Will Eisner - Michael Schumacher [30]
Fox had given Eisner a written memo with directions for what he expected for Wonder Man, and Eisner followed it to the letter. The result was a comic book that, from cover to content, resembled Superman to a shocking degree. Eisner had worked in some differences to disguise the similarities—Wonder Man, for instance was blond, whereas Superman had dark hair; Wonder Man’s costume was red and yellow, and Superman’s was red, blue, and yellow; Wonder Man received his superhero powers from a magic ring rather than from the sun of an alien planet—but the characters were essentially the same. Even the covers were strikingly similar: in Action Comics #1, Superman is seen holding an automobile aloft while the bad guys scatter; on the cover of Wonder Comics #1, Wonder Man is taking on an airplane.
Wonder Comics hit the streets, and Harry Donenfeld reacted as Eisner feared he would, suing Fox Publications for copyright infringement. As Wonder Man’s writer and artist, Eisner was subpoenaed to testify in court as a material witness. Shortly before the case finally went before a judge, Fox met with Eisner and attempted to coach him on the proper way to testify.
“I want you to tell them there was no intent to copy,” Fox said.
“As far as I’m personally concerned, I had no intent to copy,” Eisner averred. “I was following your instructions.”
Fox had anticipated this answer from someone as young and idealistic as Eisner. Ideals—and the truth—were for dreamers; it was time to speak in terms that Eisner was more likely to understand. Fox reminded Eisner, as if it were necessary, that he owed Eisner & Iger $3,000—an enormous sum in those days and enough to jeopardize the shop’s future—and if Eisner failed to testify as directed, Fox would withhold the entire amount.
Once again, Eisner consulted with Jerry Iger, and as before, Iger took a business perspective: telling the truth presented too great a risk.
At least this was Eisner’s story. There are two versions of what happened in the courtroom hearings. Eisner claimed, in interviews and in his depiction of the legal proceedings in his graphic novel The Dreamer, that he stood his ground, told the truth, and faced the consequences for his youthful idealism. “I suppose when you’re young it is easier to adhere to principles,” he told an interviewer more than three decades after he testified.
A transcript of his testimony in a November 1939 appellate court hearing, published by comics journalist Ken Quattro in July 2010, tells an entirely different story. The transcript shows Eisner capitulating in every sense to the demands of Victor Fox and Jerry Iger. He denied reading Action Comics or knowing much of anything about Superman until after he created Wonder Man. Wonder Man, Eisner claimed, was based more on the Phantom than on any other character. He denied plagiarism, even though a comparison of a number of panels in Action Comics and Wonder Man showed incontestable similarities in the art and writing.
Despite a major (and, fortunately for Eisner, posthumous) hit on his carefully maintained public image, the later revelations about Eisner’s perjury didn’t affect history. Fox lost the case and delivered on his promise. He never paid Eisner & Iger a cent.
Although he never formally addressed the issue for the record, the Wonder Man episode must have truly frosted Bill Eisner. He never cared much for Jerry Iger—“Don’t pay any attention to him; he’s here because he’s a good businessman,” he’d instruct shop workers disgusted with Iger—and the Wonder Man affair effectively fractured what little was left of their mutual trust. To make matters worse, Wonder Man was precisely the type