My City Screams for Will Eisner and Frank Miller... and Darwyn Cooke, you kick total ass too...

You may have noticed the widget (I learned its called a widget) about "I'm on my way" on this page. It's a promo for the new movie based on Will Eisner's classic character, The Spirit.

I can't wait for this movie. It is being written and directed by Frank Miller, an artist I admire greatly. He is the visionary writer and artist of THE DARK KNIGHT, RONIN, SIN CITY.... he rocks. He was good friends with the late Will Eisner. He'll do it his way, but he'll do it proud. I know it. Again, I can't wait.

And I hope when this damn widget counts down we get a teaser trailer or something.

I love The Spirit. I've always gravitated toward the character that didn't have superpowers: Batman, The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Phantom... all will get future posts, I'm sure. But I want to talk about The Spirit. More importantly, I want to talk about Will Eisner.

I met Will Eisner once at a convention. I brought the only Golden Age comic I own, a 1949 issue of The Spirit, and his brilliant THE BUILDING graphic novel with me. (Yes, folks, Will Eisner invented the Graphic Novel, not Frank Miller. Frank would be the first to tell you this.). He signed my stuff, sat with me for like an hour and we talked about storytelling. Not comics. Storytelling. He treated me with repsect. That's better than most of my friends treat me. He was, in short, pretty damn cool. I met him later in the day and we shot the shit some more. Just a great guy. Loved talking about art. A true artist. A gentleman. No ego. I came away loving the guy. I still do.

Will Eisner was a Storyteller. The art of writing and drawing it into comics form was simply his natural outlet. As Clapton was the born perfect fit for the guitar, Eisner was born for the comics page. Actually, he was born to turn the comics page on its ear. His visuals were imaginative, creative, haunting, beautiful, disturbing, delightful.... Will Eisner put all he had in the game and put all the love he had into his work. He was a consumate entertainer in his field.

He was not only a natural, but a pioneer. His creative vision was simply, unequaled. And you what? He was also a really, really nice man. He shared his creative genius with me.

Me.

A nobody to him, but not really.

How gracious. How cool. How real.

A true artist and gentleman, please visit Will Eisner's legacy here:

http://www.willeisner.com/

Visit Frank's movie, and then go see it. It'll be cool. http://thespiritmovie.com/

I know Frank will do a good job. Just like Darwyn Cooke did his version of The Spirit recently for DC, Frank'll do his version of The Spirit, and he'll do it justice. Darwyn did an incredible job. I'm thinking Frank will too.

Game on. I can't wait.

My City Screams....