A Contract With God!

The first thing to know about Will Eisner's ground-breaking "graphic novel" A Contract with God is that it is not a novel, though it is certainly graphic. Eisner was a creator who wanted more than anything else to create stories. He used The Sprit in the 40's to tell all manner of yarns. But clearly dear to his heart was NYC and the people who lived there, especially those people he'd grown up around. Eisner was Jewish and much of his later work is specifically Jewish in its details, though there is a universality to the stories, nonetheless. We have four short stories in this collection. 

"A Contract with God"

This is the story of Frimme Hersch, a man who had made a "contract with God" when he was young. Eisner's story demonstrates that even being devout doesn't free one from the pain of this world. We cannot protect ourselves when bad things happen. 

"The Street Singer"

A man named Eddie woos a spinster from the street with is song and she wants to make him a successful singer. But at home he has a wife and kid and is struggling to make ends meet. 

"The Super"

Mr. Scuggs is the super of a tenement is a sour and imperious fellow, but he falls afoul of a young girl, clever beyond her years who uses the threat of showing him to be a pervert to extort influence. The twist, with power suddenly shifting to other hands makes this one intriguing. 

"Cookalein"

This story seems to be one about Eisner himself, though only in part. It deals with several folks, all of whom are off on vacation in the Catskills and all are seeking romance, marriage or some other treasure they cannot find at home in the city. People pretend to be what they are not or what they wish they were. Willy for his part, finds love in a hayloft. 

A Contract with God is an important book in comics history. It's not really the first graphic novel, but it did to some extent break out of the comic book ghetto at a time when the form was really suffering. When this book was first published in 1978, the hobby was on its last legs. This book and others like it sparked a revival.

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