Will Eisner is universally recognised as one of the founding figures of the modern comic medium. His Sunday newspaper supplement The Spirit (from 1940) introduced experimental layouts and cinematic storytelling techniques that influenced generations of artists. In 1978 his graphic novel A Contract with God helped establish the form as a vehicle for literary autobiography. His later theoretical works Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling remain foundational texts; the Eisner Awards, the medium’s highest honour, are named in his memory.