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hotly disputed the belief that the Major was solely responsible for his loss of the company. In an interview with Jim Amash, published in Alter Ego 3, no. 88 (August 2009), Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson, one of the Major’s sons, maintained that Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz had duped his father into believing that his company was failing by overprinting his publications and returning bundles of supposedly unsold comics, using these comics as proof that Wheeler-Nicholson’s comics just weren’t performing on the market. According to Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson, the Major took an early and active interest in Superman and intended to use it as the centerpiece of his proposed Action #1 comic book. “It was a major source of discussion in the house,” Douglas told Amash. “He thought it was extremely timely, and he was very specific about a Nietzschean kind of hero at this time of the Depression, and that this would be a perfect thing to put forth to the public at this time. He talked about it extensively.” This memory doesn’t match other accounts, including Eisner’s, of the feature’s making the rounds in early 1938, though his account of his father’s losing his business, while differing somewhat with other accounts, does lend credence to the popular belief that Donenfeld and Liebowitz probably bilked Wheeler-Nicholson out of his company.

48 “pure luck” and “a fluke”: Jones, Men of Tomorrow, p. 157.

49 “I’ve got dreams”: Eisner, The Dreamer, p. 31.

50 Victor Fox: See Jones, Men of Tomorrow, pp. 148–149; Joe Simon (with Jim Simon), The Comic Book Makers (Lebanon, NJ: Vanguard Productions, rev. ed., 2003), pp. 29–33; Eisner, The Dreamer, pp. 34–35, 38–41; Will Eisner, “Art and Commerce: An Oral Reminiscence by Will Eisner,” interview conducted and edited by John Benson, Panels #1 (summer 1979).

50 “Fox was like”: Evanier, “POV.”

50 “a Wall Street hustler” who “didn’t have”: Simon, Comic Book Makers, p. 29.

50 “Kooba Cola”: Ibid, p. 33.

51 “a thief”: Eisner, “Art and Commerce.”

52 “It’s his magazine”: Ibid. All other direct quotations in this passage are from this source.

53 “Don’t pay any attention”: Jim Amash, “I was Doomed to Be an Artist,” Alter Ego 3, no. 48 (May 2005).

CHAPTER FOUR: A SPIRIT FOR ALL AGES

55 Epigraph: Will Eisner and Frank Miller, with an interview conducted by Charles Brownstein, Eisner/Miller (Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2005), p. 45.

55 Busy Arnold: Jim Amash’s interview with Dick Arnold, “Men of Quality” (Alter Ego 3, no. 34 [March 2004]), provides a detailed look at Busy Arnold and Quality Comics. Amash’s interview with Eisner, “I Always Felt Storytelling Was as Important as the Artwork, published in Alter Ego 3, no. 58 (May 2005), gives Eisner’s perspective. See also Robert C. Harvey, The Art of the Comic Book (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1996), pp. 68–69.

56 “Busy Arnold was”: Amash, “I Always Felt.”

58 “That kind of rubbed me”: Interview with Al Jaffee.

59 “To the syndicate”: Tom Heintjes, “Stage Settings: Rolling toward five decades,” The Spirit #49 (CB).

59 “We agreed”: Tom Heintjes, “Stage Settings: The accidental tourist,” The Spirit #71 (CB).

60 “Your dream”: Eisner, The Dreamer, p. 44.

61 “There were a few”: Will Eisner, “Art and Commerce: An Oral Reminiscence by Will Eisner,” interview conducted and edited by John Benson, Panels #1.

62 “When I decided”: Norman Abbott, “ ‘The Spirit’ of ’41,” Philadelphia Record, October 13, 1941.

63 “You read Sherlock Holmes”: Tom Hentjes, “Interview with Will Eisner,” Hogan’s Alley (online), n.d.

63 “I didn’t want”: Dave Schreiner, “Stage Settings: A commonality of experience,” The Spirit #40 (CB).

63 “I like using”: Tom Heintjes, “Stage Settings: The Spirit at work and play,” The Spirit #61 (CB).

63 “patterned after”: Jim Amash, “I Was Doomed to Be an Artist,” Alter Ego 3, no. 48 (May 2005).

64 “He suggested”: Cat Yronwode, “Will Eisner Interview (Part 1),” Comics Journal #46.

64 “He’s got a mask”: Christopher Irving, “A Whole Lotta Spirit,” Richmond Comix (online), n.d. All other direct quotations in this passage are from