New exhibition showcases Will Eisner's profound influence on the graphic novel

Will Eisner is known as the father of the graphic novel for his 1978 publication A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories. The milestone in sequential art was deeply personal, written a few years after Will lost his young daughter to leukemia, and it was instrumental in shaping the medium.

Now the Philippe Labaune Gallery in New York City is hosting a career-spanning exhibition of the legendary comic artist's work, featuring pieces from every stage of the artist’s career from 1941 to 2002. We've been given an exclusive glimpse (see our pick of the best drawing tablets if you want to take your own art digital).

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Will Eisner's comic book career began when his cartoons were featured Wow Magazine in in 1936. The pioneering artist and writer went on to create the fan-favourite hero The Spirit. He was also a teacher and advocate for comic books as an art form. Believing in comics' ability to communicate complex ideas through both words and images, he become a central figure in the movement to elevate them as legitimate literary and artistic endeavours.

Organised in collaboration with Denis Kitchen and the Eisner estate, this month's exhibition at the Philippe Labaune Gallery pays tribute to Will Eisner’s artistic vision and contributions to the medium and explores the creativity and innovation behind his work. In addition to war-time drawings, there are pages from The Spirit, New York The Big City comic strips and an almost complete sequential presentation of A Contract With God: The Super.

The Super is a touching exploration of the tensions between tenants and their superintendent in a tenement in the Bronx. The exhibition includes pencil drawings that featured in the A Contract with God Curator's Collection, showing Eisner’s passion for the comic form and profound empathy.

"Will Eisner’s A Contract with God holds a monumental place in the history of comics, marking the first graphic novel and challenging the boundaries of the medium," Philippe Labaune says. "Its cultural impact is profound, as it brought a level of literary sophistication and emotional depth to comics that had never been seen before. By tackling complex themes such as religion, morality, and the immigrant experience, Eisner elevated the comic book from a form of entertainment to a platform for serious, introspective storytelling.

"This work demonstrated that comics could be a powerful vehicle for exploring nuanced, real-world issues, paving the way for future creators to push the boundaries of what the medium could achieve in terms of both artistic expression and narrative complexity. A Contract with God changed the way people viewed comics, helping to establish the genre as a respected art form in its own right."

The Philippe Labaune Gallery is located at 534 West 24th Street in New York and is open from Thursday to Saturday, from 10am to 6pm. The Will Eisner Exhibit will be open to the public from 13 February to 8 March. There will be an opening reception on February 13 from 6pm to 9pm.

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