Monday, June 11, 2007

MEN OF TOMORROW Geeks, Gangsters, & The Birth of The Comic Book


Today I took a small break from my working routine & finished reading MEN OF TOMORROW: GEEKS, GANGSTERS, & THE BIRTH OF THE COMIC BOOK by Gerard Jones. This is a hardback written in ©2004. I love to read but never have the time. But while recently on vacation I made a special attempt at reading this book. IT'S INCREDIBLE! Now many of you are probably thinking, "Hey, This isn't Batman!". No, wait, Yes it is!! This book is the true story of the history/creation of the comic book in America & it features a few stories about how Batman was created, Bob Kane, Bob Finger, Jerry Robinson, Neal Adams, the 1966 TV Series, etc...The stories about Bob Kane are actually sort of shocking! The main focus of the book though are all the facts concerning the creation of Superman by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and how they got screwed over. He starts the focus on Superman because he was the very 1st superhero & the comic book that created the entire comics industry. From there they follow all the other characters created plus all the other publishers, an amazing read! These include: Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Jim Lee, Jack Kirby, Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics, Will Eisner, Frank Miller, The Spirit, Dell Comics, Mad Magazine, EC Comics, etc...This book was a total joy to read & ANY comic book fan would love it for the history, humor, & amazing stories presented within. I was already slightly familuar with some of the legendary tales but this book pieces them all together in a very special way. Mr. Jones has a writing style that is factual while being kinda funny in certain areas & serious in others. He makes every person seem so real you would think you were in the same room with them. I highly recommend this book for all comic book fans & even people who only like Batman!