12 - Apeldoorn Sparks Buzz re Eisner Self-Portraits

Ger Apeldoorn, a longtime correspondent with a savvy eye and a massive mental database regarding comics, gave us a quick reaction to our BlogPost 10 regarding Will Eisner self-caricatures in PS, suggesting a most valid and logical source for Will's story-line derivation. Ger wrote:

I am sure this sequence was influenced by the popularity of the Carl Reiner/Mel Brooks 2000 Year Old Man routine, which was brought out on record in 1961. How close to that date was this story?

The Continuity under discussion appeared in PS 177 (August 1967). After allowing for four-to-five years of permutations and a Grammy nomination, the Reiner-Brooks turn would have been ripe for an Eisner parody.

Apeldoorn is a Dutch television writer, who for a number of years has addressed comics and television for publications in Holland and the United

States. His blog, The Fabulous Fifties, has a significant following. He provided valuable observations and suggestions during the planning stages, earlier in this century, of my book, Will Eisner and PS Magazine.

If we left you with the impression that the PS 177 Eisner self-portraits were the only such examples to have appeared in PS, there is one significant addition that should be brought to light. In fact, it appears here, above, for the first time, in its full four-color format. It was done by Eisner and presented to the PS staff in 2001 in connection with the magazine's Fiftieth Anniversary, but not intended for publication.

It appeared as part of a two-color design, below, on the Inside Back Cover of PS 628 (March 2005) after Will's death two months earlier, shortly after the first of that year.

—p.e.f.

UPCOMING BLOG POSTS—

¶ The Magic of Eisenshpritz in PS

¶ Early Covers Put Eisner, PS in Hot Water

¶ The Best of Zeke Zekely in PS

¶ A Covey of Connie Covers

¶ Perspective Instructional Communications' Best in PS

11 – Best ‘PS’ Front Covers by the Backes Group

Backes Graphic Productions, in Princeton, New Jersey, produced 150 issues of PS Magazine, from PS 429 (August 1988) through PS 578 (January 2001). Their nearly 12-year contract-run, at this point in time, is second only to Will Eisner’s 21 years and 227 issues. Joe Kubert, the current PS artist, is closing the gap, though, having passed the ten-year mark earlier this year with PS 698 in January.

The New Millennium staff at PS picked four “best” front covers from the Backes era, ranking them as: PS 443, above, fourth; PS 563, third, immediately below; followed by PS 527, second; and, PS 525, first, in that order.

Jack and Diane Backes were the owners, with Diane also working on page layouts. Their production manager was Mark “Sparky” Dobrowolski and the lead artist for most of those years was Scott Madsen. Other artists were Augie

Scotto (who had worked with Murphy Anderson), Vic Scarpelli, and Brian Orlowski. Staff members were Saronda Stevens, Karen Mamo, and Allison Backes.

—p.e.f.

UPCOMING BLOG POSTS—

¶ The Magic of Eisenshpritz in PS

¶ Early Covers Put Eisner, PS in Hot Water

¶ The Best of Zeke Zekely in PS

¶ A Covey of Connie Covers

¶ Perspective Instructional Communications’ Best in PS

10 - Will Eisner Self-Portraits (?) in 'PS Magazine'

Considering the deadly serious, hard-nosed, poker-faced, businessman persona that Will Eisner paraded on display for much of the time, his occasional injections of whimsy and caprice into his art and his conversations could be rather startling. There's no telling just what combination of circumstances combined in 1967 to result in his PS Magazine continuity for the August issue. It combined a "stone age mechanic" and a television anchor/interviewer to impart an essential technical message regarding the calibrating of tools. Will was cast in the newsman-role, and six apparent self-portraits were sprinkled across the six-page sequence.

The montage above displays three of them. All six pages are displayed below.

Joe Kubert throws a flag on the field, however, pointing out that the sequence lacks an Eisner sig.

This product also reflects the early stages of Eisner's transition into the freewheeling, open-space visual anarchy that he eventually utilized to bring time, space, climate, tone, and syncopation to the printed page. In two instances here, he let's a character in one panel reach into or grasp another panel, in a startling three-dimensional result.

I became convinced, early on in my friendship with Will Eisner, that he had three favorite words for use when space was tight or a "pop" was needed or he wanted to keep the story-tempo moving rapidly—or all of the above: "so," "oy," and "feh!" All are monosyllabic and multi-meaning, depending on the context, punctuation used, and the episodic circumstances. In the sequence displayed in this blogpost, at the lower right corner of the first page, in a relatively small panel, he manages to include two characters (one barely insinuated) and a triple-riposte rapid-fire exchange in which "feh" plays a key role.

BTW, don't get too focused on the page numbering in this sequence. Two pages (32-33) are missing. They were used for a centerspread, mini-poster dealing with a subject unrelated to the focus of this continuity.

—p.e.f.

It's rather interesting to see an Eisner story in which Will caricatured himself. Even more interesting that it's one of the continuities that he didn't sign.

Did he actually do the story, or did he allow one of the crew to have some fun? Having known Will, I'd be hesitant to make a determination either way. The man had a wonderful sense of humor and was comfortable enough in his own skin to do it himself, or allow (and perhaps encourage) one of the guys to do it.

—j.k.

UPCOMING BLOG POSTS-

¶ Best PS Front Covers by the Backes Group

¶ The Magic of Eisenshpritz in PS

¶ Early Covers Put Eisner and PS in Hot Water

¶ The Best of Zeke Zekely in PS

¶ A Covey of Connie Covers