What could I say, or draw for that matter, about Eisner's visual style that hasn't already been said and said again? My high school english teacher told me at some point, "Just don't say that Shakespeare was great playwright. We know." I feel that applies here. Which is fine, because for me the visual element isn't the source of true lasting power of the work. Call me crazy.
There's a profound humanity in all of Eisner's characters that makes his visual style all the more valuable. The entire spectrum of good and evil is encompassed within each one of them. As readers/viewers, our relationship to the characters is constantly shifting from pity to disgust to compassion, or, as often is the case, experiencing all three at once. And these are no charming vices! When, even as a third party observer in a fictional work, you find yourself identifying with rapists, abusive alcoholics, and the hypocritical corrupt, you know you are dealing with something timeless.
If I sound as coiffed and cliche as a newly minted blonde trying to sell faux diamond bracelets on QVC, it's only because I am delighted to a story to be both humble and brilliantly complex, with so honest and generous a portrayal of human beings. It's so often that artists and writers leave no room for the moral analysis of an audience. We enter into a story and immediately we're taught to admire one character and despise the next (he's the hero, she's the villain, etc.). But we know as educated observers of the world and also as people, alive with five senses, that violence and supposed wrongdoing exist freely in a body/mind that loves as deeply as it fears. Perhaps it's because we don't want to apply this confusing paradigm to ourselves that we constantly churn out these predictable, "black and white", hero's journey yarns. But how refreshing, how captivating it is to find (even in such an unlikely form) a story that truly deals the full spectrum of a human life.
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