Becoming Superman Pt.2

I hadn’t intended to revisit this, since these what I’m reading/ watching posts are intended to be one-offs. At the time of the original post I was only a few chapters in and mostly focused on what J. Michael Straczynski meant to me.

Yesterday, as I was closing in on the final few chapters, I decided to recommend the book to Blake Petit, a writer and a fellow fan of JMS. When he asked if it was worth reading, my recommendation was as follows:

"The last time I read an autobiography this harrowing, it was written by a young Jewish girl trapped in an attic with her family.

When I picked up Becoming Superman, I was mostly looking for behind the scenes stories about Babylon 5.* The story I got was the heartbreaking tale of a young boy subjected to endless neglect and extreme abuse, both emotional and physical. A boy whose only positive influence was Superman, a comic book character. With the Man of Steel as his only source of inspiration and strength, the boy goes on to triumph repeatedly over adversity and have one of the most unique careers in the history of Hollywood.

It is a horrifying tale of cruelty and an inspiring story of triumph through sheer force of will and talent.

I finished the book more inspired by JMS than ever. I can’t recommend this book enough. And incidentally, if Mr. Straczynski should ever read this, it would be my honor to take your photograph. You could use it in whatever professional manner you like.

Sure, that seems unlikely. But the whole point of the book is that nothing is impossible.

P.S. I would additionally like to recommend JMS’ Midnight Nation, a 12 issue maxi-series collected as a graphic novel. Its a horror story about living in fear and the people who fall between the cracks of society. Its one of my all-time favorite comics.

*The book was actually pretty lacking on details about Babylon 5, restricting it mostly to a chapter about what it took to get it made and keep it on the air. The rest of the B5-related content were stories about 3 of the actors’ struggles with alcohol and mental-illness, including Jerry Doyle. Doyle played Michael Garibaldi, one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. It turns our that Garibaldi’s struggles with alcohol were inspired by Jerry Doyle himself. Incidentally, JMS’ story about the last time he saw the great Andreas Katsulas nearly brought me to tears in the middle of a Raising Canes.