Will Eisner’s Intellectual Property Goes Up for Sale Including Unreleased Work
Comics partially are what they are today due to Will Eisner. The man is a legend whose name emblazons the prestigious award, the Eisners. The Spirit and A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories are both classics. Now, Eisner’s graphic novels, children’s books, and instruction manuals for creating comics, all of Eisner’s intellectual property, are up for sale.
Included in the sale is a 72-page unpublished Spirit story from 1996 called The Spirit Returns. In it, the Spirit takes on a superpowered vigilante who considers themself the judge, jury, and executioner.
Eisner passed away in 2005 and his wife Ann Weingarten Eisner passed away in 2020. Ann’s nephew and his wave have run the estate, but they are now in their 70s and looking for someone to purchase Eisner’s creations.
The Spirit was adapted in 2008 but didn’t do well at the box office. Directed and written by Frank Miller, the film had a budget of $60 million but earned less than $39.2 million worldwide.
It’s difficult to figure out the value of everything and especially difficult for properties that have lasted decades. The Spirit debuted in 1940 and has had comics featuring the character published as recently as the 2010s. This deal would grant the rights to rerelease the comics published through DC, IDW, and Dynamite.
(via The New York Times)
