Contract with God and Sheets (4 Points)

  Contract with God by Will Eisner is one of my favorite things that I have read for this class. Its stories are very well written and interestingly formatted, feeling almost like a fusion between novel and comic, which I guess makes sense, since it is a graphic novel. Each story feels complete and are very well written, featuring a cast of characters filled to the brim with personalities, woes, and aspects that make them all feel truly human. The shared environment after each story feels like you are more immersed within the beautifully hatched environment. Speaking of which, the artwork is phenomenal. The composition is immaculate, the use of hatching to create his environments creates strong silhouettes and defines a great sense of space within the panel. His characters have an amazing flow and are uniquely designed, having their own shapes. My favorite story would have to be Contract with God. The grieving man forsaking his religion, finding it dissatisfied, and trying to return to God, only to be smote. I believe it is because of the sins he did during his time away from god, and leaving in the first place, especially once he decided to name his new child Rachele sealed his fate, as he was not trying to learn and become someone new and better, rather, he went back because he wanted things to go back to the way they were. A close second would be the final story, Cookalein, whose characters intersect and are intertwined within its multiple stories, some of which end positive while some end more negative. All stories within Cookalein have to do with the topic of sex, which is a choice not many would make today, especially with some of the characters being quite underage, which would not exist in a modern setting at all. Other than that bit, the story all in all is charming and interesting to view as you see the story from every point of view.


Blankets definitely feels like a contemporary offspring to Contract with God, although in some ways, it feels more like it has evolved from, the original. It has a fairly similar style Contract with its page layouts, and it is also similar with its use of hatching and use of negative space, with the only difference being the use of brush pen rather than dip pen, and a unique use of negative space for the winters. Another difference is the story, which is one big one rather than a set of short stories from the same setting. Blankets is deep and thoughtful and digs deep into the author's past, since it's autobiographical. It is a beautiful story of growth.


(446 words)

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