Paul "Man at the Crossroads" Gravett writes an excellent article about Will Eisner, discussing Eisner's graphic novels Fagin the Jew and The Plot:
After his death on 3rd January 2005, I had to return to him. His last two works are among his most challenging and heartfelt and reflect his preoccupations during his latter days - a deepening interest in his Jewish heritage and a desire to confront the roots of persistent anti-Semitism.The article also links to an older piece about Eisner on the same site:
Eisner had always envisaged the potential of comics, but his breakthrough came with A Contract With God, the book that redefined his approach to comics. Who would have expected that Eisner, in 1974 a successful self-made businessman approaching 50, would take several months off unpaid to take on such a personal challenge, with no assistants and for no publisher, flying solo and purely for himself? Old enough to be their father, he had been galvanised at a convention by meeting the younger generation of underground cartoonists, Robert Crumb and others, and by the example of their radical, rebellious comix with an 'X'.