Our Hero

Our Hero
Author: Tom De Haven
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2010-03-02
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 0300163002

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.

Supermen!

Supermen!
Author: Greg Sadowski
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2009-04-20
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1560979712

The enduring cultural phenomenon of comic book heroes was invented in the late 1930s by a talented and hungry group of artists and writers barely out of their teens, flying by the seat of their pants to create something new, exciting, and above all profitable. The iconography and mythology they created flourishes to this day in comic books, video, movies, fine art, advertising, and practically all other media. Supermen! collects the best and the brightest of this first generation, including Jack Cole, Will Eisner, Bill Everett, Lou Fine, Fletcher Hanks, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Basil Wolverton.

Super Boys

Super Boys
Author: Brad Ricca
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1250031672

In time for the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel, comes the first comprehensive literary biography of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, creators of the DC Comics superhero Superman and the inspiration for Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay Drawing on ten years of research in the trenches of Cleveland libraries, boarded-up high schools, and secret, private collections, and a love of comic books, Brad Ricca's Super Boys is the first ever full biography about Superman's creators. Among scores of new discoveries, the book reveals the first stories and pictures ever published by the two, where the first Superman story really came from, the real inspiration for Lois Lane, the template for Superman's costume, and much, much more. Super Boys also tracks the boys' unknown, often mysterious lives after they left Superman, including Siegel's secret work during World War II and never-before-seen work from Shuster. Super Boys explains, finally, what exactly happened with the infamous check for $130 that pulled Superman away from his creators—and gave control of the character to the publisher. Ricca also uncovers the true nature of Jerry's father's death, a crime that has always remained a mystery. Super Boys is the story of a long friendship between boys who grew to be men and the standard that would be impossible for both of them to live up to.

Is Superman Circumcised?

Is Superman Circumcised?
Author: Roy Schwartz
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2021-05-19
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1476644411

Superman is the original superhero, an American icon, and arguably the most famous character in the world--and he's Jewish! Introduced in June 1938, the Man of Steel was created by two Jewish teens, Jerry Siegel, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe, and Joe Shuster, an immigrant. They based their hero's origin story on Moses, his strength on Samson, his mission on the golem, and his nebbish secret identity on themselves. They made him a refugee fleeing catastrophe on the eve of World War II and sent him to tear Nazi tanks apart nearly two years before the US joined the war. In the following decades, Superman's mostly Jewish writers, artists, and editors continued to borrow Jewish motifs for their stories, basing Krypton's past on Genesis and Exodus, its society on Jewish culture, the trial of Lex Luthor on Adolf Eichmann's, and a future holiday celebrating Superman on Passover. A fascinating journey through comic book lore, American history, and Jewish tradition, this book examines the entirety of Superman's career from 1938 to date, and is sure to give readers a newfound appreciation for the Mensch of Steel!

Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 5

Superman: The Man of Steel Vol. 5
Author: John Byrne
Publisher: DC Comics
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2006-11-28
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1401243568

The fifth collection of Superman tales from the 1980s, featuring ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #432-435, ACTION COMICS #592-593 and SUPERMAN #9-10! Superman encounters the new hero Gangbuster, faces the menace of the Joker, teams up with Mister Miracle and Big Barda, and inadvertently becomes Metropolis's greatest menace!

Superman Is Jewish?

Superman Is Jewish?
Author: Harry Brod
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2016-01-12
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1416595317

"Harry Brod situates superheroes within the course of Jewish-American history: they are aliens in a foreign land, like Superman; figures plagued by guilt for abandoning their families, like Spider-Man; and outsiders persecuted for being different, like the X-Men. Brod blends humor and sharp observation as he considers the overt and discreet Jewish characteristics of these well-known figures and explores how their creators integrated their Jewish identities and their creativity."--From publisher description.

Gladiator

Gladiator
Author: Philip Wylie
Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2023-06-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Gladiator, first published in 1930, tells the story of Hugo Danner, who is given superhuman speed, endurance, strength, and intelligence by his father as an experiment in creating a better human. We follow Hugo throughout his life viewed from his perspective, from childhood, when Hugo first discovers he’s different from others, to adulthood, as Hugo tries to find a positive outlet for his abilities around the time of the first World War. Gladiator has been made into a 1938 comedy movie, and is thought to be the inspiration for the Superman comic books—though this has not been confirmed.

Superman

Superman
Author: Elliot S. Maggin
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1981-05-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781544943268

What happened when the Man of Steel confronted a demon of fire? When a historian from the future travels to Metropolis of the past to unravel the mystery surrounding the joyous holiday of Miracle Monday, she finds herself embroiled in events that threaten the stability of the Universe and the laws of physics themselves. Superman faces down the devil itself in this reissue of the bestselling novel.

Superman Returns

Superman Returns
Author: Daniel Wallace
Publisher: DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley)
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2006
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780756620660

Superman returns to earth and must save the planet from cataclysmic destruction while trying to revive his love affair with Lois Lane.

Mythic Imagination Today

Mythic Imagination Today
Author: Terry Marks-Tarlow
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 149
Release: 2021-01-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004448438

Mythic Imagination Today is an illustrated guide to the interpenetration of mythology and science throughout the ages. This monograph brings alive our collective need for story as a guide to the rules, roles, and relationships of everyday life.