W.W. Norton; $23.95

About nine weeks ago, we got a sneak peak at the
amazing last completed graphic novel by the late Will Eisner. Now that it’s
coming out – and the hardcover is even more spectacular than the soft cover
preview we saw previously – we wanted to revisit the publication. Here’s our
review:

In May 2005, W.W. Norton & Company will publish the last new
graphic novel from Will Eisner, the late master of the artform who passed away
last month following complications from heart surgery. Eisner had openly
identified this project as his most important work ever.

The Protocols
of the Elders of Zion is a book written one hundred years ago. It has been
represented over the decades as a blue print for Jewish world domination. In
truth, though, it has long been exposed as an utter fraud, and one of the most
successful anti-Semitic myths in history.

Eisner takes on the whole
history of the wretched book and once again pushes the medium for all its worth.
The result is a compelling page turner of a graphic novel, one destined to win
awards and accolades inside the comics field, the general book trade, and
elsewhere.

For Eisner fans of long standing, The Plot will not
come as a major shock. It is a logical outgrowth of his previous serious works,
but as a creator – like a famous sports figure or politician – there is
something truly amazing about saving the best for last.

Those unfamiliar
with Eisner, though, are in the bigger treat. To newcomers, it will seem nothing
less than a revelation that at age 87 neither this creator’s vital wit, nor
insight, nor his ability to convey them through art and words had
atrophied.

The Plot is one more reminder that even though he left
us far too soon – it would have never been time – he did leave behind a lasting
legacy of work for us to remember him by.