Will Eisner "Contract With God"

For this week, I read Will Eisner’s graphic novel “Contract With God.” This was definitely one of my favorites so far. I was very impressed with the quality of the work and the heart behind the stories. For being one of the first graphic novels, I was very impressed with how similar it is to modern graphic novels.

            The novel tells several different stories about residents of the tenement at 55 Dropsie Avenue, the Bronx, New York. Most of the residents are immigrants and tells their stories of living in the U.S. After hearing the lecture about Will Eisner in class, I can tell that many of these stories seem to be inspired by events in his life. The stories are all very well written and illustrated and have a very strong emotional impact. Each of the stories starts out pretty normal but it is the twists and turns that each one takes are what really makes them fascinating. The characters are all surprisingly three-dimensional for how short the stories are. Eisner really has a gift for getting his readers emotionally invested.

            I’ve always been fond of short story compilation graphic novels, so this one was right up my alley. Each of the stories could be read in any order or by themselves and still tell a complete story. With that said, all of them still seem to connect in some way. Its really fascinating and a great feat of storytelling.