One of Will Eisner's many hats was that of teacher. There are countless books attempting to teach aspiring talent how to hone their skills today, but once upon a time not so many. One of the earliest was Comics & Sequential Art first published in 1985 by Poorhouse Press. It is currently available from Norton Publishing in an updated form. Among the many Spirit stories used in their entirety to demonstrate different concepts are "Hoagy the Yogi", "Foul Play", "The Amulet of Osiris", "Two Lives", and "The Visitor". Many other stories are represented by a single page or panel.
Eisner followed with a second volume from Poorhouse Press in 1995 titled Graphic Storytelling. By this time, Eisner relied upon his more recent work and less on the vintage Spirit tales, but we do get "The Island" in its totality. This also is available from Norton Publishing in updated form.
The third and final tome in this trio of how-to books was Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative which was first published by Norton Publishing in 2008 after Eisner's death. The Spirit stories in this one include "Killer McNobby" and "Lovely Louie". The Spirit shows up in individual panels throughout the book.
These are dandy volumes, useful and unburdened by romance. This is functional information with lovely imagery to make it all quite fun for any fan of Eisner and The Spirit.
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