My pick for the best comic book of the week isn't even a comic book. Yes, I'm cheating a little bit, but it's merited, given the importance of the work in question. Eisner/Miller is a must read for anyone who love comics. I'm not talking about super-hero fans, about fans who prefer shojo over whatever that other kind of manga is called. I'm talking about people who love the medium for any kind of storytelling. The late Will Eisner and growing pop-culture icon Frank Miller demonstrate their remarkable appreciation of the medium's history, its mechanics, the culture and the business of it all and then some. The genius of these two industry legends is tempered by the natural and friendly tone of their banter. It's remarkably easy to read and quite engrossing.
The timing of this volume is pretty good. It's only been a few months since Eisner passed away, and Frank Miller's visual style has been brought to the masses with the Sin City movie, still playing in theatres. Both men have lessons they want to share with their audience and comics readers -- and make no mistake, they don't see all comics readers as being a part of their audiences. What's interesting is that they don't see that they even share the same audience. They recognize many differences in philosophy. Yes, both have lessons they want to share, but Eisner moreso, as Miller acknowledges him as someone who has taught him a lot over the years. Mind you, that doesn't stop Miller from challenging the elder comics statesman.
When I was a kid, we had an LP in the living room that was purchased from a local strings ensemble. The leaders of the musical troupe -- a married couple -- toasted each other at dinner on the album cover while the musicians gathered around them. The album was called Music to Ignore. In this book, the two comics masters discuss the art of comics that so many readers ignore. From the techniques they use to create texture in the backgrounds to lettering, they demonstratre a keen awareness of the importance of the most minute of details in their storytelling. As a comics critic, I've endeavored to refine my eye so as to perceive such subtle elements that the reader is not really meant to notice in comics, but I'll never possess a fraction of the these creators' perceptive ability. And it's because they are creators that they have it. They are conscious of the techniques they employ to achieve certain effects when others might do the same thing but unconsciously.
One thing that struck me about the tone of the conversation here is that Eisner isn't just an expert on the pop culture that came before, that he has more to talk about than just his contributions to the early days of the medium and his influence on the more innovative tricks of the trade. Eisner's hip to what was happening in comics in the 21st century, and he wasn't just content to observe. He continued to participate, to contribute and to innovate further.
Editors Brownstein and Schutz have done an excellent job of selecting accompanying samples of th work of Eisner, Miller and others to literally illustrate the points the two men make throughout the book. One needn't be intimately familiar with their work in order to appreciate their discourse and debate on the form.
Last year, Top Shelf released Conversations, a discussion between creators Craig (Blankets) Thompson and James (American Elf) Kochalka about the craft of comics. It was done as a comic story, and its surreal tone and low-end (but high-priced) format ultimately led to a disappointing experience. Dark Horse got the concept right. This volume belongs on the shelf of anyone who appreciates comics, who's curious how they work when they work well and who wants to know what makes it unique. 10/10
