Will Eisner - Michael Schumacher [182]
64 “When you draw”: Ibid.
65 “It’s an interesting point”: Tom Heintjes, “Stage Settings: The healing Spirit,” The Spirit #51 (CB).
66 “It was just an attempt”: Amash, “I Always Felt.”
67 “I was just starting”: Interview with Joe Kubert.
68 “I had to create”: Interview with Al Jaffee.
68 “I hired guys”: Amash, “I Always Felt.”
68 “Everything had his name”: Interview with David Hajdu.
70 “Since the comments”: Will Eisner, “Ask Will Eisner,” Spirit Magazine #35.
70 “open to criticism”: Ibid.
71 “He offered Bob Powell”: Mark Evanier, “POV,” POV Online, posted September 1, 2000.
71 “I didn’t like”: Jim Amash, “I Created Blackhawk!,” Alter Ego 3, no. 34 (March 2004).
71 “I wanted to knock”: Ibid.
72 “It always struck me”: Interview with Mark Evanier.
72 “He’s the guy”: Evanier, “POV.”
72 “After the panel”: Interview with Mark Evanier.
73 “I created Blackhawk”: Amash, “I Created Blackhawk!” It should be noted that Cuidera’s memory proved to be faulty at the time this interview was conducted, as well as during his appearance at the panel discussion, with Amash having to insert several clarifications in the published version of his conversation with Cuidera. The difficulties in tracing ownership and creation of characters originating in the early days of comics is illustrated in a 1976 exchange of letters between Will Eisner and Denis Kitchen. Kitchen hoped to create an updated version of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle as part of his Kitchen Sink Press line, but he ran into all kinds of problems when trying to trace ownership of the character. Jerry Iger claimed to own the rights, but Kitchen heard from others that this wasn’t the case. Kitchen contacted Eisner, who in an August 10, 1976, letter said, “The last conversation I had on Sheena was with T. T. Scott, owner of Fiction House (now defunct) who asked me if I was interested in picking it up. I said I would be. He told me he was working on the complex matter of clearing it … for the property was part of the family estate … I had the distinct impression that the ownership of Sheena is still in the hands of the Scott family.” After some literary detective work, Kitchen determined, through two 1938 letters, that Eisner & Iger had, in fact, retained the rights to the character and that Iger had retained the rights as part of the breakup agreement of the Eisner & Iger partnership. After examining photocopies of the documents, Eisner conceded that the documents were authentic, but he was still unclear about the ownership, which is why he advised Kitchen to take a cautious approach to his proposed project. “As a friend I wanted to help you stay out of the courts,” Eisner wrote Kitchen. Unable to gain final proof of ownership, Kitchen took the logical approach and abandoned the project.
74 “ I wasn’t ready”: Will Eisner, Will Eisner’s Shop Talk (Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2001), p. 160.
74 “I discovered that”: Danny Fingeroth, “The Will Eisner Interview,” Write Now! #5.
74 “It gave him”: Tom Heintjes, “Stage Settings: Earning stripes,” The Spirit #77 (CB).
74 “The editor opened”: Ibid.
75 “The comic strip”: Abbott, “ ‘The Spirit’ of ’41.”
75 “There was no precedent”: Interview with David Hajdu.
76 “We’re vaudevillians”: Sarah Boxer, “Meeting of Comic Minds but No Bam! Splat! Zap!,” New York Times, January 2, 1999.
76 “I got back”: Will Eisner, “Keynote Address from the 2002 ‘Will Eisner Symposium.’”
76 “Here is a terrible”: Letter from Everett “Busy” Arnold to Will Eisner, July 11, 1941.
76 “There are at least”: Letter from Everett “Busy” Arnold to Will Eisner, July 7, 1941.
76 “Whenever anyone complained”: Cat Yronwode, “When Partners Collide,” Will Eisner’s Quarterly 4 (January 1985).
77 “I can get”: Letter from Everett “Busy” Arnold to Will Eisner, August 20, 1941.
77 “Nick has too many”: Letter from Everett “Busy” Arnold to Will Eisner, June 25, 1941.
77 “the last eight”: Ibid.
78 “I knew if I didn’t”: “A.V. Club: Will Eisner,” The Onion, September 27, 2000.
78 “My audience was transitory”: Jon B. Cooke, “Will Eisner: The Creative