The definitive documentary about the legendary comic book creator

The impact of William Erwin Eisner (1917-2005) on the dynamic genre of American comic books cannot be understated. A virtual midwife at the birth of the form (dubbed “sequential art” in later years by Mr. Eisner) in the mid-1930s, the cartoonist was one of the earliest practitioners to see comic books as a bona fide category of literature. U.S. author Michael Chabon (who based aspects of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” on Eisner’s life and career) said of the man, “Right from the beginning, he saw comics as art. He didn’t have any compunction about it. He wasn’t apologetic. He didn’t have that ‘yeah, sorry, I draw comics’ kind of attitude that almost every other artist at the time did.”

In his 60+ year career, Eisner would go on to create “The Spirit” (a series called “the ‘Citizen Kane’ of comics”), be one of the first to develop comics for instructional and educational use, as well as fostering the development of today’s graphic novel as both advocate and master, write the first textbooks on the art form and he served until his passing as its de facto elder statesman and most enthusiastic promoter.

“Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist” is the story of the life and career of a man who was a stupendous influence on comics, a 97-minute feature film documentary, which debuted at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, produced with the full cooperation of the legendary creator and, after his death, the Eisner estate.

The feature-length film includes interviews with…

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  Neal Adams
  
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  Sergio Aragones
  
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  Milton Caniff
  
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  Michael Chabon
  
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  Max Allan Collins
  
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  Ann Eisner
  
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  Will Eisner
  
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  Jules Feiffer
  
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  Neil Gaiman
  
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  Michael T. Gilbert
  
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  Gerard Jones
  
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  Gil Kane
  
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  Jack Kirby
  
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  Denis Kitchen
  
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  Joe Kubert
  
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  Peter Kuper
  
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  Harvey Kurtzman
  
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  Stan Lee
  
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  Scott McCloud
  
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  Frank Miller
  
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  Trina Robbins
  
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  Jerry Robinson
  
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  Art Spiegelman
  
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  Kurt Vonnegut
  

The reviews are in!

“The sign of any good documentary is if it makes a person who wasn’t a die-hard fan of the subject or genre it’s exploring want to learn more. And ‘Portrait’ does just that.” — Joel Keller, The Huffington Post

“‘Crumb’ and ‘American Splendor’ pried open movie theaters’ eyes to peer at two figureheads of underground comics, R. Crumb and Harvey Pekar, respectively. Now, director Andrew D. Cooke’s ‘Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist’ blows open nearly a century of history to frame the life of the man who created The Spirit, coined the term “graphic novel” and effectively invented the splash page, cementing his place as one of comics’ creative godfathers.” — Brian Warmoth, Wizard

“Must See” — Time Out New York