Word: plot
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...Presented as the results of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders laying out 23 protocols for the supposed Jewish takeover of world governments, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion first appeared in Russia in 1905. Divided into roughly three parts, The Plot begins as a kind graphical literary biography, tracing the life and influences of the real author of Protocols, Mathieu Golovinski. A seedy, low-level aristocrat, Golovinski distinguished himself with the Tsarist secret police as a lawyer with a talent for fabricating evidence against accused enemies of the state. Eventually exiled to France, he was tapped to produce...
...second third of The Plot turns into a minor detective story as a correspondent for the London Times discovers the similarity between Protocols and a nearly forgotten French parody of Napoleon III. A major portion of The Plot compares passages from both sources in an effort to expose the obvious similarities and outright plagiaries, a comparison that the Times used to declare The Protocols a fake in 1921. The final, melancholy third of The Plot examines the enduring virus of Protocols, which, in spite of numerous, incontrovertible findings of being wholly forged, continues to be published the world over...
...Golovinski (at right) pleases his anti-Semitic boss in Will Eisner's "The Plot...
...spite of its admirable ambition, The Plot doesn't perfectly gel into a masterpiece. It suffers chiefly from a problem I have found in many of Eisner's graphic novels: a sometimes-fatal distrust of the audience. Expository dialogue, repetitious action and one-dimensional characterization make The Plot feel more like a lesson than a deeply involving story. In the biographical first third, for example, character development never goes beyond stereotype, as if giving Golovinski more than one dimension would confuse us. One scene depicts a young Golovinski stealing his mother's necklace for no apparent purpose. Presumably fabricated...
...spite of its faults, Will Eisner's The Plot points the way to new ways of thinking about the form. Why shouldn't comix be used as a serious rhetorical device? Taking the medium out of the realm of pure narrative entertainment, Eisner's final work attempts the ultimate challenge of an artwork: something that will change the world. As such, it makes a perfect capstone to the oeuvre of one of comix' greatest forward-thinkers...