Well, WILL EISNER: CHAMPION OF THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is, anyway.
Part of the fun of doing a historical book is trying to make the pieces of the story fit. Take THE SPIRIT Section itself: there’s never been another original comics section circulated as a newspaper insert that succeeded for that length of time, and probably never for that level of circulation. (I know the challenges first hand, from DC’s attempt to do one.) So why did it happen at all? Finding that the first weekly newspaper supplement, THIS WEEK, debuted in 1935 made the puzzle fit a bit better. Closing my eyes, I can imagine sitting in the Register & Tribune conference room, as people were debating its success, wondering how to get a piece of that action, and in 1939 or 1940, in Superman’s wake, the answer was obvious: costumed heroes. Serendipity led them to Busy Arnold, who led them to Will. It’s a logical theory, anyway.
The book arrives November 10th at your local comic shop, bookstore, or via Amazon or other online outlets. It’s beautiful–check it out, please.