Will Eisner Week Commemorates A Comic Book Legend
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Will Eisner is considered one of the most influential comics artists of all-time. (Photo/Graham Clark Stecklein)
Largely regarded as the father of the graphic novel format, Will Eisner would have been 97-years-old if he was still alive today.
Sadly, the comic book legend passed away in 2005, but his birthday has become an annual event celebrated by legions of adoring fans.
Festivities will continue through the end of March, with dozens of events scattered across the globe, hosted by partners of the Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation. Will Eisner Week started back in 2009, four years after the death of the beloved comics artist.
Eisner became a industry icon when he created the seminal comic book serial "The Spirit" in 1940. "The Spirit" depicted the adventures of masked vigilante Denny Colt and inspired dozens of other creators throughout the years, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon.
Eisner's "The Spirit" was also adapted into a terrible and best forgotten film in 2008.
But Eisner's status as legend was cemented in 1978, when he published a long-form comic entitled "A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories." It is considered one of the first examples of the modern graphic novel.
Eisner's novel went on to inspire two other DC Comics superstars, Alan Moore and Frank Miller, who went on to pen "Watchmen" and "The Dark Knight Returns" respectively.
