Hy Eisman 1927 - 2025

 

Veteran cartoonist Hy Eisman, whose 80 year career encompassed comic books, advertising, syndicated comic strips and more, passed away on his birthday this past Thursday, March 27th. He was 98 years old. 

"Hy Eisman knew by age five that he wanted to be a cartoonist. He watched a Fleischer Studio animator, his aunt’s tenant, make magic with a pencil. Seeing the Sunday newspaper comics during the difficult Depression years offered another source of inspiration. 

"He drew his way through school. In 1945 Hy was drafted out of Central High into the army as WWII was winding down. Assigned to a hospital unit, he had time to design military health posters and create a comic strip, Parade Rest, for The Camp Pickett News.

"With funding from the GI Bill, Hy graduated from the Art Career School in 1950. For a few years he designed type, packages, and produced cartoons for Fuld & Co., a greeting card company. 

"Through the 1950s, Hy's work appeared in many American Comics Group titles."

-- From his biography at his site. 

The Daily Cartoonist reports that he worked for a variety of comic book companies, including ACG, Archie, Charlton, Dell, Harvey, Western, and other comic book companies.

His syndicated comic strip work included Kerry Drake, Mutt and Jeff, Little Iodine, The Katzenjammer Kids, and more. He assisted Vernon Greene on Bringing Up Father. 

 

 

"He was the ghost penciler for many books inked by Vince Coletta. Roy Lichtenstein appropriated a panel penciled for Private Secretary #1. The painter used it for his 1964 World's Fair mural, 'Girl in Window.' David Barsalou has explored this subject extensively. Eisman is interviewed in the documentary Whaam! Blam! Roy Lichtenstein and the Art of Appropriation"

-- Hy Eisman's site

Hy won two awards for best humor comic from the National Cartoonists Society, and was awarded their lifetime achievement award, the Milton Caniff Award.

Here's a trailer for a proposed 2013 documentary, Hy Eisman: A Life in Comics. I am unsure if this documentary was completed, still in the works or has been abandoned.