Your questions would, to be properly answered, require a long and detailed answer – there are, by the way lots of published interviews with me covering the points you make – The Comics Journal 1974, and recently (this year) are useful – However so as not to disappoint you I’ll try to give you brief answers.
Is your work influenced by the cinema?
Not entirely – stage (live theater) is a greater influence.
What do you consider to be the advantage of comics over film?
Comics are portable and can be re-read.
What do you consider to be the advantage of film over comics?
Film has the capacity to create a real ‘experience’ – it has sound and suspense because you don’t see the next panel until the director lets you.
Any general comments?
I’m working to take the medium into a ‘literary’ realm. Comics are a unique form of literature. They currently (or at least in the past 25 years) have suffered from weak / unrealistic subject matter. This medium is capable of much more than two mutants beating each other to a pulp.
Thank you for your interest!
Cordially,
Will Eisner