Johnny Book Report - The Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book

I finally wrapped up this Christmas gift of a book this past weekend and I feel an odd compulsion to share. Books need to be talked about. It's that whole interchange of ideas thing that books seem to spark. That's what's great about books. Well, and if you're a dorky wallflower it's a way to learn about the world without actually participating. So there's that too. But I'm not going to go into a long rant about how important books are for our future and blame this here interweb and video games for the lack of reading by the childfolk. I don't care about that. I like reading. I read. That's good enough for me. If you also happen to enjoy reading then by all means pay attention. If not then please go fuck yourself for a while and check back later, I'm sure we'll have something else to talk about by then.

In honor of Remo's grading system I will also be going with a word to grade the books that I review. My word will be "Awesome". And, in keeping with logic and whatnot, a perfect grade will result in a "100% Awesome" rating. For further explanation of this I recommend you pull your head out of your sweaty butt cheeks and think for yourself a bit. The more letters in the word the better the book is. If you do not understand that then you probably live in your parent's basement and wonder why all the pretty girls never seem to join you in the mall arcade.

The Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones.

In the book Gerard Jones tries to explain how the comic book industry came together in the 30s. He does this from the ground up. First explaining the many varied histories of the major players and then building from there. Mr. Jones examines every facet of the comic book world, not just the artists and writers that created the stories. He explains the role of the publishers, the distributors, the accountants that laid the foundation in the pulps and girlie magazines. This is his first mistake.

I would like some cursory information on the individuals and day to day workings of comic book distribution. But that's about it. I don't need well over 100 pages of commentary on the life and times of a publisher/distributor that managed to rip off some young comic book talent. That's not entertaining. I nearly put this book down several times thanks to all the undue efforts explaining Harry Donenfeld (publisher/distributor) and Jack Liebowitz (accountant/media mogul) and their roles in the rise of the comic book. These men (particularly Liebowitz) knew what they were doing and how to make money at it. They weren't very interesting though. Even later in the book when Liebowitz is cast as the villain to Shuster and Siegel's heroes he comes off as nothing more than a methodical accountant balancing the ledger.

The book wraps itself around a few major players but inexplicably avoids many others that would arguably merit more time. Stan Lee is given a chapter or so. In fact most of Marvel's creators are largely ignored or, at the very least, pushed to the margins. Jack Kirby probably gets the most mention, but it's nothing compared to Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if you didn't have the feeling that Siegel and Shuster were the stars mainly because they had people willing to talk about them. The same goes for Donenfeld and Liebowitz. They all played major roles in the early comics but why do I now know more about the life and times of Harry Donenfeld and not Jack Kirby? The book reads like it was thrown together and goes too heavy on some of these characters simply because it had not choice.

I'd like to think that one of the important stories to be told would have revolved around Lee and Kirby and their creations. Who really came up with the Fantastic Four and the Hulk and X-men? They both have their versions. The book doesn't really deal with the issue. But I can tell you all sorts of things about Donenfeld's mistress. Tell me Mr. Comic Book Guy , which one are you interested in learning about? I thought so.

The book, much like this review, is slapped together in what I guess is supposed to show the exciting and fast paced world these young men lived in. It failed, it's just a jumble. It's done in a vaguely chronological order, but it's hard to tell because of the random nonsense thrown in. There are so many names being dropped (many of whom are of no interest at all) that it's hard to follow at times. I can tell you that if you had to take a drink every time you read a name that didn't actually have anything to do with the story you'd be in Hazelden getting treatment for a few weeks afterwards. It was like everyone involved offered to cover the author's living expenses for a day if they could get their uncle or grandpa mentioned in the book. It was embarrassing.

These are just some of my complaints with the book. There are others to be sure. But there were some revealing items that caught my eye and kept me going. As mentioned above, Siegel and Shuster are featured prominently in the book. To most people they are recognized as Superman's creators nowadays. That wasn't always the case though.

When Siegel and Shuster first signed on to produce Superman they gave away their rights to the character in exchange for a 10 year contract to produce the comic and newspaper strip. They were young and stupid and, more importantly, this is what was done at the time. That's not that surprising. What is surprising is how little they actually knew about their character. They didn't know his origin story. At the time he couldn't fly. These guys were basically a couple amateurs throwing ideas at the window until something stuck. For further evidence of this please note how horrible every single one of their other characters were. Krypto the Super-Dog? What the fuck? Nature Boy? What the shit? The boys got lucky, plain and simple. Shuster wasn't a great artist and Siegel was a bad writer. But they caught lightning in a bottle and made it pay.

Bob Kane was also a bit of a hack, but not in the same way. He apparently wasn't too bright, but yet he kept on outsmarting those around him. In many ways comic books were a last ditch attempt at a job for these guys so it's no wonder he outsmarted most of them. They weren't the cream of the crop. By all accounts Kane ripped off his partner, Bill Finger, and got sole credit for creating Batman. He also had a lot of his art ghosted by more talented folks and he took the credit.

William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman apparently because he was a failed psychologist and successful polygamist. The man loved bondage (hence the lasso that makes you do what Wonder Woman tells you) and powerful women. He got into comics because every other option was shut. He wasn't talented so much as he was a dude who liked kinky sex and thought teenagers might be into it too.

The book revealed these gentlemen, heretofore considered heroes in my mind, as douchebags or cheap jerks. Joe Shuster comes off as sort of bumbling but goodhearted. But Kane was manipulative as all get out and Siegel was a topnotch douchebag. It was disappointing. After reading about Siegel's attempts to get back the right to Superman I feel more embarrassed for him then I thought I would. He's just a very annoying person in the book. I've never thought that a corporation should have the rights to a person's creation but Siegel is such a douche that he almost had me leaning towards the evil corporation. That's just an amazing amount of douchiness.

The biggest failure of the book to me though is this. It didn't inspire in me any wonder or interest. When I read the pulitzer prize winning Kavalier and Clay by Chabon I wanted to live that life. Creating new characters night and day, getting a samich when I could, late nights drinking in NY with the boys. This all sounds great. Jones never captures the magic of the moment in his book. I never wanted to be any of these people. Heck, I didn't even want to dig up my old Batman comics and plow through them. The lack of inspiration was astounding.

I think Mr. Jones is a lot like his subjects. These guys who couldn't find "real jobs" were forced into the comics world. They jumped in and threw out ideas until one stuck. There were several clunkers. Superman was never the best superhero (his all-powerful ways are too simplistic to create a genuinely great character), he just happened to be the first. I think Mr. Jones did the same thing. He didn't know how to write a book about the early days of comics very well, he just happened to beat everyone else to the punch. So we're left with this mess. I did learn a few things along the way but I can't recommend this one to others.

Rating: AW