Thanks for the history lesson, guys! I've enjoyed reading these 5 pages and going off on the tangents in the links. I've never had any particular interest in Victor Fox or the comics he produced and never knew about any of the topics discussed here. As an outside observer though I thought I'd toss in one small tidbit as it appears that no one has picked up on it (or at least I didn't see it in the thread). It was mentioned that Eisner used the name Reynard as a thin disguise for Fox in a story and that Fox himself had a company called Renard Investments. Someone speculated (I think) that Eisner perhaps knew of the investment company and hence perhaps used that as the source for the Reynard character name. I'd like to point out in case no one else was aware that Reynard is the name of a classical character from European animal stories: Reynard the Fox. I find it oh so ironic that the name Reynard was later dredged up and associated with Victor Fox. The fox Reynard from the old French stories was a wily character used as a rhetorical "wicked" moral structure for children. He was like Wile E. Coyote in some regards, always with the grand schemes to catch the Roadrunner, but with nothing but failure in the end because of his deceitfulness.
I'm sure Eisner was familiar with the animal character when he wrote his story and obviously Reynard was known to Victor Fox as it would be simply too coincidental for him to name his own company Renard Investments and not know. I have to say though that perhaps the subtleties of Reynard the Fox were lost on Victor Fox. Or, perhaps, he knew EXACTLY what Reynard represented?
Thanks again, guys!
Greg
