and so he increasing relied on assistants of
varying talents to keep
the stories on schedule. As will be obvious to serious
Spirit and Eisner fans,
the splash page to this story was not drawn by Eisner himself. However, he is heavily
involved in the bulk of the
remaining six pages. The 2nd page is an
unusual storytelling
technique. The 3rd page is almost entirely Eisner and features handsome
drawings of The
Spirit and Commissioner Dolan---in a trademark Eisenspritz
no less!The 4th
page starts with a reprise of the 2nd page
technique than morphs
into a strikingly large panel. Pages 5 and 6 are again
Eisner himself,
utilizing a chiaroscuro
technique to
depict The
Spirit, Dolan, the
trainman, and Old 78 itself to very dramatic effect in
the darkness and
rain. The
worm’s eye view of the
trestle in the next-to-last panel of page 6, and the
close-up of The Spirit in
the last panel are especially nice. The very last
panel, like the splash page,
is not by Eisner, but rather than break up this
complete story, we prefer to
keep it intact, believing the right collector will
want to own this perfect
example of Will
Eisner personally
creating the most important panels and pages of the
“old 78” story, while
unable at this point in his career to write, layout,
pencil and ink the
entirety of it as he once did.
Medium/Size/Condition:
Drawn with brush, pen and ink on Bristol board
measuring 15 inches wide x 22 inches high. Eisner
placed white tape at the very
top and bottom of the last 6 pages, presumably to
cover the typical rubber
cement stains of the title and page number placed
there in 1947. Minor use of
White-out. Otherwise this complete story is in
excellent condition.
Price:
$15,000
Provenance:
The Will Eisner estate is exclusively represented by
the Denis
Kitchen Art Agency, an affiliate of Steve Krupp’s
Curio Shoppe and Gallery.
This drawing is warranted to be an authentic original
created by Will Eisner,
and sold on behalf of his estate. Note: Image is
© Will Eisner Studios, Inc.
Reproduction for commercial purposes requires
permission. (Displaying the art
on comic art fan sites does not constitute commercial
use.)
Further
reference: Much other Eisner art, plus
out-of-print graphic
novels, Spirit comic books and magazines,
signed serigraphs,
his Famous
Cartoonist Button, and numerous other
Eisner-related items are
accessible from our sister store Steve Krupp’s
Curio Shoppe. Just type his name (or
The Spirit) into our search
bar.
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