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

While this is a general account of the origin of the comic book, the crux of the narrative involves Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. These 2 Cleveland kids became friends, dreamed of creating a character worthy of a newspaper strip and ended up creating the archetype of the superhero which would dominate comics for over 85 years and counting. Boy, did the creators of Superman get screwed. But so did a whole lot of comic book creators, writers and artists during the infancy of comic books. Superman's creators, especially Jerry Siegel just happened to be the most vocal about it and essentially both men were blackballed for it.

I didn't realize how much influence that organized crime had in the early days of comics. Not just the Italians; but the Jewish mob as well. Harry Donenfeld, the founder of the publisher that would become DC Comics, rubbed elbows with the likes of Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello. With their money funneling through Donenfeld's publishing and printing companies, any sort of shaking of the apple cart meant unwanted scrutiny. So anytime someone complained about low page rates or contacts not being honored, scummy accountants like Jack Liebowitz would show doctored ledgers indicating huge losses while bemoaning a lack of financial security. Then someone like the creators of Superman would be tossed a couple hundred bucks and hopefully walk away quietly while the editors and publishers lived like kings.

But it wasn't just the executives taking advantage of their creators. This book will make you despise Bob Kane, if you didn't already. Kane would literally steal the credit from his ghost writers and artists while basking in the limelight of being Batman's dad. Poor Bill Finger would die a drunken pauper, having really done all the work to make the Dark Knight one of the most popular superheroes of all-time and getting zero credit until decades later after his death.

You get a renewed respect for Will Eisner with this book. William Gaines too. I didn't know that his father hated him so. And poor Bill Gaines. He just wanted to be a school teacher and ends up having to become the editor of E.C. Comics after his father's suspicious drowning death, in order to keep his family afloat financially. I also feel really bad for Gaines for flaking out during the Senate hearings on comic book violence led by Senator Estes Kefauver. Image how things could have gone differently had Gaines swallowed his pride and not insisted on testifying to disastrous results. We wouldn't have had MAD Magazine, that's for sure. 

2005's Men of Tomorrow was written by comic book writer turned noted comic book historian Gerard Jones. It's an interesting story that examines the ins and outs of the early comic book industry as well as the personal lives of Siegel and Shuster. Neither were very pretty. It's a good read that teaches a lot I didn't know. But it could have been about 30 pages shorter if Jones didn't keep reminding us about what had happened prior. Though, maybe the author was trying to capture the way comics would keep readers up-to-date on the accounts of the previous issue before diving into the latest chapter.

Plus with this being a scholarly work, there's about 30 pages of notes that you can skip as well. That is unless you enjoy reading citations and sources of which I gave up interest in pursuing years after I graduated as a History major at NC State.

A must for those remaining collectors who are devoted to the entire field of comic books across the ages. And if you love the pulps or thinking about becoming a collector of those aging precursors to comics (and I don't mean that because of the source material which is considered taboo and very un-PC), the first four chapters are the introduction you've been looking for.

Also, the cover is a collage of comic book panels crafted together by famed book cover artist Chip Kidd. I'd really like to know what book he used for the top panel. Was it from a religious comic about the Rapture? I'm very interested in knowing the story behind that panel.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.