Spirit Cover Prelims

Preliminary sketches for Various Spirit reprint covers, accompanied by the final cover:
All art by Will Eisner (Colorists and inkers are posted below respective covers)
Some are obvious others were changed completely

                                                  Warren Publishing The Spirit #4 (1974)
                                                       Inks and Coloring by Ken Kelly.                                                                                                              Inspired by "Life Below" 2/22/48

                                                  Warren Publishing The Spirit #5(1974)
                                                       Inks and Coloring by Ken Kelly
                   Both Prelim and Final Cover Inspired by different aspects of "Hamid Jebru" 5/8/49

                                                  Warren Publishing The Spirit #10(1975)
                                                        Inks and Coloring by Ken Kelly
                                      Prelim 1 inspired by "The Octopus is Back" 2/11/51(?).
                                                      Prelim 2 inspired by "Heat" 7/15/51.
                                                                Final cover inspired by ?

                                                  Warren Publishing The Spirit #11(1975)
                                                        Inks and Coloring by Ken Kelly
                                           Prelims 1 and 2 inspired by "The Jewel" 3/12/50
                                      (the octopus he's struggling with never appears though)
                                              Prelim 3 inspired by "Plaster of Paris" 11/7/48

                                                    Kitchen Sink Comix The Spirit #4(1984)
                                                Inks by Will Eisner, Colors by Pete Poplaski
                                                     Inspired by "The Last Trolley" 3/24/46

                                                  Kitchen Sink Comix The Spirit #6(1984)
                                               Inks by Will Eisner, Colors by Pete Poplaski
                                                    Inspired by "Carrion's Rock" 5/19/46

                                                Kitchen Sink Comix The Spirit #10(1985)
                                                Inks by Will Eisner, Colors by Pete Poplaski
        Prelim inspired by "Meet P'Gell" 10/6/46(?). Final Cover Inspired by "Meet P'Gell" 10/6/46

                                               Kitchen Sink Comix The Spirit #36(1987)
                                           Inks by Will Eisner, Colors by Ray Fehrenbach
                                                  Prelim 1 inspired by "Gold" 10/10/48
                              Prelim 2 and Final cover inspired by "Tooty Compote" 10/3/48

                                               Kitchen Sink Comix The Spirit #61(1989)
                                            Inks by Will Eisner, Colors by Ray Fehrenbach
                                                    Inspired by "Teacher's Pet" 9/10/1950

                                                Kitchen Sink Comix The Spirit #71(1990)
                                             Inks by Will Eisner, Colors by Ray Fehrenbach
                                                          Inspired by "Wanchu" 6/10/51

Just a few obviously. More to come in the future!

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