The Last Knight: An Introduction To Don Quixote

The Last Knight: An Introduction To Don Quixote

A comic-book format adaptation of Don Quixote. Quixote's selflessness and gallantry make the Man of La Mancha a legend as told by his faithful friend and servant Sancho Panza.From School Library JournalGrade 4-7-In this graphic-novel condensation of Cervantes's classic, Eisner offers a collection of vignettes that show Don Quixote as a clownish madman whose escapades are slapstick and pointless. There is no Knight of the Woeful Countenance here-this is a Don Quixote whose popping eyes and snaggletoothed grin display a manic energy. If he is not the skinny visionary, neither is his horse the rack of bones described by Cervantes: Rosinante may be sleepy, but she looks in good condition. Even the not-so-fair Dulcinea is different: here she is transmuted into Dulcinea de Tobasco-a stout harridan who tries to sell the Don some salt pork. However, the greatest change in the story is the ending in which Cervantes himself appears in the bedroom of the dying knight to proclaim that Quixote's deeds "show people the value of dreams and dreamers!" If the function of an introduction is to tempt readers to explore the original, this tiresome effort does not succeed.Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.About the AuthorWILL EISNER was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, Will Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined.In a career that spanned nearly eight decades -- from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics - Will Eisner was truly the ?Orson Welles of comics? and the ?father of the Graphic Novel?. He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena and countless others.During World War II, Will Eisner used the comic format to develop training and equipment maintenance manuals for the US Army. After the war this continued as the Army?s ?PS Magazine? which is still being produced today. Will Eisner taught Sequential Arts at the New York School of Visual Arts. The textbooks that he wrote based on his course are still bestsellers. In 1978, Will Eisner wrote ?A Contract with God,? the first modern Graphic Novel. This was followed by almost 20 additional graphic novels over the following 25 years.The ?Oscars? of the Comic Industry are called The Eisner Awards, and named after Will Eisner. The Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at Comi-Con International in San Diego, America?s largest comics convention.Wizard magazine named Eisner ?the most influential comic artist of all time.? Michael Chabon?s Pulitzer-prize winning novel ?Kavalier and Clay? is based in good part on Eisner. In 2002, Eisner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, only the second such honor in the organization?s history, presented by Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman.You can always find more information about Will Eisner at www.willeisner.com.