Will Eisner - Michael Schumacher [49]
Ironically, shortly after Eisner was drafted but before he reported for duty, Busy Arnold had pulled Cole aside and asked him to create a Spirit knockoff. Eisner, of course, owned the Spirit name and character, but Arnold was concerned about what he would do if something happened to Eisner. Cole’s creation—a detective named Midnight—would be his insurance. Midnight, who made his first appearance in Smash Comics in January 1941, was indistinguishable from the Spirit, from the blue mask and hat to the rumpled suit. Cole, however, was unhappy. Troubled by the thought of ripping off somebody he admired and respected, Cole met Eisner over dinner and explained his dilemma.
“I feel it’s not morally right,” he told Eisner.
“Well, Jack,” Eisner responded, “I can’t tell you not to do it because it’s your livelihood and, frankly, I don’t think I can sue Busy over a thing like this. He has a right to create characters for his magazines, if he wants to.”
As Eisner told it later, the two discussed Cole’s predicament for a while before coming up with an alternative. “I don’t know if it was Jack or me who got the brilliant idea to make him a funny character,” Eisner said. “That way, Jack could satisfy Busy Arnold and it’d be a totally different character. And from there, he went on to create ‘Plastic Man.’”
When it came time to find a writer/artist to work on the daily Spirit, Cole seemed like the perfect fit. He could write—something Lou Fine could not do—and he was very familiar with the character. It didn’t work out, however, for reasons that no one was quite able to pinpoint. In all likelihood, it was a case of vision: Cole’s Spirit was more of an action figure, whereas Eisner preferred to use the more subtle sides of the character, including humor, to add dimension to his version. That, along with the usual issues of pacing, created problems that Cole and Fine couldn’t overcome.
The daily strip dragged on until March 11, 1944, when it was mercifully put to rest. By his own admission, Eisner never felt a strong connection to it—or to the Sunday Spirit series that appeared during his absence.
“Except for the ownership of the concept, I felt The Spirit had ceased to be mine while I was away,” he said.
Will Eisner was by no means the only comic book artist to find a way to apply his talents to the war effort. The army bestowed a respect on comic book artists in the military that they hadn’t enjoyed as civilians, and rather than hand these artists a weapon and send them to the Atlantic or Pacific theaters, the army found uses for them stateside. Stan Lee designed posters, including the famous “VD? Not Me.” Nick Cardy, before seeing action that earned him two Purple Hearts, designed the patch worn by the Sixty-sixth Infantry Division. In some cases, an artist’s talents helped earn him a promotion. Eisner was promoted to the rank of corporal at the end of 1942, and just before leaving for Holabird, he tested for an administrative officer position—warrant officer, second grade. He eventually wound up a chief warrant officer.
At Holabird, Eisner was put to work on Army Motors, a mimeographed publication devoted to equipment maintenance. As soon as he saw a copy of the sheet, he began listing ways to improve it. To begin with, it needed to look more professional. As it stood, Army Motors looked as though it had been produced in a high school principal’s office; it was