Tyler Belle

Mr. Padgett
English 101
13 October, 2015
A Contract With God
A Contract with God, by Will Eisner is a piece that depicts the dismal realities of
the world. It shows the life of a man named Frimmehleh, and his relationship with God. It
is a black and white hand drawn comic that has ties to the real world. Even in a cartoon
world, man can never escape the wrath of God.
Right of the bat, the story begins with death. Frimmehlehs parents have died, and
the illustrator decided to depict a debunked town that has an eerie feel to it. He uses
abstract line work to make it look out of place and run down. Without color present in the
drawings things feel gloomy and the idea of death really comes out and is prevalent.
The story progresses to a happy moment, where the man is supposed to be going
to the United States and escaping his poor town. The author does not do a good job of
portraying this in his art. The overall look on pages 110 and 111 are dark and they have a
drearier feel then the first. The composition of the first box is so crammed you can barely
tell what is being portrayed. He uses lines to shade in darker areas, which causes the
works to be confusing, rather then him just coloring them in. There is also no spacing to
allow for the reader to focus on different aspects, they are forced to try and decipher the
clump of subject matter.
Will Eisner finally lightens up the mood of the piece, for a few pages at least.
Frimmehleh seems to be getting onto better terms with God, as the shading of the pieces

also begin to lighten up. The man is now being depicted in a more detailed way, so you
are able to read his facial expressions. He seems to be very happy with his life, and even
receives a daughter to call his very own. He loves this girl immensely and the artwork
shows that. On page 115, there are three images created without borders, and without
dark background shading. Frimmehleh seems happy and at ease, and without the borders
he seems to be unrestricted.
Immediately when you turn the page to 116, you are greeted with an image of a
dark room where a distraught man is talking to Frimmehleh. You immediately are able to
tell something bad is going to happen just by the setting, and the look on the visitors face
tells it all. This is where he finds out that his daughter has passed away, and for the rest of
the story it will be depicted in a dim manner. The man also does not approach
Frimmehleh, rather he is left alone as if the author was trying to allude to how he must
have been feeling after receiving that kind of news. Once the visitor leaves his face is
shown screaming bloody murder, as if he himself was just shot. You are able to feel the
pain that this character is feeling just by his facial expressions and body language.
A man who was once poverty stricken is now being shown in fancy clothes, and
his beard has been removed. He seems much more professional now, but this would be
his downfall. Even though the man has money, the piece stays gloomy and deeply
shaded. He believes he will be able to buy his way into a new, and better contract with
God. The piece keeping its dark under tones foreshadows that something bad is going to
happen, just as it has throughout the story.
The main character is livid with God, and he believes that he will just be able to
buy himself back into good graces through a new contract created by the wise elders of

his hometown. When he first meets with the elders there is an image on page 119 of the
main character by himself yelling at God. This alludes to how it is just between God and
man, and he has no business getting the elders involved in his personal and spiritual
matters. Frimmehleh seems intimidating, and he is nothing like the man he was in the
beginning of the story. Now, instead of being depicted with a smile, he is portrayed as a
harsh man that is demanding of these elders to do what he says. On page 120, is the first
time the illustrator completely fills in an image with a black background. This depicts the
seriousness of the situation, and it shows that the man means business and will not take
no for an answer. The religious men decide to write this contract, and Frimmehleh is
illustrated as happy and grateful for what the elders have done for him. Throughout these
scenes they depict Frimmehleh as dark and shaded in. This could be talking to the fact of
how he has strayed from God and turned to the darker things in life.
He has received his contract from the elders and is ecstatic to begin living out his
new contract with God. The illustrations begin to lighten up, and things seem to be going
up hill. He is once again being depicted in a light manner, and it seems that he is back on
Gods side. Then the final page comes and it begins with him depicted in a faded manner,
which could allude to what was about to happen, because every time things get dim
something bad happens. This would be a correct assumption, Frimmehleh begins to shout
at God that he must not violate his new contract that they have together. Immediately
after this he begins to have chest pains in a dark room, where he would fall to the floor
and lie there dead.
This visual text has many ups and downs, and the illustrations go right along with
what the text is supposed to be saying for the most part. The dark and gloomy under tone

throughout the piece goes hand in hand with the moral of this reading. Even though you
may think God only works in positive ways, he is always able to come down on those
whom he does not believe to be living out his message.