Happy Birthday, Will Eisner—Google-Style!
March 5th, 2011
Google is celebrating the birthday of the late, great Will Eisner today with a terrific Eisneresque Google Doodle, and I had the pleasure of contributing a guest blog post to help celebrate the occasion as well.
Thanks to everybody at the Big G for honoring a truly important cartoonist, and a great friend to a century’s worth of comics-lovers.
Fondly remembered. Sorely missed. And now celebrated across the internet. Happy birthday, Will.
[Please note: Some news outlets are reporting that I drew the finished art for the Doodle. Not true. I was involved in early design discussions, but the final version was by artist Mike Dutton]
March 3, 2021
I got incredibly happy when I saw the Eisner logo on Google.
I didn’t discover his work until a couple years after his death. I had just realized comics were what I wanted to do with my life. Eisner’s work became my biggest inspiration. “Contract with God” completely changed how I saw comics. The more I read, the more I was saddened I’d never get to meet the man.
Here’s to the greatest comic artist ever!
As a lifelong Eisner fan (I even like Eisner better than Barks!) I was very happy when I stumbled onto that Google logo this morning!
Then I noticed that the Spirit’s face looked a bit… wrong.
Who drew that? A Google employee? Or an Eisner/comics fan?
Notice the face is tucked down into a scarf… the Spirit never wore a scarf. And that’s a wide-brim slouch hat, not Denny Colt’s fedora. And… isn’t the bridge of Denny’s nose a bit bulgy?
Very nice art, but It looks to me that the artist is vaguely confused between the Spirit and the Shadow. What I see is Denny Colt’s mask, eyes and smile on the Shadow’s body. Hm.
Hi, Don! Great to hear from you.
It was drawn in-house (I think by artist Mike Dutton, though there may have been others involved).
I was involved in some early planning, though I declined to do finished art — and I’m glad I did, because I doubt I could have given it that lovely, golden hour, final appearance they got.
You’re probably right about the hat and face details, but it still feels very close to the mark to me, in a way I found encouraging.
It’s a very different world we live in today (compared to when we were contributing to RBCC, for example) that a company with such a massive footprint would recognize Will’s importance in this fashion. Even in comics culture, it sometimes felt like an uphill battle for so many years. We’ve really come a long way.
Great news. How do i guest post for google?
When they ask you, apparently. ^__^
Many great posts about Will Eisner today. Makes me think we’re getting closer and closer to a cartoonists’ holiday.
Will E’s Day.
Thank you for putting the man in perspective. As his peer generation of cartoonists are leaving us, many of them largely without appropriate appreciation or notice, your post puts Will’s spirit as a creator at the forefront of his identity. His was the young voice of ideas for 60 years.
I wonder, as we look at guys like Will, how many other creative industries have role models and examples of such creative spirit?
-R
Hi Scott, thanks so much for the shout-out. Artist credit was definitely not expected, but greatly appreciated nonetheless! As I mentioned earlier, it was a real pleasure collaborating with you. 🙂