The First Graphic Novel: A Contract With God

Will Eisner's A Contract With God is the first graphic novel ever published. There had been bound collections of previously published comics before, but never a complete cohesive story in the same sense. Today graphic novels are a dime a dozen, but the whole shebang started with Eisner.

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Eisner is an old name in comics. He joined the scene in the 1930s, where among other works he created The Spirit in 1939, the superhero comic he's often best remembered for. Eisner continued working on The Spirit until it ended in 1952 (with a break for WWII), when he largely withdrew from comics. His withdrawal was largely inspired by his desire to produce something of serious artistic merit, and his growing conviction that comics wasn't the place to do it.

In the 1970s, however, Eisner was drawn back. There were a few reasons for this. Comic books were rapidly expanding their audience thanks to the direct market model- selling through comic book shops instead of racks at the grocery store. This was helping the comic book audience to grow rapidly. On top of that, creators with serious artistic ambitions were creating intelligent, challenging comics of the sort that had seldom been seen before. Commonly called comix, these indie books challenged society, cultural mores, and even good taste. R. Crumb is the best known of the comix creators. Seeing his beloved format springing back to life once more inspired Eisner to return with a vengeance.

A Contract With God is a series of four short stories revolving around a predominantly Jewish tenement building on Dropsie Avenue in New York. It definitely shows its age- the language is dated and Eisner uses a lot of comic techniques that are seldom seen today. That doesn't do an ounce to lessen the book's power, though. Eisner has created one of the most human works in comics. People in the book are more often motivated by grief, resentment, or pettiness than nobility in the book, but they're stronger for it than superheroes who dominated comics at the time.

Eisner's quiet little book hit the comic book world with a huge noise. It received only modest sales when it came out, but achieved massive critical acclaim and hordes of imitators. It's remained an inspiration to writers and has stayed continuously in print. Eisner soon followed it up with two sequels also about Dropsie Avenue, which well match the original in quality.

Eisner's work remains as relevant today as ever. From a comics perspective, it's perhaps even more important, given how far superheroes have percolated into public awareness. If you're interested in escaping the constant parade of skin tight suits and repetitive threats to the Earth, A Contract With God remains as good of an antidote to them as it was when it first came out. The Contract With God Trilogy (you really should read the collected edition) is smart, funny, depressing, and touching. Even if it weren't a piece of literary history, it would still be worth the read.