One of the few memories I treasure of buying comics at specially set up indoor markets (my first were at Chelsea Town Hall, on the Kings Road, 1978ish, very posh, very punk), are the comics I didn't buy. But I won't bore you with that here. It's tempting, but no. You have a life to live and, hey, so do I!
Glancing around at the various tables, strewn with new comics, old comics, over priced comics, there was a cover less hard back book, gold lettering which spelling out: A Contract With God by Will Eisner. I heard some stuff about this but I wasn't thinking too hard at the time (I was a teenager after all). I recalled it was the work of some famous comic book artist who was big in the 1940s and 50s, so probably not that good really. I passed it by, probably headed for the that month's X Men comic.
I'd also heard it was a graphic novel, whatever that was; it sounded beyond my tastes anyway. And ooooh look who's in this months Fantastic Four!!
Even a few years later when Will Eisner's Spirit comic book character was popular with comic collectors, I'd just frown and say I just don't get what all the fuss is about. Eisner's art wasn't too my taste then. It seemed old (the Spirit was being reprinted from the 40's and the 50's) and old meant boring, and old meant past it and old meant it wasn't for me!
Except. It was for me.
It would just take me me three decades to understand that Eisner was a genius of the medium. A Contract with God, contains no superheroes, no fisty-cuffs, no bland dialogue, no childishness, just stories about real people, in real times, facing real dilemmas. You know, you and me.
Eisner's Spirit series (I'll scan one of the covers in real soon) has been reprinted in hardback and I'm buying them when I can; just another 37 or so volumes to go. But, regardless of age, the good always shines through. It's just sometimes I overlook it. Like a lot of things in life.
Thankfully, with comics though, there's often a chance to go back and correct mistakes and misconceptions. Life, on the other hand, is hardly like that at all.
Now you know why I became a comic book reader.
No comments:
Post a Comment