Fagin the Jew, by Will Eisner

I read Fagin the Jew as a follow-up to Oliver Twist. Dicken's caricature of Fagain in Twist is frightfully anti-Semitic.

Eisner, one of the pioneers of the graphic novel format, decided to tell Fagin's story. He frames Fagin's life within Oliver's adventures; Fagin is in prison, sentenced to death, and he tells his life story to Dickens to set the records straight.

I was disappointed that Eisner spent so much time on Oliver's story; I would have preferred a greater focus on Fagin, Sikes & Nancy. Oliver's story is really only a small part of Fagin's. Also, in the retelling Eisner changed numerous details of Oliver's story, and since I just finioshed reading the original Twist, those changes jumped out at me in a bad way. It would have been better to cut most of Oliver's story and focus on the relationships that really brought Fagin down - Sikes and Nancy.

Someone complained on an Amazon review that there were too many coincidences - apparently that person hasn't read any Dickens.

Fagin the Jew Wwas enjoyable mostly for the historical content. I look forward to reading other Eisner works.