{"id":2596,"date":"2017-03-07T11:28:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2024-01-09T11:32:47","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T19:32:47","slug":"maggies-world-049-influences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-049-influences\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 049: Influences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 049: Influences<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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When we surveyed comics professionals for our 1993 book\u00a0Comic-Book Superstars<\/em>, two men were most often cited as influences.\u00a0Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide 1994 Annual<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2017 F+W. Click for a larger view!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When my late husband, Don, and I were working at Krause Publications, we received many requests to be put in touch with professionals\u2014many of whom were reluctant to share contact information. So we decided to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone and prepared a book, Comic-Book Superstars<\/em>, that would also provide us with information at a glance. In addition to other data, we asked participants to list their biggest creative influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We added up the responses for the Comics Buyer\u2019s Guide Annual<\/em> we prepared the next year and found\u2014well, take a look. (And here\u2019s a shout-out to the wonderful photographer G.E. Schlegelmilch for supplying the photo we used in that summary.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who turned out to be the two most important creators in the lives of comics pros of the 1990s? As I say, take a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack Kirby<\/strong> was born Jacob Kurtzberg on August 28, 1917. [He died February 6, 1994, at the age of 76; his wife, Roz, was born September 25, 1922, and died December 22, 1997.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Eisner<\/strong> was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917. [He died January 3, 2005, at the age of 87; his wife, Ann, was born April 26, 1923, and gives her name to the Will & Ann Eisner Foundation, created to assist education in comics and sequential art.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2017, of course, marks the century since the birth of two greats of comic-book history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jack Kirby<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Influential creators had influences of their own. Mark Evanier reported in Kirby: King of the Comics<\/em> that important influences on Jack\u2019s work included those of Rollin Kirby (editorial cartoonist, 1875-1952), \u201cDing\u201d Darling (editorial cartoonist, 1876-1962), C.H. Sykes (editorial cartoonist, 1882-1942), Hal Foster (Prince Valiant<\/em> comic-strip artist-writer, 1892-1982), Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates<\/em> and Steve Canyon<\/em> comic-strip writer-artist, 1907-1988), and Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon<\/em> and Rip Kirby<\/em> comic-strip artist-writer, 1909-1956).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the first of these two kickoffs of Kirby projects, there\u2019s (left) one that we admired long before the other.\u00a0Boys\u2019 Ranch<\/em>\u00a0#1 (October 1950) \u00a9 2017 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby\u00a0Fantastic Four<\/em>\u00a0#1 (November 1961) \u00a9 2017 Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Don and me, though, Jack\u2019s work was just \u2026 well \u2026 always there<\/em> from the time we first began to read comic books. Frankly, we pretty much took his work for granted. He seemed to be everywhere; whereas he\u2019d co-created Captain America, he certainly wasn\u2019t just about super-heroes. (Keep in mind the artists whose work influenced him.) When Don and I first began to discuss our favorite comics, we shared our enthusiasm for the short-lived Boys\u2019 Ranch<\/em>, a Western that featured a terrific team of teens: perhaps our favorite of his pre-Silver Age work. It may not have influenced many of those who came later, but those who had<\/em> followed the series tended to admire it the way we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Jack was acknowledged to be one of the most vital influences in the entire comic-book field, one of the most impressive aspects of \u201cThe King of Comics\u201d was his kindness toward all<\/em> his admirers. He communicated with them, he connected with them, he welcomed them as his friends, and he went out of his way to be the guiding light that illuminated the lives of so many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, not so by the way, the same goes for Roz Kirby, who put up with what must have been an overwhelming mass of adults and kids who each yearned for their own moment with someone who meant so much to them. She made it possible for him to give us his best\u2014and her easy accommodation of adoring acquaintances made us feel that we weren\u2019t an annoyance, even as she saw to it that he was able to work despite our distractions. (Somewhere in my files is a charming photo for which she posed for me with Jack: smiling and relaxed, as she made traditional \u201cbunny ears\u201d behind his head.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Eisner<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Will shared with us for Comic-Book Superstars<\/em> a list of creators who had been among the greatest influences on him. They were J.C. Leyendecker (illustrator, 1874-1951), George Herriman (Krazy Kat<\/em> comic-strip writer-artist, 1880-1944), Elzie Segar (Thimble Theatre<\/em> comic-strip writer-artist, 1894-1938), and Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates<\/em> and Steve Canyon<\/em> comic-strip writer-artist, 1907-1988). Even before that, he had said, \u201cMy big influence in stories \u2026 is the short stories\u2014the O. Henry short stories, the Ambrose Bierce short stories, and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Much less a part of my childhood comics reading was the work of Will Eisner. If you didn\u2019t get a newspaper that carried his comics supplement, chances are you never saw The Spirit, when his adventures originally ran. But his work wasn\u2019t limited to periodicals before he reentered the comics field, and he expanded his output to such releases as his \u201cPoorhouse Press\u201d line, distributed by Crown.\u00a0How to Avoid Death and Taxes<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2017 Will Eisner Studios, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although I wrote \u201cBlue Suit, Blue Mask, Blue Gloves\u2014and No Socks\u201d about The Spirit for 1973\u2019s The Comic-Book Book<\/em>, I hadn\u2019t grown up reading his stories. I discovered the feature thanks to Don\u2019s enthusiasm\u2014and our quickly growing accumulation of back-issue comics. I wrote the piece primarily based on the Spirit<\/em> sections we\u2019d managed to acquire in the preceding decade, not from having met Will. I commented, \u201cPeople have pointed out that the Spirit never wore socks; the leg that showed between cuff and shoe was almost invariably colored \u2018flesh\u2019 in those old sections.\u201d We supplied Will with a copy of the book, and his response was to send us a wonderful picture suitable for framing\u2014which, of course, we did. It was The Spirit saying, \u201cWhat do you mean, \u2018No socks\u2019\u2026?! \u2026 That was the work of an assassin in the engraving plant \u2026 abetted by Jules Feiffer who spread the rumor!! Grrrrr.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the first time we met Will, it was at a convention in Chicago, where he was joined by Andre LeBlanc (of whom, in case you don\u2019t recognize the name, Alex Toth was a fan). Will and Andre answered questions from fans and took their admirers behind the scenes of the studio system that produced The Spirit<\/em> on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will\u2019s fascination with the new economy of comic-book production and distribution quickly brought him into contact with his admirers: a contact that led to ever-more-productive re-involvement with the field. And we all profited, as he found a new audience and his fans were able to explore the output of this authentic genius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will worked with Denis Kitchen to produce new projects\u2014and never lost sight of the possibilities of the growing direct market of comics shops. In fact, as the industry increasingly recognized the excellence of his work, he continued to look for ways to improve the quality of the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.T. Webster (1885-1952) used to do a panel titled \u201cThe Thrill That Comes Once in a Lifetime,\u201d and one of ours came at a long-ago trade show. As I remember it, Don and I had just left the restaurant where we\u2019d eaten breakfast, when Will walked up and asked if we\u2019d join him for breakfast. Would we? Wow. Why the invitation? It was because Will wanted to brainstorm how creators could help comics shop owners. There had been awards for creators\u2019 work. Couldn\u2019t there also be awards for the professionals who supplied that work to its audience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Eisner wanted our<\/em> opinion? We\u2019d helped to create Krause Publications\u2019 Comics Retailer<\/em> magazine in 1992. But, though Will\u2019s idea was, of course, a terrific one\u2014we\u2019d have never come up with it on our own. It was Will who understood the way the field worked, because he studied what he didn\u2019t understand\u2014until he understood it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professionals in the industry had long been celebrated in the annual awards named for Will, starting as long ago as 1988. It was in 1993 that his goal of supporting shop owners was realized, when the\u00a0Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was first awarded to honor comics retailers around the world. It continues to be awarded at Comic-Con each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons Learned<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one thing to have talented professionals who make our lives better by entertaining us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s even better when talented professionals reward fans by reaching out to make us feel that we matter to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as Jack Kirby and Will Eisner were influenced by those who came before them, they were the best possible influences on those who came after them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will be honored as influences a century from now? I hope they\u2019ll be as worthy of it as Jack and Will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n