Category Archives: Will Eisner

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2025

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SATURDAY, 3 May 2025, is Free Comic Book Day! We will have LOTS of free comics to share* AND both Steve Weiner and Dan Mazur (https://www.danmazurcomics.com/) will be on hand to sign sampler copies excerpted from their upcoming graphic biography of WILL EISNER from noon-2pm!!!

* Limit 3 comics per person.

Stephen Weiner has been writing about graphic novels since 1992 and spearheaded the movement to bring graphic novels into public libraries. His books include: Will Eisner: a Comics Biography (with Dan Mazur) 100 Graphic Novels for Public Libraries, The Will Eisner Companion (with N.C. Christopher Couch) Will the Real Will Eisner Please Stand Up & Other Adventures in Comics, The 101 Best Graphic Novels, Faster than a Speeding Bullet: the Rise of the Graphic Novel (with an Introduction by Will Eisner), Analysis of BONE: A Look at the Jeff Smith Graphic Novel Masterpiece, and Hellboy: the Companion. The recipient of the Comic Creator’s Guild award, he is co-editor of the 7-volume series, Graphic Novels: A Critical Survey. His novel, Briandigo’s Dagger, is available from Haverhill House Press. He lives outside of Boston.

Dan Mazur is a cartoonist, editor and comics historian and lifelong Cambridge resident.  His graphic novels include Lunatic and Hannabell Hobb and Her Horrible Heads, and his comics have appeared in many anthologies.. He co-founded the Boston Comics Roundtable and MICE (The Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo), and is the editor of the Boston Powers anthology series of Boston-based superhero comics for kids. He is co-author with Alexander Danner of Comics: a Global History, 1968 to the Present. He’s been buying comics at Million Year Picnic since 1974.  

Cover text reads "FREE COMIC BOOK DAY; WILL EISNER; A COMICS BIOGRAPHY; STEPHEN WEINER; DAN MAZUR; PREVIEW OF HIS COMPLETE BIOGRAPHY" and depicts a young man standing on a fire escape looking over New York City. In the sky, there are images of comic book panels.

Will Eisner Week Comics Workshop for Kids & Teens

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On Saturday, March 11th the Million Year Picnic and the Boston Comics Roundtable are sponsoring a Will Eisner Week Comics Workshop for Kids and Teens!

What: Workshop on Making Comics for Kids & Teens
Where: Cambridge Public Library (main branch, 449 Broadway)
When: 3/11/2017, 1-3pm
How: FREE

Please pass the word to any of your friends with kids! This is a great event with lots of support from local comics creators with real world experience!

Will Eisner Week Q&A Event Summary & Pictures

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Last night, the Million Year Picnic and the Cambridge Public Library came together to run an event in celebration of Will Eisner Week. Since yesterday, 6 March 2014, was the 97th anniversary of Will Eisner’s birth, it seemed like a good day to start things off!

First, we set up our sales table while waiting for our guest speakers to arrive. We brought a piles and piles of Will Eisner’s books (20% off!) as well as some of Denis Kitchen’s work and most of Paul Hornschemeier’s books.

Will Eisner Event: Denis Kitchen and Paul Hornschemeier Talk

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Final Reminder for Eisner Q&A

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Hello folks,

One final reminder that TOMORROW (Thursday, 3/6) is the official start of our Will Eisner Week events (including a sale of 20% off all Eisner-related books). It also happens to be the 97th anniversary of Eisner’s birthday. The start time for our evening event has been variously reported, but since it was in the BOSTON GLOBE as starting at 6:30pm, it will be starting at 6:30pm.

At the invitation of Stephen Weiner, director of the Maynard Public Library in Maynard, MA, Harvard Square comic shop The Million Year Picnic will participate in Will Eisner Week 2014 as its Boston metro-area representative, hosting or co-hosting a series of events, notably two at the Cambridge Public Library. First, to honor the 97th anniversary of Will Eisner’s birth, there will be a Q&A session between cartoonist Paul Hornschemeier (author of MOTHER, COME HOME; THE THREE PARADOXES; the NEW YORK TIMES best seller LIFE WITH MR DANGEROUS; LET US BE PERFECTLY CLEAR; and ALL AND SUNDRY) and underground comics legend Denis Kitchen (cartoonist; author; founder and publisher of Kitchen Sink Press (1969-1999); founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; and Mr. Eisner’s friend, publisher, and agent for decades) at 6:30pm on Thursday, March 6th, 2014 at the Cambridge Public Library. Books by both authors will be available for purchase, and there will be a book signing after their presentation.

Hope to see you there,
Your friends at the MYP

Will Eisner Week Million Year Picnic Press Release

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Per www.willeisner.com, “Will Eisner Week is an annual celebration honoring the legacy of Will Eisner and promoting sequential art, graphic novel literacy, and free speech.”

Schedule:

  • On Thursday, 3/6, 6:30-8:30pm – Q&A between Denis Kitchen & Paul Hornschemeier
  • On Thursday, 3/6, 10am – Million Year Picnic sale on all WILL EISNER TITLES, 20% off
  • On Saturday, 3/8, 12:30-2:30pm – Comic book workshop for kids at the Cambridge Public Library
  • On Saturday, 3/8, 3-5pm – Workshop creators sign at the Million Year Picnic
  • On Saturday, 3/8, 4-6pm – Gregory Benton signing at the Million Year Picnic
  • On Saturday, 3/8, 10pm – Sale on WILL EISNER TITLES ends

At the invitation of Stephen Weiner, director of the Maynard Public Library in Maynard, MA, Harvard Square comic shop The Million Year Picnic will participate in Will Eisner Week 2014 as its Boston metro-area representative, hosting or co-hosting a series of events, notably two at the Cambridge Public Library. First, to honor the 97th anniversary of Will Eisner’s birth, there will be a Q&A session between cartoonist Paul Hornschemeier (author of MOTHER, COME HOME; THE THREE PARADOXES; the NEW YORK TIMES best seller LIFE WITH MR DANGEROUS; LET US BE PERFECTLY CLEAR; and ALL AND SUNDRY) and underground comics legend Denis Kitchen (cartoonist; author; founder and publisher of Kitchen Sink Press (1969-1999); founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; and Mr. Eisner’s friend, publisher, and agent for decades) at 6:30pm on Thursday, March 6th, 2014 at the Cambridge Public Library. Books by both authors will be available for purchase, and there will be a book signing after their presentation.

In addition, on Saturday, March 8th from 12:30-2:30pm, the Cambridge Public Library will host a comic book workshop for kids with comics creators Jef Czekaj (author of HIP AND HOP, DON’T STOP!; CAT SECRETS; THE CIRCULATORY STORY; and YES, YES, YAUL!), Shelli Paroline (ADVENTURE TIME; MIDAS FLESH), Braden Lamb (ADVENTURE TIME; MIDAS FLESH), Dan Mazur (independent cartoonist, journalist, teacher, screenwriter and editor; co-founder of the Boston Comics Roundtable and MICE: the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo), Bob Flynn (SPONGEBOB COMICS; GULP! a Monster Comics Anthology for Kids), Josh Dahl (RAPID CITY), and Dan Moynihan (whose work can be found in NICKELODEON Magazine and HEEBY JEEBY Comix). All seven creators will be signing at the Million Year Picnic from 3-5pm. At 4pm, they will be joined by Gregory Benton (HUMMINGBIRD, B+F), who will be signing from 4pm-6pm.

Will Eisner Week features a series of events to be held early March 2014 in more than a dozen cities around the country to honor the work and career of the great comics innovator Will Eisner (1917-2005), the comics medium, and the graphic novel format.

Finally, The Million Year Picnic comic shop at 99 MT Auburn ST, downstairs, Cambridge, Harvard Square, MA is running a sale of 20% off all Will Eisner books and graphic novels starting 10am Thursday, 3/6 and running through the close of business on Saturday, 3/8.

For more information, please call The Million Year Picnic at 617-492-6763 and ask for Tony Davis (the owner) or Kelly J. Cooper (clerk & communications).

Web sites for more information:
Denis Kitchen: http://www.deniskitchen.com/
Paul Hornschemeier: http://www.forlornfunnies.com/
Shelli Paroline: http://www.shelliparoline.com
Braden Lamb: http://www.bradenlamb.com/
Jef Czekaj: http://www.czekaj.com
Dan Moynihan: http://www.danmoynihan.com/
Bob Flynn: http://www.jinxthemonkey.com/
Dan Mazur: http://www.danmazurcomics.com/
Josh Dahl: http://monolithllc.com/
Gregory Benton: http://www.gregorybenton.com/
The Boston Comics Roundtable: http://www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com/
The Million Year Picnic: https://themillionyearpicnic.com