Best Selling Books by Will Eisner

An extraordinary autobiography story from a legend in American comics.

The first graphic novel—a mesmerizing fictional chronicle of a universal American experience. Through a quartet of four interwoven stories, A Contract With God express the joy, exuberance, tragedy, and drama of life on the mythical Dropsie Avenue in the Bronx. This is the legendary book that launched a new art form and reaffirmed Will Eisner as one of the great pioneers of American graphics.

The revolutionary work of graphic storytelling that inspired a new art form. Will Eisner was present at the dawn of comics. In the 1940s, he pushed the boundaries of the medium with his acclaimed weekly comic strip The Spirit, and with the publication of A Contract with God in 1978, he created a new medium altogether: the graphic novel. It was unlike anything seen before, heralding an era when serious cartoonists were liberated from the limiting confines of the comic strip. Eisner’s work was a shining example of what comics could be: as inventive, moving, and complex as any literary art form. Eisner considered himself “a graphic witness reporting on life, death, heartbreak, and the never-ending struggle to prevail.” A Contract with God begins with a gripping tale that mirrors the artist’s real-life tragedy, the death of his daughter. Frimme Hersh, a devout Jew, questions his relationship with God after the loss of his own beloved child. Hersh’s crisis is intertwined with the lives of the other unforgettable denizens of Eisner’s iconic Dropsie Avenue, a fictionalized version of the quintessential New York City street where he came of age at the height of the Depression. This centennial edition showcases Eisner’s singular visual style in new high-resolution scans of his original art, complete with an introduction by Scott McCloud and an illuminating history of Eisner’s seminal work. Now readers can experience the legendary book that launched a unique art form and reaffirmed Will Eisner as one of the great pioneers of American graphic storytelling.

With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents graphic fiction\''s greatest celebration of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up. This new hardcover presents a quartet of graphic works (New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People) and features what Neil Gaiman describes as \''tales as brutal, as uncaring as the city itself.\'' From ancient buildings \''barnacled with laughter and stained with tears\''to the subways, \''humorless iron reptiles, clacking stupidly on a webbing of graceful steel rails,\'' Will Eisner\''s New York includes cameo appearances by the author himself; several new illustrations sketched by Eisner, posthumously inked by Peter Poplaski; and three previously unpublished \''out-takes\'' - a treasure for any Eisner fan, and sure to become a collectible.

Examines the fundamentals of storytelling in comic book style and offers advice on story construction and visual narratives.

One of the 20th c.''s great American artists, Will Eisner pioneered the field of comic arts. In this book her refines the art of graphic storytelling into clear, concise principles that every cartoonist, comic artist, writer, and filmmaker needs to know.

A series of vignettes, in graphic novel format, built around elements that make up New York City--its buildings, people, trash and treasures.

Graphic novels have exploded off bookstore shelves into movies, college courses, and the New York Times book review, and comics historian and children’s literature specialist Stephen Weiner explains the phenomenon in this groundbreaking book—the first history of graphic novels. From the agonizing Holocaust vision of Art Spiegelman’s Maus to the teenage angst of Dan Clowes’s Ghost World, this study enters the heart of the graphic novel revolution. The complete history of this popular format is explained, from the first modern, urban autobiographical graphic novel, Will Eisner’s A Contract with God, to the dark mysteries of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the postmodern superheroics of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight, and breakout books such as Alison Bechdel''s Fun Home and R. Crumb''s The Book of Genesis. It’s all here in this newly updated edition, which contains the must-reads, the milestones, the most recent developments, and what to look for in the future of this exciting medium.

“Eisner was not only ahead of his times; the present times are still catching up to him.”—John Updike Called “a masterpiece” by R. Crumb, A Life Force chronicles not only the Great Depression but also the rise of Nazism and the spread of socialist politics through the depiction of the protagonist, Jacob Shtarkah, whose existential search reflected Eisner’s own lifelong struggle.

A graphic novel by Will Eisner that recounts the story of three families from different generations that struggle to find power, wealth, and happiness.

A black-and-white graphic novel chronicle of the rise, decline, and rebirth of a neighborhood in the South Bronx over the course of more than one hundred years.

This powerful graphic novel confirms Will Eisner as a master of the genre. In this graphic novel, Will Eisner’s pen cuts an expansive swath through all aspects of the human condition. Life on Another Planet places American life within a broader perspective, chronicling the lives of scientists, politicians, spies, and nobodies as they come to terms with the discovery of extraterrestrial life: in reaching out to other galaxies, Eisner’s characters ultimately find themselves focusing within.

Character sketches and timeless snapshots of the eccentric denizens of an American city reflect Eisner''s comic genius and powers of observation.

Will Eisner''s innovations in the comics, especially the comic book and the graphic novel, as well as his devotion to comics analysis, make him one of comics'' first true auteurs and the cartoonist so revered and influential that cartooning''s highest honor is named after him. His newspaper feature The Spirit (1940–1952) introduced the now-common splash page to the comic book, as well as dramatic angles and lighting effects that were influenced by, and influenced in turn, the conventions of film noir. Even in his tales of crime fighting, Eisner''s writing focused on everyday details of city life and on contemporary social issues. In 1976, he premiered A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories, a collection of realist cartoon stories that paved the way for the modern “graphic novel.” His 1985 book, Comics and Sequential Art, was among the first sustained analyses and overviews of the comics form, articulating theories of the art''s grammar and structure. Eisner''s studio nurtured such comics legends as Jules Feiffer, Wally Wood, Lou Fine, and Jack Cole. Will Eisner: Conversations, edited by comics scholar M. Thomas Inge, collects the best interviews with Eisner (1917–2005) from 1965 to 2004. Taken together, the interviews cover the breadth of Eisner''s career with in-depth information about his creation of The Spirit and other well-known comic book characters, his devotion to the educational uses of the comics medium, and his contributions to the development of the graphic novel.

Culture-curious readers and life-long fans of comics are invited to read along as two of the medium''s greatest contributors - legendary innovator and godfather of sequential art Will Eisner, and the modern master of cinematic comics storytelling, Frank Miller, discuss the ins-and-outs of this compelling and often controversial art form. Eisner/Miller is widely illustrated and features rare, behind-the-scenes photos of Eisner, Miller, and other notable creators.

One of four extraordinary graphic novels celebrating the Big Apple, from the master of American comics art.

A graphic novel that traces the events in the life of one family over the course of twenty-four hours, bringing to light secrets of abuse, greed, and other dark memories.

Celebrating the Big Apple, a chronicle of a city building and the people who inhabited it serves as a testament to the greatest human qualities.

Last Day in Vietnam is Will Eisner''s memoir of stories about soldiers who are engaged not only in the daily hostilities of war but also in larger, more personal combat. During Eisner''s years in the military, and particularly during the many field trips he made for P.S. Magazine, he observed camp life at close range.

A graphic novel by Will Eisner about a young man who dreams of creating comic books in the 1930s.

Collects four graphically illustrated stories from Will Eisner that explore strange occurrences in daily life, including \"The Miracle of Dignity,\" \"Street Magic,\" \"A New Kid on the Block,\" and \"A Special Wedding Ring.

A commonplace clerk turns private eye. A lifelong failure attempts a marathon. An octogenarian hitman tries to settle an old score. The seven exceptional short works gathered here range from the grim to the hilarious, narrating the lives of the good, the bad, and the eccentric. Featuring \"A Sunset in Sunshine City,\" Eisner''s very personal ode to memory and nostalgia inspired by his transition to retirement in Florida, this book displays the artist''s mastery of the short story form, as well as his acute understanding of family and friendship, betrayal and redemption.

For most of the 20th century, the work of cartoonist and graphic novelist Will Eisner defined the art of comic book storytelling in the U.S. and throughout the world. Still prolific today at the age of 86, Eisner is the embodiment of \"living legend\" in the world of comic books, continuing to produce some of the most innovative and influential work in the medium. This all-new hardcover collection of Eisner''s gorgeous pencil sketches and groundbreaking designs is a must-have for pop-culture enthusiasts and fans of comic books. Culled from many decades'' worth of work, the Sketchbook presents the world as seen through Will Eisner''s eyes, with introductory notes for each of the eleven different sections. From his observations of his friends and loved ones hustling through their busy daily lives to witnessing those quiet moments when no one is supposed to be watching, Eisner''s keen perception and steadfast hand capture the essence of what it means to be alive.

The legacy that Will Eisner (1917–2005) had on sequential art cannot be overstated—his innovative storytelling, layouts, and art on his newspaper series The Spirit inspired a generation of cartoonists, and his turn toward an acclaimed run of graphic novels beginning in 1978 with A Contract with God helped pioneer the form. This catalogue includes over 175 selected illustrations, reproduced from the original artwork, from the landmark Will Eisner Centennial Celebration exhibitions taking place in 2017 at Le Musée de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême and the Society of Illustrators in New York. Dual English and French text with essays by Denis Kitchen, Paul Gravett, and John Lind. Celebrating the centennial of a master storyteller! Over 175 Eisner illustrations, reproduced from the originals! The official catalogue to exhibitions at Le Musée de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême and The Society of Illustrators in New York!

The late Will Eisner - pioneer of the comic novel - examines the outrageous fabrication of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' in a work more disturbing than fiction.

\"In this new graphic novella, Will Eisner explores the hopes and dreams of a young man who desires to be a cartoonist. It takes place during the depressed economic time of the mid-1930s. As the young man nourishes his vision of the future, he discovers the newly created field of comic books. As he gains a foothold in the new industry, the young man learns and grows along with it. The people he meets, his success, his failures, his persistence of vision are all documented here. This is the story about businessmen and artists, pragmatists and dreamers, by a man who was indeed there at the beginning of comic books, and is recognized worldwide today as a master of the medium.\"--Jacket.

Comics luminary Will Eisner takes on literary giant Charles Dickens, in this fascinating retelling of the life of Oliver Twist''s Fagin! Imagining Fagin''s impoverished childhood in the slums of London and his initiation into the criminal underworld, Eisner''s story counters the anti-Semitism of Victorian literature as his gorgeous brushwork creates an evocative portrait of the era. * Now with Eisner''s previously unused full-color cover art! * Foreword by Brian Michael Bendis! * Introduction by Dickens scholar Jeet Heer!

Chronicles the lives of ordinary people surviving the Great Depression in the Bronx, portraying the economic collapse, leftist politics, and rise in Nazism.

Published quietly in 1978, Will Eisner''s revolutionary literary work A Contract With God marked the invention of the modern graphic novel, took on a life of its own, and inspired a generation of \"sequential artists.\" Will Eisner (1917–2005) saw himself as \"a graphic witness reporting on life, death, heartbreak, and the never-ending struggle to prevail.\" The publication of A Contract With God when Eisner was sixty-one proved to be a watershed moment both for him and for comic literature. It marked the birth of the modern graphic novel and the beginning of an era when serious cartoonists could be liberated from their stultifying comic-book format. More than a quarter-century after the initial publication of A Contract With God, and in the last few months of his life, Eisner chose to combine the three fictional works he had set on Dropsie Avenue, the mythical street of his youth in Depression-era New York City. As the dramas unfold in A Contract With God, the first book in this new trilogy, it is at 55 Dropsie Avenue where Frimme Hersh, the pious Jew, first loses his beloved daughter, then breaks his contract with his maker, and ends up as a slumlord; it is on Dropsie Avenue where a street singer, befriended by an aging diva, is so beholden to the bottle that he fails to grasp his chance for stardom; and it is there that a scheming little girl named Rosie poisons a depraved super’s dog before doing in the super as well. In the second book, A Life Force, declared by R. Crumb to be \"a masterpiece,\" Eisner re-creates himself in his protagonist, Jacob Shtarkah, whose existential search reflected Eisner’s own lifelong struggle. Chronicling not only the Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression but also the rise of Nazism and the spread of left-wing politics, Eisner combined the miniaturist sensibility of Henry Roth with the grand social themes of novelists such as Dos Passos and Steinbeck. Finally, in Dropsie Avenue: The Neighborhood, Eisner graphically traces the social trajectory of this mythic avenue over four centuries, creating a sweeping panorama of the city and its waves of new residents—the Dutch, English, Irish, Jews, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans—whose faces changed yet whose lives presented an unending \"story of life, death, and resurrection.\" The Contract With God Trilogy is a mesmerizing, fictional chronicle of a universal American experience and Eisner’'' most poignant and enduring literary legacy.

With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents one of his renowned celebrations of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up.The Building is a story filled with ghosts, and a testament to our greatest human qualities a deeply moving chronicle of a city building and the people who inhabited it.

In ''Life, in Pictures'' Eisner presents an intimate and personal perspective on his life as a writer and artist through his graphic art. The book features famous characters from the world of comics (under pseudonyms) and other historical figures and family members.

The final volume of Will Eisner’s celebrated instructional trilogy explores the critical principle of body grammar in comics storytelling. Designed and outlined by Will Eisner before his death in 2005, this posthumous masterwork, the third and final book in the Will Eisner Instructional Series, finally reveals the secrets of Eisner’s own techniques and theories of movement, body mechanics, facial expressions, and posture: the key components of graphic storytelling. From his earliest comics, including the celebrated Spirit, to his pioneering graphic novels, Eisner understood that the proper use of anatomy is crucial to effective storytelling. His control over the mechanical and intuitive skills necessary for its application set him apart among comics artists, and his principles of body grammar have proven invaluable to legions of students in overcoming what is perhaps the most challenging aspect of creating comics. Buttressed by dozens of illustrations, which display Eisner’s mastery of expression, both subtle and overt, Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative will benefit comics fans, students, and teachers and is destined to become the essential primer on the craft.

Eisner''s masterwork continues through one of its greatest periods in WILLEISNER''S THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL. 23, collecting classic Spirit Sections fromlate 1951 and featuring such classic stories as \"Heat,\" \"The Counterfeit Killer\"and \"The Man from Mars.\"

A black-and-white graphic novel chronicle of the rise, decline, and rebirth of a neighborhood in the South Bronx over the course of more than one hundred years.