Eisnershpritz News Archive

WillEisner.com will be seeing some changes over the next few days as design modifications and upgrades are taking place. We apologize for any inconvenience... we'll try to minimize any site disruptions.

Gabriel Macht (The Good Shepherd) will be playing The Spirit in the feature film being written and directed by Frank Miller. Sony has picked up International rights for the film.

Read the Variety article here.
Read about it at Newsarama.

From 2005, Peter Sanderson talks comics and runs through the best Spirit stories ever told in a long and well written article:

Perhaps responding to the Batman-is-nuts school of thought, Eisner emphasizes that the Spirit is different. "As his creator, I can assure you that he had no neurotic or other deep-seated psychological needs to satisfy. He was simply a guy who had a perfectly acceptable trade -- that of chasing and catching crooks. He was good at it. He got into the superhero business by accident; stumbled into it, you might say." In other words, you don't have to be crazy to risk your life fighting crime. Eisner continues, "he entered the profession much the same way most people enter a lifelong career -- through a combination of need, talent, and circumstance." Was this how Eisner modestly regarded his own career as a comics writer and artist?

A new book on the early work of Will Eisner is now available from Greg Theakston at Pure Imagination. The book contains almost a full year of Sports Shorts, Eisner's first three stories, and 'Muss 'em Up'. Here's a run-down from Greg of the full list of contents:

SPORTS SHORTS features (1937)
'The Brothers 3' from FUNNY PICTURE STORIES #4 (Feb. 1937)
Hockey spread from FUNNY PICTURE STORIES #4 (Feb. 1937)
'Top Hand' from WESTERN PICTURE STORIES #1(Feb. 1937)
Muss 'em Up from DETECTIVE PICTURE STORIES #4 (Mar. 1937)
'The Law of Caribou County' from WESTERN PICTURE STORIES #2 (Mar. 1937)
Hawk from JUMBO #6 (Feb. 1939)
Espionage from SMASH COMICS #1 (Aug. 1939)
Yarko from WONDERWORLD #4 (Aug. 1939)
Yarko from WONDERWORLD #5 (Sep. 1939)
Espionage from SMASH COMICS #3 (Oct. 1939)
Yarko from WONDERWORLD #6 (Oct. 1939)
Yarko from WONDERWORLD #8 (Dec. 1939)
Dollman from FEATURE COMICS #27 (Dec. 1939). Inks by Lou Fine.
Espionage from SMASH COMICS #7 (Feb. 1940)
Uncle Sam from NATIONAL COMICS #1 (July 1940)

Books can be ordered from:

Pure Imagination Publishing
516 State St.
Brooklyn, NY
11217
718-403-9312

or

Paypal to: teasemag(at)mindspring.com (email for price and shipping costs)

A new hardcover collection of autobiographical works by Will Eisner is available for pre-order on Amazon for an October shipping date.

In what will be the closest thing Eisner fans will see to an autobiography, the great master and pioneer of American graphic arts presents the most intimate and personal perspective yet on his life as a writer, a professional, and an artist. "The Dreamer" and "To the Heart of the Storm" describe Eisner's gritty early life and career, while "The Name of the Game" chronicles a personal history of his wife's family. Finally, two shorter pieces illuminate the bookends of a legendary career: "The Day I Became a Professional"--which will appeal to any hopeful young artist--describes Eisner's first rejection from a potential publisher, and "A Sunset in Sunshine City" provides a poignant portrait of Eisner in old age. The book features famous characters from the world of comics (under pseudonyms, of course) and other historical figures and family members, all drawn with Eisner's characteristic mastery and technique.

Go to the Amazon page here to pre-order.
Go to WW Norton page.

Reuters reports more casting news for 'Will Eisner's The Spirit' movie directed by Frank Miller:

For "The Spirit," Miller's adaptation of the classic Eisner film noir comic strip series, Johansson is in final negotiations to play a dangerous beauty named Silk N. Floss. Eisner's strip was known for its women with dangerous curves, and Miller is intent on keeping that tradition. Floss is a sexy and intelligent secretary with a vindictive instinct, making her the perfect accomplice to the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), an evil mastermind.

Gabriel Macht is playing the title character, a detective who fakes his own death in order to fight crime in Central City as the masked man known as the Spirit. Production is scheduled to start in October, with the film scheduled to be released domestically by Lionsgate in 2009.

The final issue by Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone.

Written by Darwyn Cooke; Art by Cooke and J. Bone; Cover by Cooke

A waterfront murder brings The Spirit face to face with his first true love. From out of the past steps the mysterious Sand Saref!

On Sale November 21, 2007

View the DC Comics page here.

Variety's Dave McNary reports that actress Eva Mendes has joined Gabriel Macht, Scarlett Johanssen and Samuel L. Jackson in the cast of "Will Eisner's The Spirit" feature film. Macht will be playing the hero, 'Denny Colt', opposite Jackson as the villainous 'Octopus'. Johanssen has been locked in to play 'Silk N. Floss', one of Eisner's femmes fatale... but what of Mendes? The exotic 'P'Gell' perhaps?
Read the full article...

Frank Miller's feature film adaptation of 'Will Eisner's The Spirit' now has a cinematographer: Bill Pope (The Matrix, Spider-Man 2). Dave Davis from Joblo.com noted the Hollywood Reporter announcement:

A filmography like that should give you some confidence in the film's eventual quality, or at least the potential style and atmosphere.