The Building #[nn]

Will Eisner turns the city block itself into a character in this graphic novel, with his cover depicting "The Hammond Building" — a grand urban structure rendered in striking black-and-white linework, its entrance framed by surrounding skyscrapers while pedestrians and period automobiles animate the street below. The composition captures something quietly melancholy about city life, the kind of anonymous architecture that absorbs decades of human stories without anyone noticing. Eisner's mastery of atmosphere is evident from the very first glance, making this 2006 W. W. Norton edition an essential read for anyone who loves literary comics at their most thoughtful.