Life, in Pictures

by Will Eisner, Costanza Prinetti (Translator)

«Il disordinato armadio in cui ho cacciato i fantasmi del mio passato». Così Eisner stesso definì le cinque storie a carattere autobiografico che scelse personalmente per questa raccolta. Da Il sognatore (1986), la storia di un giovane artista che fa il suo ingresso nel mondo del fumetto prima della Seconda guerra mondiale, a Fin nel cuore dell'uragano (1990), il racconto dell'infanzia e degli anni giovanili dell'artista in un'America in cui il pregiudizio antiebraico era ancora fortissimo.
Fino a Il nome del gioco (2003) e Il giorno che diventai professionista (2003), due delle ultime storie disegnate da Eisner. Life, in Pictures è il memorabile autoritratto di un artista che, come amava dire, se non è stato il padre del graphic novel, almeno ha assistito alla sua nascita.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Biography, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Memoir, Comic Book

480 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2007

About the author

William Erwin Eisner was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God. He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). The Eisner Award was named in his honor and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Reviews

[Monty]

I enjoyed Life, in Pictures. While every story seems to be Point A - Heartbreak leading to Point B - Tragedy, it all feels real and I think that is what made the book a two sitting read for me.

While many of the characters are unlikable and at times intolerable throughout the stories, it's the initial set up of the story that makes you want to see what will happen at the end. It is interesting to see the theme through all of Eisner's stories and that they're not unlike a good drama. While flecks of it may seem ridiculous, in the given situation, it makes sense.

You have characters who will do anything for love, people who will do anything for money, people who seem to give up on life and people who thrive during bad times even though every thing around them seems to be falling apart. There are many characters with different motivations and beliefs and somehow they take on a lively, real personality, while still being quirky and comic like.

I think this is the best description I can write without getting more in depth into the stories and spoiling things, but if you're a fan of comics that display more real life than fiction (like MAUS for example), or if you've read previous Eisner Books, then you will like Life, in Pictures.

[reading_mango]

4.5

[Sarah]

An interesting look at the life of Will Eisner and his family. I didn’t know too much about him before picking this book up and now I will likely seek out more of his work.

[Becki Iverson]

I made a goal this year to read the 50 books that have been on my list the longest - I get tired of scrolling through them every time I log books! To the Heart of the Storm was on this list for years and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it anywhere. Turns out it's a part of this larger autobiographical anthology of comics by Eisner, so I was treated to a much wider range of stories than I originally intended. I'm so glad about this happy mistake, because Life, in Pictures is a fascinating window into Eisner's life and comic style, as well as an interesting peek into the history of European Jewish immigrants coming to the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It's so interesting to see his styles from 80+ years ago and compare them to animation styles (particularly those of the "golden age" of Disney in the 1990s) later on. Eisner is the godfather of the modern graphic novel, and I'd highly encourage any graphic novel fans to check this book out. It's a rich piece and has such interesting things to say about becoming an artist and the life of an immigrant!

[Bmj2k]

Brilliant and touching.

Is this Eisner's greatest work? Probably not. But on it's own merits this is a solid 5/5.

This book gets some odd criticism. A review or two complain that the art is "too cartoony." Let me be the first to say that opinions are subjective and no one is wrong or right. Now let me say that they are wrong.

This book also loses points from some reviewers for being sad or depicting unhappy moments. It is true that this a sad book in many parts. It also made me unhappy at parts and made me think in others. But to take off points for being sad? That makes no sense. If I do not like sci-fi, do I take points away from Star Wars for being set in space? If I am not a fan of WWII stories, does The Great Escape lose points for being set in a German POW camp? If you don't like sad stories that's your preference, not a failing of the story.

Eisner tells his stories and we are the better for having read them.

[Carlos Úbeda]

Recopilación de obras del Eisner tardío, con marcado tinte autobiográfico. Incluye bocetos y alguna anécdota ("El día que me convertí en un profesional"), un par de trabajos más que notables ("El soñador", "Crepúsculo en Sunshine City") y dos maravillas más extensas, ambas publicadas también por separado. Una, quizá mi favorita de todas, es "Las reglas del juego" que había disfrutado hace muy poco. La otra es "Viaje al corazón de la tormenta", una especie de autobiografía a fogonazos, con una estructura moderna, muy sofisticada, pero muy bien engarzada a través de unos dibujos y unos personajes de una expresividad sobrecogedora. Hay muchos Eisner: el de The Spirit, el teórico del cómic, el de las viñetas Nueva York, el de la didáctica militar... pero éste, el de las familias -los recuerdos, los árboles genealógicos que se llemontan a la llegada de Europa- es el que me deja boquiabierto.

[Mitchell Friedman]

Mostly a bunch of ugly stories told well. Good art with distinctive characters that are mostly recognizable as they age. The young Will Eisner story would have been somewhat improved if the names hadn't been changed - but the annotations cover it pretty well. Mostly these are stories of marriage and appearances. The art was mostly a lot of drawing of people. I'm glad I read it but I don't think this will push me into being a real Eisner fan.

[Fraser Sherman]

I'm a big Will Eisner fan but this didn't work for me. The two longest pieces ("In the Heart of the Storm" and "Name of the Game") are full of unpleasant people, snobbery and casual racism — completely realistic for the times they're set in but too bleak and miserable to enjoy.

[Przemysław Skoczyński]

Eisner był geniuszem, a zamieszczona tu historia pt. "Cel gry" to arcydzieło komiksu. Nikt tak jak on nie potrafił scharakteryzować czasów, o których opowiadał, z takim smakiem.

[Ralph]

Nice to revisit Eisner but this edition doesn't really do the comic full justice

[Rene Low]

Brilliant and worth reading but not his absolute best.

[David Meyer]

Sadly uncomfortable stories that are told with great skill using Eisner's impressive abilities.

[Yosef Shapiro]

This is a collection of 3 graphic novels by Will Eisner. The first two are autobiographical. The third one is more about his wife's family. It does give us some insight into eisner's life.

[Ravanagh Allan]

Oy, so Jewish! It’s not that I feel it wasn’t intended for a Gentile readership; it’s that I infer a liberal dose of contempt for the Gentile readership Eisner knows he has.

[Agata Lipko]

Ciekawe wątki autobiograficzne - realizowanie marzenia tworzenia komiksów w USA w latach 30stych a także życie amerykańskich Żydów od wewnątrz.

[Tim Pieraccini]

I have to admit I don't always love Eisner's writing - too many abrupt shifts, and expositional dialogue - but this gets four stars for the fluid artwork.

[Mikael]

Intens og original. Det må man lade ham.

[Juan Fuentes]

Historias con cierto aire autobiográfico con la maestría habitual de Eisner

[Cristiana]

"A Sunset in Sunshine City"
"The Dreamer"
"To The Heart of the Storm"
"The Name of the Game"
"The Day I Became a Professional"

Introduction of Scott McCloud
Here in this collection are aspects of the Will Eisner I didn't know: The prejudice that he endured, and the calamitous worldwide changes that invaded his dreams in To the Heart of the Storm; the bitter, desperate side of human nature that he bears witness to in The Name of the Game and "A Sunset in Sunshine City"; the early days of the comics industry and its denizens brought to life in The Dreamer and "The Day I Became a Professional". There's so much of the man that I never saw, but what I did see altered my outlook on life and art, and that outlook altered everything that followed.

[The_Mad_Swede]

Will Eisner was a giant in the medium of comics. He did not invent it, but was there at their birth, he reputedly used to say. And his was certainly a life in pictures (lending credence to the title of this volume).

This is the third of three hard cover volumes from W. W. Norton & Co, Inc. The first collected Eisner's loose trilogy which started with the seminal A Contract with God, while the second collected Eisner's other New York stories. Even in some of those stories, autobiographical elements appear, but it is in this third volume that Eisner truly draws upon that particular genre. I say draw upon, because Eisner sometimes hides both himself and others behind fictional aliases in the telling of his life stories.

The volume opens with a good introduction by Eisner acolyte and comics creator and theorist Scott McCloud, which is followed by an "Editor's Note" by Denis Kitchen. And then come the comics...

First out is the short piece "A Sunset in Sunshine City" from 1985. While it certainly deals with Eisner's own move down to Florida with his wife in 1984, he does not place himself in the fiction, making the piece autobiographical in emotional, but not literal, content.

The short opening is followed by the slightly longer piece, The Dreamer from 1986 (presented here with a introduction by Eisner and annotations by Kitchen), which deals with Eisner's early career, and by default serves as a brief history of the early comicbook industry and market in America. Eisner has chosen to write a fairly kind depiction of the period and has veiled the various luminaries behind fictive identities (which Kitchen's annotations help clarify).

At the centre of the volume, Eisner most clearly autobiographical story, To the Heart of the Storm from 1991, is presented, with an introduction by Eisner. Using the frame narrative of his going off to fight in the WWII, Eisner reminisces about his and his family's past, tracing his roots from back in Europe (where he is heading in the narrative present). I had read this particular story prior to this volume, but it remains one of Eisner's greatest achievements and easily justify the purchase of this volume all on its own (which is not to say that the rest of the material is not worthwhile reading, far from it and quite the opposite).

Having traced his own family history, Eisner turned to his wife in The Name of the Game from 2001 (also with an introduction by Eisner). In this piece, however, Eisner, while recounting the family history fairly accurately as I understand it, nevertheless allows himself to play a game of what-if by inserting a stand-in for himself, and then allows this stand-in to act in opposition to himself (by entering his father-in-law's business rather than staying in the comicbook industry). The result is a gripping portrayal, and yet another proof of how good Eisner was at telling this family type chronicles.

The last story in the volume is "The Day I Became a Professional" from 2003. It is succinct, more of a depiction of a specific moment that a (hi)story, but nevertheless a rewarding insight into Eisner's life, a life spent in and around comics.

After that, there is a selection of sketches that feels like a great bonus to a fantastic volume. If you are a fan of Eisner, I would argue that it is a mandatory purchase. And if you are not a fan of Eisner... why, this would seem to be an excellent opportunity to become one.

[Carmel]

The end of the book "About the Author" crowns Eisner "the grand old man of comics" and it's true--he's grand, he's old (not in a derogatory sense, just that he writes from a different era, an older one), and he's a man (his comics are overtly masculine--both the drawings and the storylines seem particularly manly).
But no matter--he's a great storyteller and the comics world is a better place because of this guy.
Recommended.

[Michael Smith]

Eisner is very much the godfather of the modern graphic novel. There’s a reason the field’s most important award is named for him. This fat compilation volume brings together five previously published pieces, two of them quite long, which are drawn from his own life and ancestry -- and if not entirely in a factual sense, then in tone and in general approach.

“The Dreamer” is about a young cartoonist in the late 1930s, on the threshold of his career, a time when comics themselves were about to become something extraordinarily original as an art form. It also shows Eisner as the canny businessman he was in addition to being a fine technical artist. And if you’re a fan of early comics, there are lots of players here you will recognize. “To the Heart of the Storm” opens and closes with a young man on a troop train in 1942, headed for an unknown destination in the American South, who has been pulled away by the war from his growing career in the comics field. It tells, in flashbacks, what it was like growing up in the heavily prejudiced world of the first half of the last century. For Jews, that meant daily assaults by anti-Semitism.

But the most important story here, to my mind, is “The Name of the Game,” which follows two very different Jewish families from the late 19th century up to World War II and shows how prejudice exists everywhere, even within a group itself so widely discriminated against.

“A Sunset in Sunshine City” is more minor, an exploration of what it means to leave everything behind and to face the last years of your life alone. And “The Day I Became a Professional” is a very short bit, basically a cocktail party story that will bring a smile.

Eisner’s art is always realistic in style. It’s straight line-drawing, with moody backgrounds and detailed facial expressions that bring out the characters in his stories. No superheroes here -- you’ll find those in his award-winning Spirit comic strips of sixty years ago -- but lots of real people. This volume is basic reading for anyone who appreciates graphic fiction.

[Edward Cheer]

Another nice collaboration of Eisner's works pertaining to a certain subject, much like his Contract With God Trilogy and New York Collection books. I've already said my piece on "To the Heart of the Storm", and I don't feel like repeating. I enjoyed "Sunset in Sunshine City", and the different dynamics the family Eisner portrays (I think it's his, but I'm not 100% sure). I liked "The Name of the Game", and the following tale of a corrupt son who beats his wife and becomes obsessed with money and where that greed almost catches to his son-in-law. However, my prize in this "Orange Box" for the best written comic would have to be "The Dreamer", following Eisner as he started his career in comics. I loved how honestly he portrayed himself, mistakes and all, and I liked seeing new light shed in that specific section of his life (For instance, I had NO idea he went to court for infringement on Superman!). But if you have a lot of free-time, and enjoy Will Eisner a lot, this is definitely a great collection of comics for you.

[SH'DYNASTY]

I thought this book would be better. I know they are supposedly auto-biographical, but they were full of such misery & negative drama that I did not enjoy them much. I did enjoy the one full of flashbacks while he was on the train, but was disappointed at him denying his heritage. The one about the name game was just .. horrible, really. How many women got raped? Someone here mentioned that his characters seem a bit too 'cartoony' for the content, & this is correct, but I guess that is just his style of drawing people. Then again, there are times he draws them seriously, so I can't really defend this. Overall, I didn't really like it, just some parts were okay. For the most part, the drawings didn't match the content, but his perspectives, cityscapes & depiction of rain were great as always.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins]

Not the strongest collection of the Norton retrospective series, mainly because Eisner was obviously uncomfortable with autobiography. The most successful section is the tale of Eisner's departure for Basic Training in WWII, 1942, which gives Eisner a structure with enough formality that he loses the melodrama the frames his other tales of his own life and family past. A close second however is The Dreamer, and his memories of the early days of comics and his publishing companies. The other tales are certainly worth reading, but are haunted by the themes that strengthen the two stories already named.

[Jeremy]

One of the things I love about Eisner's graphic novels is his subject matter. He writes about what he knows - his and his family's life experiences as American Jews in the middle 20th century. Maybe it wasn't the most spectacular life, but the care with which he observes the human condition and translates it into his lush drawing and unparalleled storytelling make this an engaging, entertaining read.

[Patrick]

I know I'm supposed to respect Will Eisner. I know he's an immensely influential figure in the realm of comics and graphic novels. I know that. And I also know that the stories he writes here are deeply intimate depictions of Jewish life in America and Europe.

But his stories can still be kind of silly. Maybe it's his pulp comics background, but the characters, in both the writing and the art, just seem too cartoony.

[Steve]

Eisner was a master of the craft of comics, using his artwork to imbue every one of his stories with a gritty dose of humanity. Nowhere is that more evident than in his autobiographical works, found collected here in this hardcover. My favorite piece in this volume, and indeed my favorite work by Eisner, is "To the Heart of the Storm," chronicling Eisner's early life leading up to his being drafted during WWII.

[Tim]

one of the greatest comic artists of all, there at the beginning days of superman, etc., creator of The Spirit, arguably the inventor of the graphic novel... right up to his recent demise near 90 years old, he was innovating, with web-based comics, embracing the latest developments in the comics world... this book is a big book, modest autobiographical tales about an old man moving to florida, his parents days on the lower east side, and so on...

[Liz]

He was the father of all graphic novels, but he's also seriously outdated, and his women are just the worst characters ever. It's no "Steamboat Willie", though. The plots are just as complicated and sad as an Arthur Miller Play, and he's got as many scene changes as Memento. I have to admit that I'm skeptical of older cartoonists, but he really keeps you on your toes.