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WILL EISNER (1917-2005) •
Original Spirit Art
October 15, 1950. “Splash” page 1 from “Lizzie’s
Boys”
An explosive Spirit splash page! It
looks like another day in the life for the mild-mannered
pair of cartoon twins who start off this story, but things
take a Eisnerian turn when their special delivery explodes
into a kinetic Spirit logo in the set-up to a heist story
with a heartwarming twist!
This page is unique both for its rare four-tier structure
and for the way it behaves as a prologue, something Eisner
found risky. In 1989 he said, “In my opinion, it’s very
difficult to employ a prologue successfully in the comics.
It’s one of the most dangerous things to put in a comics
story because unless you handle it just right and make it
clear that it’s a prologue, the reader’s not going to get
it.” This splash works both as a prologue and as a
delightful stand-alone strip page. It boasts charming
pantomime storytelling, animated gestures, and charming,
precision linework.
We’d go on to discover the twins belong to Light Fingered
Lizzy, a career pickpocket who’s coming up on hard times
in the crime biz. Her boys’ splash page caper fingered the
notorious Ghouly Gang, and while the press and police
believe they’re the culprits, Spirit senses something else
is afoot. During a heated argument with Dolan, kid
detectives pick up Lizzie’s file and decide to bring her
in. The tables are turned when she picks their pocket,
finding her file in the pages of a Spirit comic book.
Meanwhile, the Ghouly Gang track down Lizzie’s boys and
put them to work planning a heist. Trying to find a
wallet, Lizzie snatches the map of her sons’ new heist
from a Ghouly gangster’s pocket. Despondent at the lack of
a good score, she goes to the police station to turn
herself in and give up the criminal life at exactly the
moment when her boys bust through the station floor in a
joyous reunion. When Spirit and Dolan debrief, they
discover the boys planned to bust into the police station.
In a classic Eisner twist, everybody went straight at the
same time!
Medium/Size/Condition: Brush, pen, and
ink on Bristol board measuring 15 x 22.5 inches (38 x
57cm). Some White-out . Mechanical paste up story title
from KSP Spirit reprint series at top, mechanical page
number paste up at bottom. Overall 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. |
