Hawking

I became a huge fan of Richard Feynman thanks to the 2013 graphic novel work by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick. When I feel like being brainy while getting in a good laugh or two, I play the lectures of Feynman on my computer. It's great background noise when you are surfing the web or updating book reviews. 

This was a guy who was building the first atomic bomb one minute and then sneaking out of Los Almos to play bongos at a local club the next. He was so serious and yet chill. And he was fun as well as funny as hell!

So when Previews announced the release of Ottaviani and Myrick's Hawking, I was first in line for the book. I love Stephen Hawking. I read his manga opus, A Brief History of Time when I was in the fifth grade (for fun; not a requirement.) I've followed Hawking career ever since, enjoying his hilarious appearances on The Simpsons, Futurama and The Big Bang Theory. 

So how was this book? Was it all I hoped it would be cracked up to be? In short- NO!

This book was an almost complete 180 turn from Feynman. While Dr. Feynman was the life of the party, Professor Hawking was a massive stick in the mud. Prof. Feynman was willing to accept concepts that didn't gel with his personal philosophy. Dr. Hawking tries to change those rejected ideas to fit into his view of the universe. But above all, this book was boring!

I was hoping for a more personal look at Stephen Hawking's personal life. His struggle with ALS has been in inspiration for me and countless others. While his personal life is glossed upon, this book was more of a treatise on cosmology and physics.

Only Stephen Hawking can make his insanely complex concepts seem simple. Ottaviani and Myrick are no Stephen Hawking. I literally was bored to tears with this book. It's also why it's taking me up till now to have finally completed this. I had to take breaks in order to overtake the mind numbing!

Sadly, Stephen Hawking also seems to have been a bit of a jerk. Understandably, suffering from something as crippling as ALS is enough to make anyone sour. But way before he started to show symptoms, Hawking seemed a bit of an ass. I really felt sorry for his first wife.

Should Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick do a third graphic novel based on a famous scientist, I would read it. It's not exactly that the creative team did a poor job on this. The true life of Stephen Hawking wasn't as enjoyable as the myth the late physicist had built up around himself. But I would recommend that they maybe not spending quite as much time on really difficult physics. It just wasn't as enjoyable read as it could have been as I didn't think that the creators really understood the mind of a master thinker; no matter how tarnished his armor now is in my mind.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.