The Last Knight: An Introduction to Don Quixote [Hardcover]

Will Eisner (Author), Don Quixote (Author, Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003

After the Princess & the Frog, comics great Will Eisner continues his series of adaptations of classic tales with this charming and delightfully humorful rendition of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Quixote was quite a gentleman, man of honor and idealist, even if he did have a couple of cards short of a complete deck, attacking windmills as the enemy. It is his selflessness and gallantry that make the Man of La Mancha a legend as retold to us by his faithful friend and servant Sancho Panza.

"This version is much more than a great introduction to a classic: it stands on its own, with the power to entertain and inspire young readers."-BOOKLIST

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 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 Author

WILL 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561632511
• ISBN-13: 978-1561632510
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,632,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb graphic novel adaptation of the Don Quioxte story., June 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Knight (Paperback)

In The Last Knight, cartoonist Will Eisner adapts Don Quioxte to the color graphic novel form in this drama, which adapts a classic to the comic format. Kids and adults alike will find this a colorful, intriguing presentation with enough insight and depth to do justice to Cervantes' creation, yet a sufficiency of action and embellishment to make the comic format stand on its own.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice book, May 18, 2000

By 

josa jr (Brasília, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Knight: An Introduction to Don Quixote (Hardcover)

This book is excelent to children that dont know Cervantes. Eisner presents us a small version of the Don Quixote' life using the same narrative and pictures that he uses in "Spirit". Maybe Eisner is the best and greater artist in comics in world, and this book proves it.