The black and white noir-ish look of the comic, the signature hat and mask worn by Karma and Dogma…if you know comic history, you’d instantly have picked up that this panel is our tribute to The Spirit. Why today, you ask? Because today would have been the 94th birthday of Will Eisner, one of the earliest and most influential comic creators of all time. Called the “father of the graphic novel,” his A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories (focusing on the Jewish immigrant experience) was one of the very first longform graphic stories. He is one of the true pioneers of sequential storytelling and helped make it the art form it is today.
He was very proud of comic art’s evolution—and Mr. Eisner, we comic creators are proud of you. Thank you for everything you brought, either directly or indirectly, to art, to literature, and to our lives. Your Spirit endures!
