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Hy Eisman once told his Army buddy and former fellow-cartoonist Hugh Hefner that he'd never make a living drawing comics. That was
back at the end of World War II when the two worked together on the base
newspaper at Camp Picket, Va. Fifty years later, Eisman would receive a
congratulatory note from "Hef" saying, "I'm glad that one of us made it
as a cartoonist and I'm glad it was you!"
But that's not where the "funnies" man's love for drawing comics began.
He got hooked on "Dick Tracy" as a boy of 5 in Paterson. Like so many
children during the Depression, Eisman faced considerable hardship.
Forced to live in an orphanage for several years, he stumbled upon his
passion after visitors to the home left behind stacks of newspapers.
Eisman became infatuated with the Sunday comics.
After the war, Eisman realized that he needed formal training. He
trekked from Paterson to The Art Career School in the Flatiron Building,
New York City, to study cartoon illustration for three years After art
school in the 1950s, Eisman developed his own series, "it Happened in
New Jersey," a localized version of Ripley's "Believe It or Not," which
he sold to the Newark News. When the series ended three years later,
Eisman began "ghosting," an industry tern for cartoonists hired to
emulate the style of a comic's originator and continue a series. He
first worked on "Smokey Stover," and then moved on to "Kerry Drake."
Over the years, he has put his hand to "Bringing Up Father," "Little
Lulu," "Nancy," "Blondie," "Bunny," "Tom and Jerry,"
"The Munsters" and "Archie."
Eisman's ghosting career would eventually lead him to the legendary "Katzenjammer
Kids," the world's longest-running comic strip, which he has now been
drawing for more than 20 years. Strong to the finish and then some,
Eisman is also in his 10th year inking the world-renowned "Popeye,"
everyone's favorite spinach-eating sailor.
Since 1960, Eisman has lived in Glen Rock, where his studio overlooks
Diamond Brook, a tributary of the Passaic River, and where he and his
first wife raised two daughters. He now lives with his former assistant,
Florenz, whom he married in 2004 - a good fortune that he also
attributes to the comics.
"I first met Florenz when I approached her in the Englewood library. I
saw that things weren't going well, so I told her to look me up on my
syndicator's Web site, and then she called me," he laughs.
Eisman has earned many accolades, including the Comic Book Humor Award
in 1975 and 1983 from the National Cartoonists Society or his work on "Little
Lulu," and has taught cartooning at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and
Graphic Art, Dover, for more than 30 years.
Eisman hopes to leap beyond the balloon quotes of the newspaper strips
to something hotter off the drawing board. "I'd like to try my hand at a
graphic novel," he says about his future plans. "They're the
fastest-growing genre in the publishing business today."
Look out, Olive Oyl, there may be a new heroine on the horizon.
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