Minor Miracles: Long Ago and Once upon a Time, Back When Uncles Were Heroic, Cousins Were Clever, and Miracles Happened on Every Block (Will Eisner Library) [Hardcover]

Will Eisner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Will Eisner Library | Publication Date: October 2000

This powerful graphic novel confirms Will Eisner as a master of the genre.

In this classic graphic novel, Will Eisner’s pen cuts an expansive swath through all aspects of the human condition. A powerful portrayal of Jewish life in the New York City of Eisner’s youth, Minor Miracles encourages similar introspection as it examines how luck and coincidence converge in everyday life in ways that, in hindsight, seem miraculous.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Best known for creating the masked crimefighter the Spirit in the early days of comic books (see The Spirit Archives, v.1 [BKL Ag 00)]), Eisner also limns less heroic characters and deeds. Here, inspired by stories he heard while growing up, he depicts Jewish life in the New York City of his youth--specifically, how luck and coincidence converge in everyday life in ways that, in hindsight, seem miraculous. Those miracles range from a young immigrant outwitting a gang of bullies to the appearance of a mysterious, mute stranger who transforms the lives of everyone in a neighborhood by his very presence. In the most poignant story, a young couple, forced by physical disabilities to accept an arranged marriage, seems to find happiness, until another, deleterious miracle intervenes. Eisner, a master of pictorial storytelling, here relies, uncharacteristically, nearly as much on the captions as on the drawings and composition--a practice that emphasizes the fablelike nature of these tales set in a simpler era, when miracles seemed not only possible but essential. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Will Eisner was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, Will Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined.

In a career that spanned nearly eight decades—from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics—Will Eisner was truly the 'Orson Welles of comics' and the 'father of the Graphic Novel'. He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena and countless others.

During World War II, Will Eisner used the comic format to develop training and equipment maintenance manuals for the US Army. After the war this continued as the Army's P.S. Magazine, which is still being produced today. Will Eisner taught Sequential Arts at the New York School of Visual Arts. The textbooks that he wrote based on his course are still bestsellers. In 1978, Will Eisner wrote A Contract with God, the first modern graphic novel. This was followed by almost 20 additional graphic novels over the following 25 years.

The "Oscars" of the Comic Industry are called The Eisner Awards, and named after Will Eisner. The Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at Comic-Con International in San Diego, America's largest comics convention.

Wizard magazine named Eisner "the most influential comic artist of all time." Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-prize winning novel The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is based in good part on Eisner. In 2002, Eisner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, only the second such honor in the organization's history, presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 110 pages
• Publisher: Dc Comics (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563897512
• ISBN-13: 978-1563897511
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,042,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

WILL EISNER was born William Erwin Eisner on March 6, 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. By the time of his death on January 3, 2005, Will Eisner was recognized internationally as one of the giants in the field of sequential art, a term he coined.

In a career that spanned nearly eight decades -- from the dawn of the comic book to the advent of digital comics - Will Eisner was truly the 'Orson Welles of comics' and the 'father of the Graphic Novel'. He broke new ground in the development of visual narrative and the language of comics and was the creator of The Spirit, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk, Sheena and countless others.

During World War II, Will Eisner used the comic format to develop training and equipment maintenance manuals for the US Army. After the war this continued as the Army's "PS Magazine" which is still being produced today. Will Eisner taught Sequential Arts at the New York School of Visual Arts. The textbooks that he wrote based on his course are still bestsellers. In 1978, Will Eisner wrote "A Contract with God," the first modern Graphic Novel. This was followed by almost 20 additional graphic novels over the following 25 years.

The "Oscars" of the Comic Industry are called The Eisner Awards, and named after Will Eisner. The Eisners are presented annually before a packed ballroom at Comi-Con International in San Diego, America's largest comics convention.

Wizard magazine named Eisner "the most influential comic artist of all time." Michael Chabon's Pulitzer-prize winning novel "Kavalier and Clay" is based in good part on Eisner. In 2002, Eisner received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Federation for Jewish Culture, only the second such honor in the organization's history, presented by Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman.

You can always find more information about Will Eisner at www.willeisner.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SIMPLY WONDERFUL, August 9, 2003

By 

Sesho "www.sesho.libsyn.com" (Pasadena, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minor Miracles (Will Eisner Library) (Paperback)

Too often, comic books fall under the umbrella of mindless entertainment that one should dismiss as frivolous. I mean, it's not really an art form like painting or literature. I disagree with that. Well, Will Eisner takes a step into making comics an art form to rival those fields with this graphic novel (a form, by the way, that he is credited for having created).

Minor Miracles is a nostalgic look back to the New York of Eisner's childhood. The stories told within are mainly made up of tales told to him by his family about certain characters in the neighborhood. The stories range from the most trivial such as a young man outwitting a gang of bullies, to a fable of a rich relative finding out that a bum is his uncle. He gets him back on his feet by letting him run one of his stores, only to find their roles reversed later on. One of the best stories in the book is called "A New Kid on the Block" in which a boy with no name comes to the neighborhood, and like the Who's Tommy, spreads peace and love until soul-less bureaucrats hunt him down. Also great was a story of a crippled man and a blind mute woman being pushed into marriage by their families and finding that there is love in the world. Until she regains her sight, that is.

Some of these stories, if written without the pictures, would be moving. With the addition of the art though, it really blew me away. It's cool that an artist such as Eisner is still cranking out important work. Some of these stories were poignant and others minor, but the overall experience was one that I need to have again. It touched on some deep themes, such as loneliness, the superficiality of our society, and the need for us to see the beauty in every event, be it good or tragic. This book was a minor miracle. I look forward to reading Eisner's other work.

4.0 out of 5 stars Minor Miracles, July 23, 2003

By 

Christian Hartwig (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minor Miracles (Will Eisner Library) (Paperback)

A graphic novel from the man who created them, Minor Miracles features three stories set in depression-era ethnic neighborhoods of a bygone New York City. Eisner admits in the forward to believing in miracles and follows his now familiar pattern of almost unbelievable happenings among everyday people.
Minor consist of three stories, the first deals with changing fortunes among relatives, the second with the appearance of a mysterious family-less young boy, and the third waxing and waning love among "cripples."
Eisner has this down to a science now but there was something about Minor the lacked the gravity of Eisners previous work. I almost got the felling that these stories were the ones that didn't make his other books. His previous semi-autobiographical stories all dealt with miracle-like happenings so why the need to announce it this time around?
For this printing, Mr. Eisner has used watercolors more overtly and the comics are printed in a mellow-brown tone rather than black. While somewhat pleasing, I found myself less impacted than Eisners earlier stark black drawings.
Having said all of this, is Minor minor? No. Even though these stories may not be the apex of what Mr. Eisner has or may accomplish they're still top-rate and the kind of stories that you have to exhale afterwards because you've been so wrapped up in the story that you've forgot to breath. Days later the stories (especially the third one) are still playing in my head.
Bottom line: For those new to Eisner, Start with To the Heart of the Storm or Contract with God. For those who can't get enough of Eisner's master storytelling, this will be a welcome addition to you library.

5.0 out of 5 stars A miracle of storytelling, October 24, 2000

By 

Jason R. Tippitt (Jackson, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minor Miracles: Long Ago and Once upon a Time, Back When Uncles Were Heroic, Cousins Were Clever, and Miracles Happened on Every Block (Will Eisner Library) (Hardcover)

Will Eisner returns with another set of Depression-era stories, this time loosely centered on the idea of miracles. The humor, warmth, and pathos of all his books is here -- with the biggest miracle of all being those moments when human beings connect with one another. That's not to say this book is all sweetness and light -- most of the stories have a bittersweet feel. But that seems to be the point: that in the end, the major miracles are exceedingly rare, but there are things to be joyful about in everyday life, even in the Depression era.

Will Eisner may not have invented the comic book, but he's certainly perfected it. Eisner's art looks like the flow of memories, and the choice of ink and paper gives this book the smoky look of a half-remembered dream. The characters, though, could be anyone at any time who's hoping for something more and better.