Now available in India: WILL EISNER: A SPIRITED LIFE

InfiBeam is now distributing my biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, in India and offering free shipping to all cities the country! You can order a copy from InfiBeam by clicking HERE!

Will Eisner: A Spirited Life AUDIOBOOK Now Available at Audible.com!

An audiobook narrated by author Bob Andelman, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life is the authorized biography that explores Eisner's amazing life, detailing a career that spanned 70 years. The biography features interviews with many of Eisner's contemporaries, such as Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, Denis Kitchen, Jim Warren, Dave Sim, Denny O'Neil, and Stan Lee.

Bob spent almost three years interviewing Eisner, researching his life and work, and interviewing friends, family, and the creative talents the comics master inspired throughout his career.

Internationally recognized for his genre-busting 1940s art and storytelling style on The Spirit, Will Eisner's greatest legacy may be the graphic novels he championed and created. A Spirited Life explores Eisner's amazing life, detailing a career that spanned 70 years and saw him educate several generations of Army soldiers in the innovative PS magazine and create the first widely known graphic novel, A Contract with God.

Listen to a sample chapter HERE!

©2005 M Press; (P)2009 Tampa Digital Studios

What the Critics Say

MajorSpoilers.com: 4-1/2 stars (out of 5)
Click HERE to here what the MajorSpoilers.com podcast said in its review of the Will Eisner: A Spirited Life audiobook!

(The following reviews refer to the print edition.)

"A must-have item for any serious devotee of the comics art form." -- Comic Buyers Guide

"A significant achievement. The profuse illustrations, both photos and art, alone are more than worth the price." -- The Roanoke Times

"Andelman's affectionate biography rambles a bit, but it's entertaining and enlightening." -- The Miami Herald

"Bob Andelman worked closely with Eisner in shaping an intimate albeit sprawling biography." -- Tom Spurgeon, Publishers Weekly/Comics Week

"Will Eisner was a comics legend--and he has been honored with a biography to match by M Press. Savor it." -- Starlog Magazine

Order the digital download of Will Eisner: A Spirited Life audiobook dition from these fine retailers:

And hey, you can always order the old-fashioned print edition, published by Dark Horse Comics:

Will Eisner: A Spirited Life spotted at Skirball!

Michael Dooley shot this photo of books for sale at Skirball in late June. It's always a pleasure to see my biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, in such great company as Michael Chabon (who wrote the introduction to A Spirited Life), Arie Kaplan, Jules Feiffer, Stan Lee, Danny Fingeroth and David Hajdu.

Here's what Michael had to say about the shot:

I went to the Skirball to see ZAP! POW! BAM!

It was partly to familiarize myself with the show if the subject comes up at my SDCC "comics/museums" panel discussion –

Sunday, JULY 26
1:00-2:30 pm
Room 30AB

Comics Arts Conference Session #15: "Comics In Museums —
How do comics bridge the worlds of popular art on the stands and fine art on museum walls?"
Kim Munson (Munson Art Consulting) revisits the 1983 "Comic Art Show" at the Whitney. Michael Dooley (Art Center College of Design) covers two shows, the 1990 "High and Low" exhibit and the 2005 "Masters of American Comics," with emphasis on the works of Kurtzman and Spiegelman. Denis Kitchen (Underground Classics) discusses new trends in museum exhibitions and discusses the just-concluded “Underground Classics” show at the Chazen Art Museum and other shows he has worked on.

I'm sure your book and the others will be available in the Skirball Gift Shop (which is right outside the entrance to the comics exhibit) until the show closes on August 9th.

Thanks again, Michael, for sharing this.

Incidentally, I've interviewed many of the other writers represented in the picture above on "Mr. Media Radio." Check 'em out!

David Hajdu

Arie Kaplan

Danny Fingeroth

Jules Feiffer

(Don't forget: You can now order the audiobook edition at Audible.com!)

'The Spirit' brings 1940s noir comic to the big screen (StarNewsOnline.com)

Michael Chabon image by Getty Images via Daylife

Ben Steelman

Dec. 17, 2008

Of all the Christmas Day movies this year, I'm more than a little interested in "The Spirit," the latest from comic-book-artist-turned-filmmaker Frank Miller. Once again, we'll see those digitized backgrounds and weird mixes of color and black-and-white, as in "Sin City" and "300," Miller's collaborations with Robert Rodriguez.

Mostly, though, I want to see what they do with one of my favorite comic heroes.

I discovered "The Spirit" late, in the 1970s, when a lot of the old strips were finally being reprinted for a new generation of fans. That's when a lot of us first discovered Will Eisner.

Who's Eisner? A cartoonist's cartoonist who never quite reached A-list popularity but was always known to the cognoscenti. Jack Kirby ("The Hulk, "X-Men," etc.) worked with Eisner back in the 1930s, when he was still Jacob Kurtzberg; later a young Jules Feiffer would understudy for him. Michael Chabon quoted Eisner in the epigram for his novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and may have used him as a model for one of his cartoonist heroes. Hundreds of other young pop artists studied his work.

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"A Spirited Life" Review: A must for any library about comic book history (My Pull List)

"Will Eisner: A Spirited Life was written by Bob Andelman and published by M Press in 2005. I saw Andelman do a presentation about his biography at MegaCon in 2006. I finally bought it last year and was not disappointed. The book provides a window into the early years of the comic book industry. If you would like to learn about his creation The Spirit, the subject of Frank Miller's movie adaption due to be released in theaters on Christmas of this year, this is the book to check out. The book follows Eisner's varied career, both in and out of comics. Beginning just before the comic book scare of the 1950's, Eisner left comics to produce P. S., the Army maintenance magazine, which contained a comic book insert that would illustrate a different equipment maintenance procedure each month. And it explores Eisner's contribution to the evolution of the graphic novel. This book is a must for any library about comic book history."
— Billy Hogan, "My Pull List" blogger (November 8, 2008)

"Will Eisner: A Spirited Life" biographer interviewed (Jazma Online)

Yup, I'm linking to an interview with myself, conducted by Richard Vasseur. Self-serving, of course, but it's a fun read.

Here's an excerpt:
Richard: Why did you decide to write "Will Eisner: A Spirited Life"?

Bob: I had the good fortune to be introduced to one of Mr. Eisner's literary agents, Judy Hansen, through my own agent at the time, Kevin Lang. Kevin said, "Judy represents journalists and comics people; maybe you two should talk about a project!"

At the time, Judy and her partner, Denis Kitchen, were trying to get Will to write an autobiography. As I understood it, they wanted someone who was familiar with comics, but was a professional journalist and not a rabid fanboy. That described me pretty well. Judy and I hit it off by phone; then Denis interviewed me at a length. Finally, he recommended that Will meet me. We got together for lunch, established an instant rapport, and the project began.

But there was a bump in the road. After I wrote an initial proposal, Will - who was finishing Fagin the Jew at the time and getting more serious about what would become The Plot - called me and said, "I can't do this. If I spend all my time working on this book, I'll never do any of my real work." He suggested an alternative; I should write it as a straight biography - which he would authorize and cooperate fully on. So that's what we did.

Richard: How did you research the project?

Bob: Everything started with Will. We met in person several times at his office and home, usually for two or three days at a time. That gave me insight into his daily life and routine, as well as the opportunity to spend time with his brother, Pete - his office manager and best friend - and his lovely wife, Ann, with whom he was so very in love.

Will opened up his entire life to me. I was given free access to his book shelves and office files - even his photocopier, to make copies of anything I found of interest. I even brought my scanner to his office and home and scanner art right off the walls. He opened up books of family photos and I stayed up late one night scanning dozens of photos into my computer. (I later provided CDs with these images to the Cartoon Art Museum.) We also talked by phone at least once a week, usually for an hour or so at a time.

One day, I asked about interviewing friends, fans, and co-workers and he handed me his personal address book and said, "Call anyone you like." There were no rules, no conditions; this is how I enticed Neal Adams and Michael Chabon to each write an introduction to the book. I think I interviewed between 50 and 75 people in addition to the Eisners.

Will also told the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum at The Ohio State University to give me complete access to his personal archives there, so I spent three days there pouring through everything I could, photocopying, scanning, and taking notes. Denis Kitchen invited me into his home in Massachusetts and I grilled him about the business side of Will's modern life and photocopied correspondence and much more. I also spent a day at Will's side when he visited the Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota, Florida, lecturing students and going one-on-one with them for a portfolio review. The drive back to the airport in Tampa that afternoon was a highlight of our time together for me -- a wide-ranging, free-wheeling conversation.

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