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We’re celebrating the Will Eisner’s centennial birthday!
...and you can too by checking out one of his most famous characters--Joe Dope! During World War II, Joe was the guy you didn’t want to be: too stupid and lazy to follow directions or take care of his equipment. A fictional character drawn by Eisner, Joe endangered his fellow soldiers--and served as a great way to teach the critical importance of preventive maintenance.
The entire run of Eisner issues of PS Magazine (issues 1 to 299) may be found in VCU Libraries Digital Collections.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Happy Birthday to longtime PS Magazine production manager and Will Eisner fan Stuart Henderson! 2008 PODCAST INTERVIEW
http://mrmedia.com/2008/04/will-eisner-and-ps-magazine-expert-roundtable-discussion-mr-media-interview/
WWII Cartoons: Educating and Entertaining
During World War Two, cartoons played a prominent role in military manuals and publications. Will Eisner, one military illustrator from the era, said that cartoons "had the ability to talk to the G.I.s in their language" and offered a way to convey important information to personnel in a fun way. They were also a valuable tool for helping provide instructions to soldiers with below average reading skills.
Different branches featured different characters: "Dilbert" was a pilot with the US Navy, "Joe Dope" was a supply sergeant, "Private Snafu" was an army private. All were invariably careless and blundering characters who constantly ran afoul of the rules and found themselves in trouble. Through the missteps and errors of these characters personnel learned the correct way to handle different situations and tasks.
Some of these characters were also featured in animated cartoons. Private Snafu, for example, was featured in a series of animated shorts produced by Warner Brothers (and was voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc). Among the other contributors to the Private Snafu shorts were animation pioneers Chuck Jones and Fritz Freleng as well as an army captain named Theodore Geisel (perhaps better known to us now as Dr. Seuss).
View these manuals and more in the Kittleson WWII Collection at the Hennepin County Library Special Collections. The collection was started in 1944 by J. Harold Kittleson and constitutes the largest collection of WWII material in the Upper Midwest. It includes approximately 8500 books, 700 posters and 3500 pamphlets, as well as, photographs, maps, personal scrapbooks and letters relating to all aspects of the war.
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This post was researched and written by Special Collections volunteer Nick Steffel. Interested in volunteering for local history? Contact us at [email protected].
View these manuals and more in our current display "How to Wage War: Manuals and Guidebooks for Soldiers and Civilians During World War II." Now on view in Special Collections.
Joe Dope illustration by Will Eisner.
Will Eisner - Joe dope