The Sad Tale of The Spirit Movie We Never Got

After 35 years, the lost pencil-test trailer for Brad Bird's cancelled 1980 animated Spirit film has finally been released. Despite the blessing of Eisner, the film was never completed as no studio would finance it. You can read the full sad tale HERE in a LA Times interview with producer Steven Paul Leiva.

Our good friend and Eisner Biographer,  Bob Andelman also sat down and interviewed Leiva for his Mr. Media segment and talked about the film.

CartoonBrew also has a great article on the subject ,which includes comments by concept artist and animator Jerry Rees and Brad Bird!

And finally here it is! The 1980 pencil-test trailer for Brad Bird's THE SPIRIT:

Presentation sketch by Jerry Rees used in the trailer

2 more concept drawings by Rees

And here are some storyboards by Rees which were also released:

                                          A shame indeed this was never made!

                                                         Leiva, Bird and Eisner

SVA Presents "Will Eisner's Gallery"

Eisner Began teaching at The School of Visual Arts in 1973. In 1974 Eisner Began Publishing Will Eisner's Gallery, an annual comics magazine featuring various works by his students. The covers would feature The Spirit (and occasionally another related character such as P'Gell or Ebony) which Eisner would draw while his students drew various parts of the rest of the cover.
(Due to the low number of copies published, I was unable to locate scans of every cover. So far I've located  #1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14 and 16. If you have a scan of any other issues please share them in the comments below and i will update accordingly.)

For more information on Eisner's time at SVA

Eisner released 2 books based on his seminars at SVA: Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative .

The Will Eisner Week 2015 Recap!

What you might have missed from Will Eisner Week 2015:

The Washington Post's "Will Eisner Week" Article 

Paul Levitz, Danny Fingeroth and Arie Kaplan talked Eisner in New York

Comics Alternative held a special discussion with Denis Kitchen and Michael Schumacher

Bob Andelman welcomed fans to the first ever Italian Eisner Week Celebration

Panel Borders talked Will Eisner

Kera's Think talked Eisner

Comics Alternative held a special panel on Eisner and The Relevance of Graphic Novels

DC comics is releasing a new hardcover edition featuring Spirit Stories from Eisner, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke.

13thDimension asked different comics creators what their favorite Eisner Splashes were:

Mike Allred

Evan "Doc" Shaner

Kevin Nowlan

Francesco Francavilla

J.J. Sedelmaier

Sandy Jarrell 

Ben Stenbeck

Johnathan Case 

Matt Wagner


And Finally we learned that Dynamite Comics will be releasing a NEW Spirit Monthly Comic by Eisner Award Winner Matt Wagner!

We had a huge Eisner Week this year! Quite fitting as it's The Spirit's 75th Birthday!
Until Next Time!

                                             

What is "Will Eisner Week"?

The Official Will Eisner Website describes "Will Eisner Week" as "An annual celebration... promoting graphic novel literacy, sequential art, free speech awareness, and the legacy of Will Eisner. March 1st to March 7th."-with "Read a Graphic Novel" events in over 50 cities and Various interviews and panels discussing the impact of Eisner, his work and "The Spirit".

For More Information:
                                             Official Site: www.willeisnerweek.com
                           Will Eisner Site Page: www.willeisner.com/will_eisner_week/
                                              The Will Eisner Week FaceBook Page

Fiction House's Spirit Reprints (1952)

1952, (Right before the feature's discontinuation) Fiction House released several reprints of some recent post-Eisner spirit sections (the sections were reprinted in random order however, so issue 4 contains one section by Eisner and issue 5 is completely Eisner work.) The cover artist could not be identified.

Spirit Fanzines!

Despite that the Spirit has not gained a lot of mainstream popularity, he has always had a high place among the opinions of dedicated comic readers, critics, writers, artists and historians. because of this the Spirit has been featured in many comics magazines and "Fanzines"

                                                                                 

                                                The Comics Journal #46 (1979)
                                   Cover art taken from "The Spirit Portfolio" (1977)
                                                             By Will Eisner

                                                 The Comics Journal #89 (1983)
                                                        cover art by Will Eisner

                                                          Panels #1 (1979)
                                            Cover art taken from Spirit Section:
                 "Doppelganger" (October 19, 1947) the story was modified and reused in                                      "The Case of the Double Jones" (March 11, 1951) due to deadline issues
                                              Written and drawn by Will Eisner

                                                 The Comic Reader #173 (1979)
                                        Cover art by Alan Hanley and Dennis Jensen

The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom (1980)

Cover art by Terry Beatty

Rocket's Blast Comicollector #79 (1971)

Cover art by John Adkins Richardson

 Rocket's Blast Comicollector #116 (1974)

                                                      Cover art by Don Rosa
                                                                             

Yesteryear #59 (1980)

Cover art by Eisner and Pete Poplaski(?)

The Film Journal #7 (1975)

Cover art taken from Various Spirit Sections

 Pogo #? (19??) (Spanish comics magazine) 

 Cover art by "Sento" (name written in bottom right corner)

 Comics Unlimited #52 (1978)

  Cover Art by Grant Morrison(!) 

The Spirit Jam

Originally published as issue #30 of Kitchen Sink's Spirit Magazine . THE SPIRIT JAM was a unused spirit script by Eisner, However featuring contributions by over 50 others including: Harvey Kurtzman, Richard Corben, Milton Caniff, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland, and Denis Kitchen.

The original cover to The Spirit Magazine #30 (1981) Penciled by Pete Poplaski
The Spirit, Sand Serif and Silk Satin were inked by Eisner, the three thugs on the Spirit's right side were inked by Richard Corben, the Octopus was inked by Denis Kitchen, Commissioner Dolan, Mr Carrion, Ellen, and thugs on the Spirit's left side were inked by Pete Poplaski, the unidentified girl at the bottom of the pile was inked by Leslie Cabarga, P'gell was inked by Milton Caniff and Ebony and Julia (Carrion's Vulture) were inked by John Pound!

The cover to the 1998 edition: