That experience was the impetus for a new direction in Eisner’s career.
During his stint in the Army he had contributed to the war effort by using comics to train soldiers in the proper maintenance of their equipment. 3Įisner did not leave comics for Wall Street, but he found a way to take comics into the corporate world. “Why don’t you come into a gentleman’s business?” he asked.
Melville David Weingarten was very fond of his son-in-law, but he felt Will should get a “grown-up job.” Weingarten, a prominent stock broker, wanted Will to join him on Wall Street. Will and Ann were married on June 15, 1950 It helped that the Weingartens took a liking to Will. However, by mid-century the barriers between classes were more easily breached. Whereas Eisner had grown up in a Jewish ghetto, Ann’s family lived on Park Avenue. Ann Weingarten’s family had immigrated to America in 1850 and had been wealthy for generations. Although Eisner was a successful cartoonist, he came from a markedly different social class than did Ann. Theirs was a marriage that would have been highly improbable just a few decades earlier. His father was more of a dreamer, so he got something from both.” 2 Ann loved both aspects of the man. “His mother was more of a businessperson. He loved the excitement of negotiating.” Ann saw the two sides of Will as reflections of his parents. His wife, Ann, has said she thinks “you could have split Will in half, and say one side is business and one side is art. He discovered that he enjoyed the art of the deal and he had a knack for making money. He approached business with the same energy and inventiveness he had poured into his early comics work. In the Steranko History of Comics, Eisner is quoted as saying about his decision to discontinue The Spirit, “I decided I would rather be an entrepreneur than an artist.” 1 Eisner never totally abandoned the drawing board, but over a couple of decades his emphasis shifted from doing art to doing business. “Will Eisner: Return of the Artist.” 9a Arte: Revista Brasileira de Pesquisas sobre Histórias em Quadrinhos ( 9th Art: Brazilian Journal of Comics Research) 5.2 (2016). So, much later than intended, but still with a tip of the hat to the great Will Eisner, here are portions of an article excerpted (with permission) from:ĭuncan, Randy. I know I couldn’t have done it without their help. But then, COVID-19, and the computer services personnel who were about the establish the web presence for The Center for Comics Studies had to divert all of their attention mentoring hundreds of faculty who had to make a sudden shift to remote instruction. Back in March, the plan was for this to be a slightly late post in honor of Will Eisner Week.
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