Will Eisner Event Coming to Los Angeles This Month (Editor and Publisher)

By Editor & Publisher Staff

Published: May 02, 2008 1:25 PM ET

NEW YORK "An Evening With the Works of Will Eisner" will be held May 28 at the Storyopolis gallery/store in Los Angeles.

The exhibit marks the 30th anniversary of Eisner's "A Contract With God," which many consider the first "graphic novel."

Eisner (1917-2005) also created the "The Spirit" character, who starred in a popular 16-page comic insert distributed in newspapers from 1940 to 1952. A movie version of "The Spirit" is scheduled for 2009 release.

He was also a legend in the world of comic books, and taught for many years at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

The May 28 event is co-sponsored by Storyopolis, the Association of Booksellers for Children, and the Denis Kitchen Art Agency.

Storyopolis is offering some of Eisner's art for sale.

Eisner's 'Contract With God' has proved lucrative

By Tim Kane
Albany Times Union
Friday, December 21, 2007

Albany, N.Y. - Nearly 30 years ago, the noted cartoonist Will Eisner published a long-form comic book and called it a "graphic novel." The literary world hasn't been quite the same since.

More than 200 pages long, Eisner's 1978 book, "A Contract With God," stands as a landmark in a genre that today is eclipsing traditional comics and making serious inroads into mainstream publishing - not to mention attracting the deep-pocketed attention of Hollywood.

Excerpts from "A Contract With God" - an account of the artist's gritty boyhood in the Bronx - anchor a captivating exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.

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