Will Eisner: Preventive Service Monthly

Above: front & back cover of P*S issue no. 125, 1963 series.

Will Eisner, whose documentary premiered yesterday (with another showing on Sunday, May 6) in the past week, was a prolific guy. Eisner ran a number of studios, moving from comic books to comic strips to graphic novels with ease. One of his long-running efforts was PREVENTIVE SERVICE MONTHLY, or P*S, which he helmed for years.


Above: back cover of P*S issue no. 102, 1961 series.

P*S was not as glamorous as a costumed crime fighter or gritty stories about the city, but it deserves a bit more than a footnote. P*S was designed to remind the soldiers of the importance of doing the preventive maintenance and installation jobs the right way and contained a lot of information on stuff like:

Installing bolts and cotter pins

Grounding radio sets in trucks

Missile and rocket cable connections

G758-series vehicle spark plugs

Proper tools to use on UH-1 chopper engines


Above: back cover of P*S issue no. 33, 1955 series.

I'm not an expert on Eisner ... but I did have these couple of P*S mags. Each one has a poster on the back page, and it seemed ashamed to not share them.


Above: back cover of P*S issue no. 119, 1962 series.

A real true sentiment, in or out of the military.

The mag used to be called ARMY MOTORS, and Eisner had been highly successful combining cartoons with instruction for it. Although ARMY MOTORS ceased publication after WW2, the Army approached Eisner to revive the publication, now retitled as PREVENTIVE SERVICE, for distribution during the Korean conflict.

Eisner helmed a studio, and entered into a private contract relationship with the Army. The PS work was produced for over 20 years beginning in 1951, with his hands-on oversight. His assistants included Murphy Anderson and Mike Ploog.

Today, P*S continues on, with Joe Kubert at the helm.



Above: back cover of P*S issue no. 132, 1963 series.

Spooky, busty snowgirl!

Each issue has this at the bottom of its contents page: "Use of funds for printing of this publication has bee approved by Headquarters, Department of the Army, 4 April 1962. DISTRIBUTION: In accordance with requirements submitted on DA From 12-4."