Will Eisner is best remembered for being one of the founders of the comic book industry and for his long-running superhero, The Spirit. However, Eisner was also a pioneer in the evolution of the comic book into a less disposable and more respected literary form: the graphic novel.
The book pictured above collects three related graphic novels, the first of which (A Contract with God) was published in 1978, before the term "graphic novel" had become common; the other two novels in the collection, A Life Force and Dropsie Avenue, were published after both the term and the form had become more common.
The stories within were fueled by personal experience, if not a direct retelling of said experience. Some of his material stems from growing up in the tenements of the various boroughs of New York. Some cut far closer to the bone--the title story of A Contract with God stems from the death of Eisner's 16-year-old daughter from leukemia.
The intensity of the emotions Eisner calls upon give his stories here an edge that had rarely been seen in comics before. Some are sad, some angry, some hopeful in the face of despair. And they're all worth anyone's time to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment