Contract with God

Will Eisner’s Contract with God completely took me by surprise. This was another case in which the drawing style fooled me into thinking that the content would not actually get too adult oriented. Instead, the cartoony aspect enhanced and exaggerated key moments that were brought to this story. One of my favorite things about this book is that it tells a collection of stories rather than just focusing on one big plot. To make it even more interesting is how Eisner decided to connect all of these stories and characters through the use of one location: The apartment building. This is extremely important as you feel there is a relationship between all of these characters even if it doesn’t seem so direct.

I find it interesting to think that this book is considered to be the first graphic novel, and yet, it doesn’t feel like what we know of graphic novels today. This is especially evident with the panel layout. There is a lack of traditionally placed boxed illustrations. Instead, we see drawings almost as vignettes, framing pages and the words telling the story. However, this isn’t the case with every single page. We do get a series of sequential drawings carried through a page as well, though they still lack an obvious frame around them. This doesn’t bother me though. I found it to be fresh and actually made me feel like the story was being communicated at a faster pace. I didn’t feel confine within each illustration. I’m glad because these are beautiful illustrations and they do a fantastic job at portraying emotions through body language. Will Eisner does a incredible job at making us sympathize with the pain and struggles that a lot of these characters, the tenants, are going through.