Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but happy Groundhog Day everyone. Fortunately, as far as I know, we’re not doomed to repeat this day in an infinite loop until we realize some profound truth about ourselves. Instead, this past couple of weeks, we have received numerous indications that time marches on, even when it comes to some of the most revered institutions and individuals in comics.
Another Hall of Fame batch dropped. Starting our trip down memory lane, the Eisner Award Hall of Fame committee let fly with another long list of names to be inducted automatically at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con (see “Bud Plant in Hall of Fame“). Because 18 nominees is a lot, I want to focus on just a couple of interesting choices.
First is Tom Palmer, whose career extended from the late Silver Age until his death in August, 2022. Palmer’s brush embellished the work of everyone from Neal Adams to Gene Colan to John Buscema, and arguably they never looked better. Inking is an important part of the comics production process, but the position often gets short shrift because there is less latitude for creative storytelling than in penciling or writing. Like designated hitters in baseball, inkers who make it into the Hall of Fame should represent the best of the best, transcending the perceived limitations of the role by bringing something new to the table. Palmer is certainly that.
Another name on the list deserving wider recognition is Oliver Harrington. Even among in-the-know comics folks, this one might send people running to Wikipedia. Harrington was one of the few African Americans working in comics in the 1940s and 50s. Though he is best known for his uncompromising civil rights editorial cartoons and for being driven out of America by the 1950s Red Scare, some of his best work was a criminally overlooked and heretofore unreprinted 1940s strip called Jive Gray, published mostly in Black newspapers. Jive Gray was Terry and the Pirates with a multiracial cast, including Gray, a Tuskegee airman turned freelance adventurer and journalist. The villains in the strip included the Klan, evil white South Africans, and assorted corrupt fascist-aligned industrialists. This strip reads as ahead of its time in 2026; just imagine it in 1946.
In any event, Harrington had a long career that spanned the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights era, and the fall of the Berlin Wall (he died in Berlin in 1995). Recognizing the contributions of people like him is, or should be, the primary job of the Hall of Fame committee and this was an inspired choice.
Finally we come to Dave Sim, an undeniably significant and revolutionary figure in both the art and business of comics. A pioneer of creator-owned publishing, he innovated many practices still used today, including collecting his storylines into trade paperbacks, forging personal relationships with retailers, and becoming a “brand name” creator not just before the days of social media, but before Mark Zuckerberg was born.
That would all be true even if Cerebus, his signature creation that ran 300 monthly issues, hadn’t been, in its best moment, pure genius. And yet…
Here the Hall of Fame committee did yeoman work, relieving everyone in comics who is aware of Sim’s importance of the requirement of casting a vote for him, something his expressed opinions and behavior likely would have made difficult. I also like the irony that, by cementing his status in the pantheon, they have put an end to his longest-lived professional project: the reputational self-sabotage he has been engaged in since the early 1990s. Sorry Dave, rant all you want, you’re going in anyway.
Eisner IP library up for sale. Speaking of Eisner, on Friday, George Gustines at the New York Timesbroke the news that Carl and Nancy Gropper, heirs to the Will Eisner estate, are seeking to sell the whole kit and kaboodle of literary rights, including his landmark original graphic novels, and of course his signature creation, The Spirit (see “Eisner Library on the Market“). The cherry on top is that there is a 90s-era 76-page Spirit story kicking around that few have ever seen, which may now see the light of day.
I’m informed that these efforts have been going on for some time, even if they only became public recently. And you can’t blame the Groppers. They have been active in managing the estate since Will Eisner’s passing in 2005, spearheading numerous programs including library grants and “Will Eisner Week” to promote comics literacy. As folks with little initial exposure to the world of comics beyond their royal blood (Carl is Will’s nephew), they immersed themselves in it for two decades, including attending the Eisner Awards at San Diego Comic-Con nearly every year. They are lovely people and they deserve a comfortable retirement.
Probably everyone reading these words knows the extent and import of Will Eisner’s contribution to the art, business and understanding of comics. The multimillion-dollar question is, how many people in the wider world still do? Eisner himself, as a tireless booster of comics, kept producing and promoting until his dying breath. But now that he’s more than 20 years gone, the buzz has dimmed. The utter fiasco of the Frank Miller-directed Spirit film (2008) probably didn’t help, nor do changing attitudes about some of the more unfortunate forms of representation present in those early Spirits. And, of course, the public domain clock is ticking: The Spirit will be out of copyright in 2030, if they are not already.
So when this great legacy does pass into new hands, will the price match the value? Almost certainly not. As someone who would not be interested in comics if not for discovering Will Eisner’s work, I can only hope it comes close.
Bud Plant Comic Art has a familiar new owner. It sounds like there is a happy ending in the story of the sale another iconic comics industry institution, Bud Plant Art Books. Bill Schanes, cofounder of Pacific Comics and longtime (and long retired) Diamond Distributors executive, announced he has purchased the legendary retailer (see “Bill Schanes Acquires Bid’s Art Books“). It had been on the market since 2011.
According to the announcement, “The deal, which was officially completed on January 15, 2026, gives Schanes ownership and control of Bud’s Art Books (a.k.a. Bud Plant Comic Art), the online mail order business that sells new and rare books related to comic books, fantasy art, illustration, and related subjects. This is a purchase of the overall assets of Bud’s Art Books.”
For three generations of fans and connoisseurs, Bud’s Art Books was the go-to place for everything comics-related with a spine, plus assorted posters, merchandise and other fun stuff. It was a good day when the fat new catalog came in the mail, and Bud’s aisle-long booth at Comic-Con was top of my Preview Night shopping agenda. Though Bud has been winding down his business for years now, it was still nice to run into him at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair and other smaller events.
Schanes, himself a comics, art and publishing pioneer, seems like the perfect person to continue the Plant legacy. “My vision for this company is comprehensive, and I have mapped out our future plans to take it into new markets, new audiences, and offering even more books and products than ever,” he said. “The demand for comics and fantasy art has never been stronger, with comics currently in a strong period of sales. We will strive to be an important facet of that market and look forward to serving their comic art needs.”
Until next time, unless we end up doing all of this again…
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Rob Salkowitz (Bluesky@robsalk) is the author of Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, a two-time Eisner Award nominee, and a proud longtime contributor to Eisner-nominated ICv2.
Source: ICv2
