pWill Eisner was present at the dawn of comics. In the 1940s, he pushed the boundaries of the medium with his acclaimed weekly comic strip emThe Spiritem, and with the publication of emA Contract with Godem 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.ppEisner considered himself a graphic witness reporting on life, death, heartbreak, and the never-ending struggle to prevail. emA Contract with Godem 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,