 The story "A Contract with God" drew from Eisner's feelings over the death at sixteen of his daughter Alice. In his introduction to the 2006 edition of the book, Eisner first wrote about it and the feelings he felt toward God that were reflected in the story. "The Street Singer" and "The Super" are fiction, but sprang from Eisner's memories of people he had met in the tenements of his youth. "Cookalein" was the most autobiographical — the main character "Willie" even carries Eisner's own boyhood nickname. Eisner remarked that "it took a lot of determination, a kind of courage, to write that story".
