Product Description

"An American storyteller, like Ray Bradbury, like O. Henry."—Neil Gaiman With an unparalleled eye for stories and expressive illustration, Will Eisner, the master and pioneer of American comics art, presents graphic fiction's greatest celebration of the Big Apple. No illustrator evoked the melancholy duskiness of New York City as expressively as Eisner, who knew the city from the bottom up. This new hardcover presents a quartet of graphic works (New York, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People) and features what Neil Gaiman describes as "tales as brutal, as uncaring as the city itself." From ancient buildings "barnacled with laughter and stained with tears" to the subways, "humorless iron reptiles, clacking stupidly on a webbing of graceful steel rails," Will Eisner's New York includes cameo appearances by the author himself; several new illustrations sketched by Eisner, posthumously inked by Peter Poplaski; and three previously unpublished "out-takes"—a treasure for any Eisner fan, and sure to become a collectible. Introduction by Neil Gaiman. .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #394081 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780393061062
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Collecting four of Eisner's later graphic novels—New York, The Building, City People Notebook and Invisible People—this volume takes as its subject the city Eisner lived in and drew for most of his life. Eisner treats the city like a lover; its flaws are on display, its cantankerous nature is well-known, but the abiding tenderness that comes from lifelong intimacy is evident on every page. In New York, people on trains fantasize about one another while never making eye contact in "An Affair on the BMT Local"; while in "Worm's Eye View," two pairs of feet come together and move apart in a wordless narrative. These little moments of witnessed connection are the heart of the collection, and Eisner's eye for humanity amid the grind of the city is always on target. In the vignettes of City People Notebook, time, smell, space and streets all have their own special sets of rules in this hectic city. Much of the collection touches on the slightly magical nature of cities, and Neil Gaiman's very personal introduction adds the context of Eisner's enormous influence on contemporary comics and graphic novels. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The latest Eisner omnibus collects four graphic novels from 1986-92 that emphasize the lifelong New Yorker's take on his hometown. New York: The Big City (1986) and City People Notebook (1989) consist of well-observed vignettes of urban life. The others are more substantive. The Building (1987) traces the interconnected lives of four inhabitants of a now-demolished office building. Invisible People (1992) depicts a trio of anonymous souls who elicit scant notice from their fellow Manhattanites. Like all of Eisner's later works, these are marred by an outdated sentimentality but redeemed by his sage compassion and masterful storytelling. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"The Plot (ISBN 978 0 393 32860 8), "a fitting, serious and well-drawn end to Eisner's illustrious career" (The Guardian), is also available along with "his masterwork" (Publishing News), The Contract with God Trilogy (ISBN 978 0 393 06105 5)."

Customer Reviews

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This book collects four of Will Eisner's comic books. I hesitate to use the term "graphic novels" because these aren't novels, they are short stories. Some of them are very short, being one page vignettes. The books collected are New York: The Big City, The Building, City People Notebook and Invisible People. Will Eisner was truly one of the geniuses of the comic book artform. This book tells the stories of regular city dwellers. Some of their stories are funny, some of them are tragic. But they are all worth reading. Highly recommended.

A comic masterpiece about a masterpiece city
Will Eisner (1917-2005) is considered one of the most influential writers establishing the graphic novel as an art form. This volume collects four of Eisner's major works about New York: New York: The Big City, The Building, City People Notebook, and Invisible People.

Neil Gaiman who wrote the very good Introduction calls Eisner a "remarkable observer of life in the Big Apple". Gaiman adds that this is by no means a Valentine to the city. "Eisner's eyes are wide open to the tragedies of city living -- just as they are to its glories. It's no Valentine, but it is, perhaps, a love-song to a city that he loves for its ups and downs, its terrors and its wonders."

This is a book that rewards looking more than reading (the text is sometimes quite leaden). But the images! Delinquent teenagers pulling a fire alarm for kicks are caught in a building fire on the very next page. Eisner's human characters play exaggerated roles, but they seem alive. The buildings also seem to have a life of their own.

Eisner writes: "The big city as it is seen by its inhabitants is the real thing. The true picture is in the crevices on its floors and around the smaller pieces of its architecture, where daily life swirls."

In "The Building", Eisner describes a landmark building that is torn down, and a new structure that is erected in its place. He tells the stories of four people whose lives were linked to the old building; its demolition leaves "an ugly cavity and a residue of psychic debris". But, of course, the new building will accumulate its own stories in time.

A happy ending in Eisner's world. And, for me, an entirely different way to understand one of my favorite cities.

Robert C. Ross 2008

Beautiful and interested
Like other Eisner's books, this book contains beautiful illustrations. It is very impressive. As the story is about the city, Eisner draw the cityscape in very interested views. Additionally, the story about people and a city are very interested. Some sad, some happy, and some funny. Although some aspects we might already see it before, Eisner portrayed them in many views that we might oversight.