#SDCC: ‘A Contract With God’ Big-Screen Bound
If there’s a better place to announce a silver screen adaptation of pioneering 1978 graphic novel A Contract with God than the presentation of creator Will Eisner’s namesake awards, I can’t begin to imagine it.
It’s true: Denis Kitchen, Eisner’s literary estate executor, made the unexpected announcement at the presentation of the 2010 Eisner Awards at San Diego Comic-Con. The New York Times’ Arts Beat column jumped right in with details after the announcement was made, and it looks like the adaptation of A Contract with God will have four different directors: Alex Rivera, Tze Chun, Barry Jenkins, and Sean Baker. Comics veteran Bob Schreck will be one of the producers.
A Contract with God is an incredibly important work in the history of the graphic novel. It wasn’t the first (It Rhymes With Lust can probably claim that honor), but Eisner’s heartbreaking story of a Jewish immigrant community in New York remains one of the most influential on the development of the medium.
