Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones My wife got this for me for Christmas, knowing that I liked comic books after finding my old childhood stash at my parents. It follows the life and history at the very beginnings of the rise of comic books, from its humble geek and gangster origins. Mainly focused on the company that became DC comics, and it’s rise, as well as the rise of it’s most famous character, Superman, and his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster.
The “golden age” of comics is a hole in my knowledge of the comics world. In a way, like the history of say Russia, in that I know bits and pieces of what happened and who some of the major players were, but I really don’t have any of the details and a clue how it all fits together. The book helped fill in a lot of holes, but now has got me wondering more, which is always a good thing. I want to read some of the stories, and see the art. I want to read some of Will Eisner’s much lauded Spirit serial. For the most part, I just want to read comics again. Superhero or not.
After reading the book, I finaly made the trip down to my local comic shop, Comic Book Ink. So much to see, so very very much to catch up on. I pick up an issue of Amazing Spiderman, being written now by J. Michael Straczynski, who created Babylon 5. Talking with the owner, I’m realizing there is a lot to catch up on and I’m looking forward to reading a few different series for fun. I’m not fully expressing how I’m interested in comics again, but I’m thinking it out, and I’ll write it down eventually.
