Comic book readers rank Will Eisner with the preeminent stylists of 20th-century comics—and one of its most imaginative storytellers. He was a product of the era that gave rise to Superman, but his ironic detachment influenced the underground artists of the 1960s and he survived long enough to help birth the graphic novel. His accomplishments are chronicled in words and visuals in Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel. Although author Paul Levitz admits that Eisner was never entirely comfortable with “graphic novel” (he often called his work “sequential art”), he makes a strong case for Eisner’s crucial role in the evolution of comics as art.
