Upcoming Super-Books! Options

[BMK!]

Spotted some Super-Books coming in 2010 on Amazon...

Last year saw the release of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia by Robert Greenberger, an update of the original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes: Batman and April of 2010 will see the release of The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia by Phil Jimenez and John Wells. Of course, we cannot forget about the Man of Steel and so August 2010 will bring us The Essential Superman Encyclopedia by Robert Greenberger and Martin Pasko...

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Superman-E...2167&sr=1-3

In April, we'll also see in bookstores Superman: The Story of the Man of Steel by Ralph Cosentino (Hardcover). Cosentino put out a wonderfully illustrated Batman book for kids last year. It's my son's favorite!



http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Story-Steel...655&sr=1-24

Product Description
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!

All children love Superman, but until now, there hasn’t been a book written and illustrated specifically for the youngest fans of the earth’s greatest superhero. Ralph Cosentino’s Superman: The Story of the Man of Steel tells the tale of the caped crime fighter’s amazing journey from the planet Krypton to the town of Smallville, Kansas, to the big city of Metropolis. There he lives a double life as Clark Kent, mild-mannered journalist, and Superman, protector of humanity.

Told in simple, child-friendly language and illustrated with bright, bold artwork inspired by the originals, Superman is the perfect introduction to this beloved American icon.

Cosentino's Batman book (2008)...



http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Ralph-Cosenti...3181&sr=1-1

And in March 2010, from Tom De Haven (author of It's Superman!) is Our Hero: Superman on Earth (Icons of America) (Hardcover)



http://www.amazon.com/Our-Hero-Superman-Ea...4288&sr=1-4

Product Description
Since his first appearance in Action Comics Number One, published in late spring of 1938, Superman has represented the essence of American heroism. “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound,” the Man of Steel has thrilled audiences across the globe, yet as life-long “Superman Guy” Tom De Haven argues in this highly entertaining book, his story is uniquely American.

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the midst of the Great Depression, Superman is both a transcendent figure and, when posing as his alter-ego, reporter Clark Kent, a humble working-class citizen. An orphan and an immigrant, he shares a personal history with the many Americans who came to this country in search of a better life, and his amazing feats represent the wildest realization of the American dream. As De Haven reveals through behind-the-scenes vignettes, personal anecdotes, and lively interpretations of more than 70 years of comic books, radio programs, TV shows, and Hollywood films, Superman’s legacy seems, like the Man of Steel himself, to be utterly invincible.

And lastly, in June 2010, fans of Siegel and Shuster have this to look forward to...

Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman (Paperback)



http://www.amazon.com/Siegel-Shusters-Funn...655&sr=1-13

Product Description
Here is a kaleidoscopic analysis of Jewish humor as seen through Funnyman, a little-known super-heroic invention by the creators of Superman. Included are complete comic-book stories and daily and Sunday newspaper panels from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creative fiasco.

Siegel and Shuster, two Jewish teenagers from Cleveland, sold the rights to their amazing and astonishingly lucrative comic book superhero to Detective Comics for $130 in 1938. Not only did they lose the ownership of the Superman character, they also agreed to write and illustrate it for ten years at ten dollars per page. Their contract with the DC publishers was soon heralded as the most foolish agreement in the history of American popular culture.

After toiling on workman’s wages for a decade, Siegel and Shuster struggled to come up with a new superhero, one that would right their wrongs and prove that justice, fair-play, and zany craftsmanship was the true American way and would lead to ultimate victory. But when the naïve duo launched their new comic character Funnyman in 1947, it failed miserably. All the turmoil and personal disasters in Siegel and Shuster’s postwar life percolated into the comic strip.

This book tells the back story of the unsuccessful strip and Siegel and Shuster’s ambition to have their funny Jewish superhero trump Superman.

Mel Gordon is the author of Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin.

Thomas Andrae is the author of Batman and Me.

[Nightwing]

How was that Batman encylopedia?

I thumbed through it and put it back on the shelf. A lot of it dealt with recent continuity and characters about which I know little and care even less.

One of the cool things about the old "Encyclopedias" was that they chronicled a cohesive history -- even if (or maybe because) they did stop in 1964 -- and the entries on the title characters read almost like biographies. After all the reboots and tweakings DC's flagship characters have endured over the years, that is no longer possible. That's even more true with Superman than Batman, since by now we've seen multiple Kryptons (the differences go much deeper than aesthetics, and cannot be reconciled), at least two equally famous and wholly incompatible iterations of Lex Luthor, a "history" that does include Superboy, one that doesn't and now a third that does again, only differently...and so on.

Consequently, any project like this can never be an "encyclopedia" in that you can't compile a comprehensive reference work on a subject that is completely inconsistent and contradictory. DC "history" is closer to Rashomon than it is Brittanica. Thus these books always turn out more like a grab bag of "highlights" from this or that era all mashed together in hopes of appealing to the widest possible audience. Superman's "history" -- even more than Batman's -- is a hopeless muddle that does not fit together and worse, will no doubt be ret-conned again by the time the ink dries on this new book.

In other words, no sale here.