Will Eisner
up to 44th Street and 3rd Avenue. And we got more fellas—Charles Sultan, John Celardo, Nick Cardy, Toni Blum and some others. An artist would have three or four stories to do a month. Small stories— four pages, five pages, something like that. All of us had that. Nothing too popular like we have today. Then, somebody gets up and leaves. He has about five stories. Iger would take the stories and give them out to each one of us. It’s more for me, it’s more for this guy, it’s more for that guy, to get done each month. Then another guy quits. Same thing again—Iger doles out this one, this one, this one. He would come by and want me to do it faster. Deadlines were everything with him. Finally, I had it. I went with the fellas out to lunch. After
lunch, I was standing there and the fellas looked around and said, “Are you coming up?” And I said, “Yeah, I’ll be right up.” I never came back. Cassell: So that was the last time you worked for Eisner? Tuska: After Chesler, I worked for Eisner alone. Eisner had a studio of his own in Tudor City. That’s where I did “Uncle Sam” and some other things. I also penciled The Spirit.
George has said that one of his fondest memories of the early days was discussing story lines and ideas for characters with Will Eisner when he first started drawing.
Will Eisner “Shark Brodie” splash page
Will Eisner is an icon in the field of comic art. He defied the odds and numerous skeptics to help found an enduring medium that has brought joy to young and old alike. Just prior to his death, we talked with Will about the “Golden Age” and Tuska: Cassell: Do you recall when George first came to work for you? Eisner: He came to work for me in 1936, 1937 in the Eisner-Iger Studios. I was the owner of the company and George came to work as a member of the staff. We had a writer on staff and she would write the scripts, as I remember it. Now, this was a long time ago. You’ve got to understand. My memory is burdened by years and years of distance. I haven’t seen or talked to George in many years. Cassell: He is doing great. He is 88 now. He plays golf a couple of times a month. Eisner: Oh, he was a magnificently structured human being. He was the handsomest guy in the shop. (laughter) Cassell: How did you find George to work with? Eisner: Oh, a wonderful guy. Very, very eager to please. Easy to work with. He understood what I wanted him to do and he did it well. He was good. A good man. I enjoyed working with him. He was an easy man to work with in the shop. He was very cooperative. Cassell: I noticed he did a lot of different kinds of strips for you.
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