The reports of the demise of this blog have been somewhat exaggerated.

The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman

You know what? I like Neil Gaiman. I already loved his fiction, and with the collection The View from the Cheap Seats, I've come to find that I love his non-fiction as well. This is a collection of stuff. All kinds of stuff. Introductions, biographies, speeches, remembrances, etc.

I came away having learned quite a bit about Gaiman's early work in comics. I recommend it if you have a random urge to read a bunch of bits of interesting. Also, it could lead you to make new discoveries . . .

A Contract With God by Will Eisner

. . . like the art of Will Eisner.

As noted previously, I have recently developed an interest in comics. But it was not through this interest that I found Will Eisner. No, it was through Neil Gaiman's aforementioned non-fiction.

A Contract With God makes a bold claim: that it is the first graphic novel. I don't know how to judge that claim, but it is the first proper graphic novel that I have read. Really it is four short stories in a single volume. But they are each powerful stories.

What it is about the style of Will Eisner? It definitely is "cartoony", but in a way which serves his storytelling. Some seemingly simple line drawings can go a long way when illustrating a powerful story. I really enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone who wants to try out reading a graphic novel.

New York: Life in the Big City by Will Eisner

I liked my first taste of Eisner so much, I reserved a second volume from the library and went straight through it. Life in the Big City is a volume with four parts. There is some basic illustration of the city, some stories intertwined around a common setting ("The Building"), a series of vignettes about city people, and "Invisible People", another compilation of shorter stories.

I've been in New York City for a sum total of about 12 hours, so I cannot judge the authenticity of the work, but I can tell you that the quality and charm are outstanding. Need a second dose of Eisner? Recommended.

Periodicals

• Harper's December 2016