Clarity. That is the main reasons why both of these comic book artists are so successful for what they've drawn. Clarity in posture, emotion, and action. Eisner's A Contract With God may be about the fateful live of a Jewish man and a contract he wrote on a rock at a young age, which is very odd (though insightful), but we are lead step by step and clear readings to understand each panel to it's fullest. Eisner even wanted to publish it as a graphic novel because he wasn't sure what it was, but eventually had to publish it as his own comic since it fit under the category than a foretold written story. It's easy reading because the characters in each panel perceive exactly what the written words are conceiving. Nothing is confusing. The raining water is the most interesting part I found personally - when it rains, it pours. Just exactly like he drew it out.
Thompson's work, on the other hand, is like a more evolved version of Eisner's work. It has just as much clarity, but it's stylized in such a cool and neat way that even the borders of his panels and fun to look at. The subject matter Blankets cover is definitely of personal accounts, but ones that teens can relate to the most. Emotions and mood swings can be seen in all of the characters he's able to draw through body shapes and simplified but whimsical facial expressions. Even if I wasn't personally drawn to the subject matter, I couldn't help but love the composition of each frame and page Thomson laid out. It reminded me of woodcut work from when I used to do printmaking in high school, and woodcut was always my favorite medium to work with. You can't ever get too detailed with carving hard surfaces, but you can still figure out a way to chisel a fine and emotional line quality in the wood that would eventually turn into a finished composition. And that's what I feel toward's his work, even if a layout of a page is of two sailors floating on a large poo floating down a diarrhea river.
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