WillEisner(1917-2005)sawhimselfas“agraphicwitnessreportingonlife,death,heartbreak,andthenever-endingstruggletoprevail.“ThepublicationofAContractWithGodwhenEisnerwassixty-oneprovedtobeawatershedmomentbothforhimandforcomicliterature.Itmarkedthebirthofthemoderngraphicnovelandthebeginningofanerawhenseriouscartoonistscouldbeliberatedfromtheirstultifyingcomic-bookformat.Morethanaquarter-centuryaftertheinitialpublicationofAContractWithGod,andinthelastfewmonthsofhislife,EisnerchosetocombinethethreefictionalworkshehadsetonDropsieAvenue,themythicalstreetofhisyouthinDepression-eraNewYorkCity.AsthedramasunfoldinAContractWithGod,thefirstbookinthisnewtrilogy,itisat55DropsieAvenuewhereFrimmeHersh,thepiousJew,firstloseshisbeloveddaughter,thenbreakshiscontractwithhismaker,andendsupasaslumlord;itisonDropsieAvenuewhereastreetsinger,befriendedbyanagingdiva,issobeholdentothebottlethathefailstograsphischanceforstardom;anditistherethatascheminglittlegirlnamedRosiepoisonsadepravedsuper’sdogbeforedoinginthesuperaswell.Inthesecondbook,ALifeForce,declaredbyR.Crumbtobe“amasterpiece,“Eisnerre-createshimselfinhisprotagonist,JacobShtarkah,whoseexistentialsearchreflectedEisner’sownlifelongstruggle.ChroniclingnotonlytheCrashof1929andtheGreatDepressionbutalsotheriseofNazismandthespreadofleft-wingpolitics,EisnercombinedtheminiaturistsensibilityofHenryRothwiththegrandsocialthemesofnovelistssuchasDosPassosandSteinbeck.Finally,inDropsieAvenue:TheNeighborhood,Eisnergraphicallytracesthesocialtrajectoryofthismythicavenueoverfourcenturies,creatingasweepingpanoramaofthecityanditswavesofnewresidents--theDutch,English,Irish,Jews,AfricanAmericans,andPuertoRicans--whosefaceschangedyetwhoselivespresentedanunending“storyoflife,death,andresurrection.“TheContractWithGodTrilogyisamesmerizing,fictionalchronicleofauniversalAmericanexperienceandEisner’’mostpoignantandenduringliterarylegacy.
