My favorite Hy Eisman lesson: On my first day at the Joe Kubert School back in 1988, a guy steps into the room with a disheveled stack of wrinkled newspapers under his arm. He drops a few pages on the desk nearest him and says, “Pass ’em down.”

He repeats this at the end of every row. Now at the front of the room, still having not introduced himself, he says, “Who’s got a listing for mechanic?” Looking down at our few pages of newspaper, we realize we each have a section of the “Job Listings” from various papers. A few people raise their hands. “Who’s got accountant?” Some other people raise their hands. I have no idea what this has to do with art. It goes on for a while: Waiter/waitress, truck driver, delivery person, etc., etc.

Then, “Who’s got comic book artist?” No hands. “Ok, how ’bout cartoonist?” Still no hands. “Graphic artist?” No. “Does anyone have any job hiring any kind of artist?” No, nobody. “You’re all in the wrong school,” he says. “All of you should get up right now, go down to the office, get as much money back as you still can, and go study something they’re hiring for.” At this point, we’re looking around at each other wondering who this guy is and when our real teacher will be arriving. He continues, “Only one or two of you will ever get steady work in comics.” Without hesitation, I think, “That’ll be me.” The guy says, “Right now all of you are thinking that’ll be you.” How the hell did he do that? “I say this every year but nobody listens to me, just like you’re not listening now. So, you were warned. My conscience is clear. On with the lesson…”

The irony is I don’t remember the lesson, lettering of some sort because that was the name of the class, but the real instruction had already begun. It was one of the most valuable lessons I ever had, and it was accurate as all hell. I bumped into Hy in a crowded theater in NY recently and got to thank him for this at long last. Truly one of the greats, I feel lucky to have passed through his classroom.