Contract With God

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DG N E W

COMICS

Y O R K ,

N E W

Y O R K

WILL EISNER writer

and

artist

DC COMICS J E N K T T E K A H N Preiii™ & E&dHn-OHdf PAUL LKV1TZ E T * ™ « * Vk* Pra&nr ff PiMifcKARUN BfciiGER E j v q t t i Kcbicrr D A L E C R A t N R c ^ t EJio. GEORG AR EWER D ^ n L W D T

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JÖHN N E E V F t f Ö f f f f d M p a ^ t f ä S M HOB WAYNF WPjÄ«| Sak A O n i n i t i Wut God ü 1978, 1985, 19B9. IW5, 1996 WÜI E t a * P u W i » W by DC C ™ a , 1700 B n > a n r , Ne» Vorii. N T 10014 Tbc - : . t i , .. ,>--. and mciJcnrr. ponraycd in rhis puhÜLirian J H enrin-I> lirtLniul N*i ... m..! ui ,• ••. . »ir Jead, ate inlendcd tu bt .'• I'.. .1. nnr *h[iuLd IJC JnfrrTf J, hat ft
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PrinlcJ nn nKvrlaWr p*pcr. T'nnr.-.l in CwudlLDC Curak*. A diviaitm pf Warner B T I K . - A Time Warner Enienaiiiniüiii Company, VWt [iur«el'Hiic ut wivwxducinnicb.tQin

ISBN l - t e J H W i - S R n f D C Comic* prmlim: March 2000-

CONTENTS

A Contract W i t h God

5

The Street Singer

67

The Super

97

Cookalein

...127

PREFACE Early in 1940, after an intimate involvement with the birth and burgeoning of the so-called cornic book art form, I undertook a weekly series entitled The Spirit. This was to be a complete story to appear as a newspaper insert comic book every Sunday, Ir revolved around a freelance masked crime fighter in the heroic tradition and would, the distributing syndicate hoped, latch on to the growing national interest in comic books. W i t h all the self-assurance of youth, I plunged into the task without much real planning. It was not until I came up for air after the first fifteen weeks that I realized the full magnitude of this undertaking. In fact, I was delivering a short story a week to an audience far more sophisticated and demanding than the newsstand comic book reader. The reality of the task and the enormous perimeters of the opportunity were t h r i l l i n g , and I responded with the euphoria and enthusiasm of a frontiersman, i n the twelve years that followed, I thrashed about this virgin territory in an orgy of experiment, using The Spirit as the launching platform for all the ideas that swam in my head. W i t h hindsight, I realize I was really only working around one core concept—that the medium, the arrangement of words and pictures in a sequence—was an art form in itself- Unique, with a structure and gestalt all its own, this medium could deal with meaningful themes. Certainly there was more for the cartoonist working in this technique to deal with than superheroes who were preventing the destruction of Earth by supervillains. I was not alone in this belief. ! n the middle 1930s, Lynd Ward explored this path in his remarkable attempts at graphic storytelling. He produced several complete novels in woodcuts. One of these books, Frankenstein, fell into my hands in 1938 and it had an influence on my thinking thereafter. I consider my efforts in this area attempts at expansion or extension of Ward's original premise. A t the time, to openly discuss comics as an art form—or indeed to claim any autonomy or legitimacy for them—was considered a gross presumption worthy only of ridicule. In the intervening yearsT however, recognition and acceptance has fertilised the soil, and sequential art stands at the threshold of joining the cultural establishment. Now, in this climate warmed by serious adult attention, creators can attempt new growth in a field that formerly yielded only what Jules Feiffer referred to as junk art. The proliferation of

stunning arc and imaginative exploration is but an early harvest of this germinanon. For me, the years after I stopped producing The Spirit were devoted to the application of the comic book art form to education, instruction and other pragmatic directions. Satisfying and rewarding as these were, they were also demanding, and so there was little time available to putsue the experiments I set aside in 195 L Twenty-five years later, given the time and opportunity, I embarked on the effort which you hold in your hands; a harvest at last from seedlings I had carried around with me all those years. In this book, 1 have attempted to create a narrative that deals with intimate themes. In the four stories, housed in a tenement, I undertook to draw on memory culled from my own experiences and that of my contempotaries. I have tried to tell bow it was in a comer of America that is still to be revisited. The people and events in these narratives, while compounded from recall, are things which I would have you accept as real. Obviously in the creation, names and faces were rearranged. It is important to understand the times and the place in which these stories are set- Fundamentally, they were noi unlike the way the world of today is for those who live in crowded proximity and in depersonalized housing- The importance of dealing with the ebb and flow of city existence and the overriding effort to escape it never seems to change for the inhabitants. In the telling of these stories, I tried to adhere to a rule of realism which requires that caricature or exaggeration accept the limitations of actuality. To accomplish a sense of dimension, I set aside two basic working constrictions that so often inhibit the medium—space and format. Accordingly, each story was written without regard to space, and each was allowed to develop its format from itself; that is, to evolve from the narration. The normal frames (or panels) associated with sequential (comic book) art are allowed to take on their integrity. For example, in many cases an entire page is set out as a panel. The text and the balloons are interlocked with the art. I see all these as threads of a single fabric and exploit them as a language. If I have been successful at this, there will be no interruption in the flow of narrative because the picture and the text are so totally dependent on each other as to be inseparable for even a moment. Finally, 1 must confess to a certain sense of uneasiness at trying to explain what I'm about to present. I have always cringed with embarrassment when listening to an artist, writer, or musician preamble an offering with an explanation of what he or she is trying to do. It is almost as though one is begging the

audience to excuse the imperfections or—at the very best—seeking to influence the judgment that will surely come. Perhaps I , too, am a victim of this insecurity, because for me, this is a new path in the forest. To colleagues who encouraged the effort, to my family who urged me co try, to Rose Kaplan, who edited this work, and the others who read the early drafts and offered advice—my thanks. White Plains, New York August 1978 Addendum

the third printing: In die years since A Contract With God

was

first published, die book has been translated into six languages, including, appropriately, Yiddish—a language in which I can think but cannot read or write, I have since written several other books in this medium. They are more polished technically but with this maiden work, a big piece of my heart, remains. Tamarac, Florida January 1989 Addendum to the fifth printing: In the seventeen years that A Contract With God has remained in print, the enlarging field of fine graphic novels has reinforced my belief that there would be a continually growing audience for the literary pretensions of this medium. After many subsequent works, I can still look back at this maiden effort without embarrassment and I retain for it the special affection one has for a first child. Tamarac, Florida June 1995 Addendum to the DC Edition first printing: Now, at long last this book, my first graphic novel, will enter its seventh printing under the DC Comics flag- After 22 years of being " i n print" it is assuring to know that its future will be in their strong and knowledgeable handsI want also to acknowledge my deep gratitude to Denis Kitchen who was responsible for its continued publication during most of those years. Will Eisner Tamarac, Florida March 2000

INTRODUCTION DENNY D'NEIL When I agreed to do this article, I planned to cheat. Instead of actually assessing A Contract With God, I thought I'd pay tribute to the astonishing anomaly that is its author, W i l l Eisner: the creator of a self-described "middleclass hero" who has fumse.f been a professional nonconformist; the rebel who has prospered working within that epitome of the Establishment, the Department of Defense; the hard-working, unpretentious deadline meeter who, nonetheless, produces his genre's best art. There is a major critical work to be written about W i l l Eisner and 1 had hoped to use this space to begin sketching at it, and, accidentally, to confess my own admiration for the man. ( I have tried on at least twenty different occasions to write a " W i l l Eisner story" and I haven't yet come close.) But I wanted to avoid dealing with A Contract With God because I didn't think Td like it and I didn't care to publicly dump on a continuing source of enjoyment and inspiration; tetter to avoid the issue. Td glimpsed the book at a lecture Eisner had given a week prior to publication and 1 wasn't impressed. It seemed that not even Eisner had accomplished what comics professionals are forever talking about: transcending the limitations of commercial comic books and using the medium for something other than simplistic morality tales, baby science fiction and, in the case of the undergrounds, scatological satire—which are the things comics have been at their best, and not to be scoffed at. Still, isn't there anything else? The answer is yes, as of the publication of A Contract With God. After reading the book five times, I am convinced it needs no apologia. Goethe's critical dictum remains the best: the critic can only decide what the artist was trying to accomplish, and whether he succeeded. By that standard, A Contract With God is a near masterpiece. However, for me to appreciate Eisner's achievement I had to resolve two problems—which may bother you, too. The first was a preconceived notion of what a comic is. I've written over 700 comic book stories and read tens of thousands and so, despite the pretensions to perception and objectivity that accompany a reasonably fancy degree in English Lit, I pick up a comic with reflexive anticipations. Action, movement, extravagant locales, a certain kind of pacing and—may the ghost of Henry James forgive me—abroad drama of crime and punishment: those are my expectations from anything with pictures and word balloons, and they are catered to very little in Contract.

The second difficulty is that, being from the Irish-Catholic Midwest, I am largely unfamiliar with the Jewish milieu that forms W i l l Eisner 5 memories. What he has given us here are those memories, as tales, and realized i n a fusion of image and copy. They are simple and they are harsh; there are no easy morals to be gotten from them- The Good Guys don't win and the Bad Guys don't lose because there are no good guys and bad guys. Instead, there are lonely, frightened, and ambitious people, immigrants seeking relief from poverty, despair, and the dread that, unhappy as the present is, the future may be worse. A man remembering in that way is not likely to depict heroes and villains; rather, he will be compassionate toward everyone, winner and loser alike, and compassion is the pervading, unstated theme ot Eisners work. His sympathetic recognition of human frailty and folly is most evident in his representation of sex: not the smirking prudence that usually passes for the erotic in comics {and i n many other arenas of popular culture) but the pleasures of the body as a palliative for misery and as manifestations of a raging libido—enjoyed, incidentally, by individuals nor particularly beautiful. Of course, such autobiographical reminiscence is common in modern writing; it is the raw material of the stories of Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, to name three of dozens of Jewish writers. But Eisner s presentation is unique: with the fusion of image and copy 1 mentioned earlier he mimics the operations ot memory itself, perhaps as well as they can be imitated on paper. The prologue which relates the background of the Bronx tenement that is the setting of the stories and a brief digression explaining the plight of Jews in Czarist Russia correspond to the gestalt ot the consciousness—information a bright child would acquire from His environment without anyone specifically teaching it. The scenes he could not actually be remembering, the scenes he was not present at, are the adult's attempts to make whole his childhood recollections, to fill in the gaps, a process akin to psychoanalysis. Eisner writes in the past tense, a departure from normal comics technique; these are, after all, past events. Yet his dialogue, presented in the familiar balloons, is present tense; one remembers words in the mode i n which drey were spoken. There is no contradiction here: Eisner is using the resources of the language exactly as a novelist uses them, to combine past and present into a single experience, and with the added resource of his artwork.

The pictures are Eisner's special contribution and what lifts the book into its own category. I've heard casual readers complain that Eisner's people are "cartoony" compared to his realistic cityscapes, and in his comic strips the contrast does take getting used to (though it is worth the effort); this may explain why his Spirit comics have not been as commercially successful as lesser, more conventional strips. However, in A Contract With God, the exaggerated features of the characters work for the whole. The child in us does not remember the adults we met as they actually were; he remembers them as archetypes—as caricatures, almost. He remembers them as Eisner draws them. Similarly, we do not recall every detail of the houses and streets we inhabited as children, as anyone who has ever visited a childhood neighborhood after a long absence will testify: we recall impressions, the sort of mnemonic sketches Eisner draws. The Bronx of A Contract With God is much less precisely rendered than the Central City of The Spirit, and that is surely a conscious decision of a thinking attist intent on introducing us to his private, interior experience instead of reproducing the world as most of us see it. Eisner even puts the ink the book is printed i n to his artistic uses: it is sepia brown, a close approximation of the monochrome psychologists say is the color of dreams—and memories. I realize I'm making A Contract With God seem very complicated. It isn't. What Eisner has accomplished needs to be seen: once it is, everything is plain, and no explanation or elaboration is necessary. The book fulfills Goethe's criterion: it succeeds splendidly and uniquely in being what Eisner wants it to be.

A

T E N E M E N T

A t 55 PropiieAve^ue/t^Brorpc, New1 yorkr not farfrom trie elevated etatiorj- stood the terneflt.

Like the others it-washuilt ground 1920 ^herj the decayirjej apartrnerjt r]Ou$e$ irjloWerMa/iliattar) c*>uld no longer accorrjrnodate the flood of irnmicjraiite thatpoiired iirto Mewyork after WorldV/ar I .

after the IP century leg alters for a multiple mdlir$ tliatliouied tenants -so^n occupied larcje tracfe of Bronx land.

By 1930 they "Were already part of the roots cfa"Wiole nev/ group of firstgeneration Americans andtlieir foreigrj-Joort] parerjts. fasiie- in tlje ''railroad-flat ''layouts lived lo-w-paid city employees, laborers, clerks and their families/iVy teerped vOitb a rjoisy rjeii $e rpt unlike ttielire-s newcomers liad left antV'otrier side,11 It -wae irjd of ship board frllonShiy si

pae^engew in trariex-t-for, they, wre on. a voyage of upward mobility. They "Were tntetit on their o^n survival/ busy With breedind their youqg and d r y i n g of a better life they K:neW existed* Uptown / what covnmurmy spirit there \was, stemmed fern their 'hostility toward aoomipor) 0 gj. enemy -the landlord/

55 Drop5ieAverjue -was typical of most tenements, Its tenants "Were Varied.fwie came and-Went. Many remained there for a life time... imprisoned, by poverty or other factors. It "Was af^rt of micro-T/ilkge -and the vOorld -v^Prop^ie Avenue.

3

"Withiri its "Walls great ararr\2& Were played out. There "Was m real privacy-ïio anonymity One was either a participant or a .member of the front-row audience, • v Every body p Knew about everybody/' *^ Thfi iollov/ii)^ storied are based on life in these '

tenements during

the 1930&... the dirty thirties.' They are true stories.

Only the telling

arid the . portrayals have converted, tlnem tof iction.

7

The è^werg overflowed

and trie -watera rose over the curbs of trie street

The tenement at

Dropsie Avenue $tere\ed ready to rise and -float away on the swirling tidei'Like the ark of HoahJ!.. | Seemed toFrimrne Hersh 25 ne Sloshed homeward. wo.55

etears of

ten t h o u s a n d

awe] tld cause ud) a delude/ And, came to think W}m

of it, maybe that is exactly what it-was.,.

12

...to others, irjaybe.

but not toïHîtiipe HerSİ).

And u % not to Frimme

J-fersh ??

That^ a fair yueéiion :

15

i t äpuldrjot have happened toFrínme Heráh

a Contract Tt was, after all, a solemn agreement of marry years.

19

Above alljrimehleh helpful arid Kind Aiter his parents died, he became the child d the childless inPteke.

19

In those years/this-wa^ said to h\in often for he performed wany^any qood deed£.

One d a y after a terrible attack, the s u r v i v i n g elders summoned him. FRIMM&L£M,WE uanje PUTT06ETMER ALL "MATS LEFT OF OU£ MONEY TO

^EMPVOU To AMERICA.

20

The nextattack

MAY VJlPE u£ out, $0 BEHAVE SELECT EP YaUToSAN/EvFoRVJE BEiLiEVE V0U ACE FAMoR£P BY eop/

yoo WILL 60 WITH SE6 LipshitiTo The North THERE 16 A SEAPORT nmHeee you cam buv

PO HOT WoRRV FglMAAELEH, 60P 16 \AlmWOLJ, Yflu SWiLL SOTo AMEEiCA

RIVSSAG&OMAftfiP/

. ..Arid. so J-Jersh obeyed, Two nightslaier on the trail deep intyeforest...

2J

And , Apt ï } î # intbecold fe

wote

tl)e

"

cariraà

on a ^ a l l

22

And ynth the l i t t l e s W tablet inhiepoctetFrimme Her^h settled, in Hew YorKCity Where he found Shelter vq the H a ^ i d t t coimnimity There he iooK religious ijistructiori and devoted himself to qood -worte.

Faithfully and piously, b adhered to the terms of hfe contract -with <5op.

23

In time he became a respected member of the5ynagogue;trcj5ted Witt) money and social matters, go ituiae wt4urpri6in9that i t vJa5 o/i Herd's doorstep thai an anonymous mother abandoned her infant g i r l What ¿ould.be Clearer? ToFrimme^hi^wa^part of his pact With GOD.

2+

Since noorjt wanted a child born of GoP-KnoWS-vJbat Kind of parents, Frimrne Her&b adopted the baby })\rf]ielf. He named her Rachels after hi4 mother and devoted ^ himself to her 1 With an h #

So,she <3rew u p blossoming in the "warmth and nourishment of Frimme's gentle heart and piouS "ways. jShevJasindeedfts child and the joy of his years. Ther) one day- in the Springtime of her life-Rachek f e l l i l l . $adder)Ty and f a t a l l y .

27

20

2?

. . . P I P I IÔNORË E V E N ONE T I N Y 6ENTÊNCE-0R P £ R H A P é A élNóLEr COMMA 3

dunn9 tlie days of i mourning that followed the! , 1 ,J funeral .the rain fell i "Without pause. Friend^ came-each offerii}9 Hersh the usual "Words of comfort -which he accepted in Storjy silence,

3

A U h e end of the days of Shiva in tine daiMr) of the eighth day,tlie eun rose in a clear skY and Fringe Hersr, said the rnpmin<3 prayer... -for 'the last time.

3+

Tllei2...Mtl} deliberaron... he Shaved off beards

CA6M... £ 0 CANI VOU LOAM M £ O N 7HE9E ?

AMPLË

epuiTyTte, -Mß.HERSH, VJE HAVÉ

37

"For ihe first

time.Frimme Her^H lied. , For'the first time^e coininitted an act wifidb formerly ^jae> unthir)kableTfieborjd^ere Hot fiieilieyfiadorily ieeii entrusted toliiirifor 5afeKeepiI]<3

syr)acjocjue.

Sb/Frimine Hersh) became

the r)eW o-Wner of 55"Dropsie

Avenue.

a /ou

KNOW,MRHERSH-

CD

* F R O M WHEN YOU WAS A TENANT

rtERe-I ALWAY^WITH THE OWNER... I ' M A L O V A L 5Up£R,'

^xia

ion W I L L A L S O C U T

P^WMON 6T"£A/^M£AT

F£OM tiO\NOU THE TiNANTS WfLL MAKE rMEIR

10%

V J A N T TO K N O W F C O M NO COMPLAINTS/

THESE JEW$ J

A POOR

TEA/ANT,

TOPAS THE OWNER! ..HOW PoTHEV P O IT

^)

WitJjiT) ayeanFrimnie Hersi) gleaned enough out of tlie property to acquire the

door.Witliir) tljenext three ye arsyIie accumulated tie ODeijext

b e g i r ^ i ^ of a real estate empire. HiS SUd^eSS appeared to be a$ rnud] - , 60INC5 TO P u L L PoWN tfje result of urjcamiy THE E L . luck as aijytl]iT]c| else. NOW SOUR. PROPERTY

REMEMBER TKAT ôARBAôE DUMP you WÉP£

WiTH LAST NEAR.-MOW THÉ

CITY tT ? 0 R A ôAWkâÉ.. JMey'LL PAV WELL,'

Before long he took a ixMmm a ^ i k s e l f from ScraritoriA-/ and took up a lifestyle i\e felt wore &?propria.te tohte new station. r ; . He traded building lite "toys. But one building he never Sold-thetenexneiyt o^DropsieAsfe. At lea^t or\ce every week lie vtouLd Comet}]ere--M$t iotooKatit.

.4-2

43

- « U f e AÍEVéR 6 0 WMAT^NocF

NoWHeKE/FRJM.' LIFE H&THIS

?-SOWRG

L Ö R I C K VOUCAMBUV ANVTH/Me VOÜ WAMr„5£7,BU^ IT/-'

One eVefiiı^FrtmfyeHersh vJalKed from W& peï)tt)oU$e uptown âlltfavJàyto the old f T i i f f c

*6

Carefully HeráJ) reco\ir)ted ihe history of Sa former centrad:.

4?

I F Y O U WILL HELP ME lNTW6,I WILL A L S O P O N A T E TOTHE 5 Y N A 6 0 6 U E T H * TENEMENT AT55 P * O P 5 I E AVENUE —7^||6 WILL PROViPE A &OOD

AnoL ^o the three old iner) pondered. tTie request. WHAT RIGHT HAVEWE To g>E A pARTV TOTH16...

^. O N THE OTHER MANP, I F NOT US - M W THEM ? A R E WE NOT AFTERALL LEAGKEP IN 1

THE IASN5 0 F 6 0 P ??

1.

51

iS NOT ALL RELIGION A CONTRACT BETWEEN M A N -

AND

GOD?

$o IT] \}\e day4 ttjti followed, Sp elders toiled,interrupted, only by i | | Saibatt) aijd certain days of prayer-At last they presented tile docuiriei7t toHersli-

A l l that

rii^ht Hersf) sat readiijcj

the coijtratft. j4^aiT? and agair}..,T]e studied every -Word "Wit}] great care.

It Wae ioiufide ,

AT LA'aT-X HAVE A 6£NUlME CONTRACT

eoof

55

TH/èfiME.You WiLL HoT\¡iOLtfó OUR CONTRACT

56

A t the exact foment of Herd's ladt

earthly bolt of StrudK tîıe city...

Wot â drop of mir) fell.... VJir)d

swirled about the ter)elriei)ts.

57

Oıı Dropsie avenue tfcoid terieirierite $eerr\ed to tremble ír)tf]e6tonr). It r e d d e d mm Vft)en frirnrne Hersh argued vJitlıöOP andieriniriated their corytract.

58

Around JTlidmgbifire^ started oi] the roof of a Vropsie Avenue terieiyient. 500*7 ttje fla^e^, spreading quickly consumed all the old "ouildiri^S oDfhe Street

A l l — except orje/ Miraculously the tenement at55prop£ie avenue •was unmanned.

Ai]d it happened that a toy tl)e hero of th^ day

New Boy A n d bedauee p]e"Wa^ 5o different lie became the object of ipuc^ buliyiricj. Or\e day not lor^ after the fire he ^ s t r a p p e d in the

alley of number 55 Toy three faulty

..Ayd ÍWevewré Miß sioop oj the wmmxäßütäm

hi*

W l Ä T O

Fnırırr]eHer5j 1 ...tîıereby enteiïnd

Turing the early1930$, at the fept}) of ihe Great Depression,there appeared irj*Die alleys of the tdnerpeifc, STREET p!N£i£R£,

Tliese warideririg 4keet rniT)etrele ^aricj popular 5oi^&anclste^inents cf operatic arias wtocb in tje acoustic* of ttie Place/Sounded

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ı&from eotcoüLP TAKE CAR5 OF HIM.

77

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RON ALP BARPV!» VK.THAT^ IT, W U B £

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LOOK AT £UCH A BEAUTIFUL PAMCER... TGA^JEUPA CAREER TO ,V\ARRY AM ACCOUNTANT/


IN StiNKiN'ALLEVS FOR PENNIES .

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P I P N'T EVEN VJ^IISTLE BEFORE ^OU M E T

Mi/

99

90

92

6H£ PEC06NIZE6MV 6INGIN6 TALENT, S £ £ I P E S £HE'S4W£ET ON ME.

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95

The super at 55Drop£ie M16TER

60)66$ 60NN.A F|)C THE HALL6TEP5? WHAT KINPA

Nobody really liked Mr. 6cLigqS.

fOO

roí

Perhaps itvJai what they didn't Know thatfedQ\e fear.

102

YAH/,.,r3ACK I N SHERMANy THINGS

16 DIFFEREMT/ THERE T H E Y HAF RESPECT*/ ' VAH,THEREN0BOPV TALKS LIKE THAT TO THE SUPER,'

landlords man-tie So,betWeeri replying to bitter cfoirjpiaiijfe, flje arid the . _ mutterincj bedrid h$ ba.ck,lie vas left vJiui little el$e but remoter^

to defend hig dignify

and promote

Authority.

Hie job \\/as ï]ot an easy one.

IOS

117

119

(23

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e WILL EISNER LIBRARY FROM

DC

COMICS

The Building City People Notebook A Contract With God The Dreamer Dropsie Avenue:

The Neighborhood

Family Matter In visible People A Life Force Life on Another

Planet

New York, the Big City To the Heart of the Storm Will Eisner Reader

the SPIRIT ARCHIVES FROM

DC

COMICS

Will Eisners T h e S p i r i t collected in chronological order in full-color, hardcover editions

ALSO

BY

WILL

EISNER

Comics and Sequential Art Graphic

Storytelling

dù°il\

&SHBK

Will Eisner's career spans the entire history of comic books from the formative days of the 1930s, through the 1940s when he revolutionized narrative sequential art with his internationally famed series, The Spirit, to his mature work which, beginning i n the 1970s, led the field in the creation of the con¬ temporary graphic novel form. In addition to his award-winning graphic novels, he is die author of the influential study Comics and Sequential Art.

If you'd like to learn more about Will Eisner, visit his website at www.willeisner.com.

THE FIRST GRAPHIC NOVEL

A Contract With God [is] the collection of realistic illustrated stories with which Eisner put himself again in the vanguard of the new wave of comics . . . the latest installments in one of the most distinctive bodies of work in comics, and indeed any narrative literature, —The Guardian (London! Will Eisner is the heart and mind of American comics. —Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics Drawing on his memories of growing up in New York in the 1930s, Will Eisner has depicted the Jives and dreams of the residents of a Bronx tenement in this first work in a new medium, the graphic novel. The famed creator of The Spirit in the 1940s, Eisner has revolutionized sequential art with the series of novels that began with A Contract With God.