He fully believed in his profession’s transcendent value all along, and spent most of his career proving it through his massive and varied body of work. Of course, this elevation in status would’ve been no revelation to Eisner. This show-conceived by Los Angeles’s Hammer Museum and held in conjunction with downtown’s Museum of Contemporary Art-was America’s first major step toward legitimizing the lowly craft in the high-browed eyes of the fine art establishment. And yet he died in early 2005, the year that went on debut the landmark “Masters of American Comics” exhibition. For seven decades, he was vitally instrumental in creating and shaping the comic book form, in elevating the quality of its writing and art, in revealing and expanding its graphic potential, in popularizing its respectability on a global scale, and in educating and inspiring generations of aspiring comics artists. Cartoonist Will Eisner was such a life force that it’s difficult to believe that he’s not with us to celebrate his 100th birthday on March 6th.
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