Author: Gerard Jones
Men of Tomorrow provides a sweeping history of the comic book industry in the 20th century. While Jones covers material far beyond Superman, the primary focus is on the Man of Steel and the men responsible for his creation and emergence as a cultural icon. Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster are both profiled, as are Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz, the publishers who first brought the character to the public.
The book is more than just a blow-by-blow account. The industry's evolution is always tied to external cultural forces - the tenement slums of the early 20th century, the rise of organized crime during Prohibition, Depression, war, the moral anxiety of the 1950s and so on. Men of Tomorrow also documents the rise of geek culture, born in the pulp fiction fan magazines of the '20s and '30s - a culture which comics nurtured for decades and which ultimately spawned comics creators.
The unifying theme of this broad history is the rights of comic book artists and writers to profit from their creations. Grunts like Siegel and Shuster were exploited for years while publishers made millions. Today, the most successful creators are genuine celebrities in the comics world. It's difficult to appreciate the years of painful and frequently humiliating litigation Siegel and Shuster had to endure just to be credited in the Superman movies and other such products.
As a kid, I idolized Siegel and Shuster, just as I was awed by my late father-in-law's remembrance of burning Superman #1 in a stove in Colorado one frigid winter. There's just so much human history involved in this character humans found it necessary to invent. I do appreciate your '50s assessment of "moral anxiety". When I worked for the state, I remember calling in sick with metaphysical distress, gender confusion and, once, with parvo --a dog disease-- but I missed moral anxiety. That would have looked good on a form-12.
ReplyDeleteYou are a funny man, sir!
DeleteI wasn't sure how else to put it. McCarthyism misses the mark on this particular issue. Neo-puritanism is oversimplifying.
Human history - most definitely. Behind every art form are living, breathing men and women. They're not always as pretty as the works they create.
I'll have to take a look at this one. I grew up marveling at Steranko's massive 2-volume History of Comics, never realizing that it was supposed to be 6 volumes. It looks like Jones actually finished the job! :-)
ReplyDeleteI will not claim that my own knowledge is sufficient to call this a definitive work but it's a fun read AND covers a lot of ground.
DeleteFirst 18 seconds in response to your somewhat sad post. Just fer somethin' a little light ...
ReplyDeleteViva Siegel and Shuster. Lift my subliminal cup.
You really are on the Seinfeld kick, ay? He's a huge fan. Surely, you already know that there's a Superman figure displayed in every single episode with the exception, naturally, of "The Bizarro Jerry" episode which has the Bizarro figure instead.
DeleteNot just Seinfeld. I'm on a stand-up kick, at the mo, and I'm takin' everyone in my house with me. Been watching Degeneres, Wright, Regan and Seinfeld with a little Richard Lewis sprinkled in. I'm thinking of tracking down a Paula Poundstone performance.
DeleteLittle present for ya.
Thank you. I love Steve Wright! Just this past weekend, we watched a vid of Bob Newhart reprising his routine from back in the day.
DeleteA couple of my all-time favorites, with accompanying blog posts:
http://armchairsquid.blogspot.com/2011/02/baseball-funnies-george-carlin.html
http://armchairsquid.blogspot.com/2010/12/baseball-funnies-whos-on-first.html
Doh! Here's a better link for George: http://youtu.be/vHL4zSr3GFg
DeleteUm.
DeleteWeird stuff going on with that link. I get (twice) 'The Star-Spangled Banner' performed by a Latter Day Saints Men's Chorus ...
(Make that three times. Just tried it again.)
Ha! Link for a different upcoming post. Let's try this: http://youtu.be/qmXacL0Uny0
DeleteReally felt sorry for baseball about three minutes into that. :)
ReplyDeleteReally? I think the intention is the opposite.
DeleteWell, yeah, because no athlete wants to feel like they're being sissified. Correct me if I'm wrong/out-of-date/totally out of touch but it seems like those grid-irons guys with all that unnecessary roughness are getting the glory while the guys playing in the park -- tweet tweet chirp chirp -- (unless it rains) are made out to be wimps.
DeleteNow maybe from some more vogue point of view (who knows? I don't) there's been some perception inversion where guys who are 'safe at home' are the new manly (and don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to reinforce entrenched stereotypes) but I think sports are a refuge for men. It's just like superheroes. That's where they bleed and they don't want anyone coming around and mopping that up. It's primal. It's like beating the chest. It's like the guy securing the mattress at 70mph with one arm.
Though all that said, personally, I prefer basketball.
Wow, I've never heard it that way. I see at as him painting football as barbaric - which it is!
DeleteI'm not so easily threatened on the masculinity issue myself. We are all what we are.
It could be concepts I had reinforced sprouting up from half-Hispanic, half-Arab roots that made me see it that way.
DeleteMaybe.
And football's not as half as barbaric as hockey, eh.
Funny though, now that I listen to it with an ear from your perspective, I hear the whole routine differently. To be fair, I think he's making fun of both sports but mostly making fun of the language surrounding them which is definitely a funny juxtaposition.
DeleteI was thinking along similar lines. I don't think hockey, say, or basketball, have an equally rich store of themed terms to mine.
DeleteOkay! So, now that I've thoroughly squeezed all the joy out of a beloved routine for you *sheepish look* ... who's on first.
No, not at all. Fresh perspective is good.
Delete