The Qualities Of Life!
The pages above by the master of comics Will Eisner appeared in the pornographic magazine National Screw, an attempt by publisher Al Goldstein to broaden the marketplace appeal of his long-running hardcore opinion paper Screw Magazine. One of the things that the work of Will Eisner in the 70's and 80's did for me was to inform how comics could function if aimed at an adult audience. Now folks might consider a prurient magazine like National Screw only "adult" in the limited way the term is used for pornographic materials, but what adult really means when visited by a man of Eisner's perspective and talent is the use of the medium to say something important. The pages of "Will Eisner's The Gleeful Guide to The Qualities of Life" above will no doubt offend many, but that's what proper saitre ought to do and it seems clear to me that it's the attitudes that Eisner is accused of expressing in this work which the piece is actually pointing to and mocking.
Will Eisner produced a number of "Gleeful Guides" to life in the modern era, or at least those parts of it on the fringes of what was once dubbed the counter culture and beyond.
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I wasn't aware that Will Eisner did anything at all like this. I won't comment on the ethics/merits of the contents of the pages as I am sure some people will as you say be offended and others wont, but the art is amazing. The other books look really interesting as well , do you own these? Thank you for showing this I love Eisner's work.
ReplyDeleteI have the one on Taxes around here somewhere I think, but the others I found when I started researching these pages. Eisner's career was so varied and rich.
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