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WILL EISNER
(1917-2005) • Original Spirit art
May
28, 1950. Page 5 from “The Good Old Days”
(Baseball story).
JULES
FEIFFER & TEX
BLAISDELL (Will Eisner editor/publisher in this
instance) •
THE SPIRIT • May 28, 1950 (actually 1948*). Page 5 from
“The Good Old Days” (and page 3 from Baseball Comics #2).
Commissioner
Dolan is
telling Sammy about a
classic baseball game pitting the dominant American League
teams of 1907: the Detroit
Tigers and
the Philadelphia
Athletics, featuring
superstars of the era. Ty
Cobb, Sam Crawford, Rube Waddell, and others.
For the full understanding of this page read the
back-story below:
*Back-story to this story
and page: The bulk of the 7-page “Good Old Days” Spirit story (minus
the splash and 2nd page) was
originally created in 1948 for Baseball Comics #2. Jules
Feiffer wrote
the story and Tex
Blaisdell drew
it. Will
Eisner had
briefly started his own comic book line that year,
publishing Kewpies and Baseball Comics #1, with John Law #1
(a solo Eisner creation) and Baseball Comics #2 poised to
be printed, when he quickly pulled the plug.
The comic book
market was congested in 1948 and the initial sales numbers
did not look promising for a start-up imprint, so Eisner
shelved the unpublished titles. A portion of John Law #1 was
famously converted by Eisner into what became an all-time Spirit classic,
the 2-part “Sand Saref” story published in January 1950.
Five months after that conversion, probably spurred by a
deadline crisis, a 6-page story created for Baseball Comics #2 became
this “Good Old Days” Spirit story.
Medium/Size/Condition: Brush,
pen, and ink on Bristol board measuring 13.75 x 22 inches
(34.9 x 52.8 cm. White tape at top and bottom, applied by
Eisner to cover up yellowing from original 1948 Baseball Comics rubber
cement. White-Out and correctional scraping in a few
places but overall in excellent condition.
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.
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. |
