Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman [Hardcover]

Marc Tyler Nobleman (Author), Ross Macdonald (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

JERRY SIEGEL AND Joe Shuster, two misfit teens in Depression-era Cleveland, were more like Clark Kent—meek, mild, and myopic—than his secret identity, Superman. Both boys escaped into the worlds of science fiction and pulp magazine adventure tales. Jerry wrote stories, and Joe illustrated them. In 1934, they created a superhero who was everything they were not. It was four more years before they convinced a publisher to take a chance on their Man of Steel in a new format—the comic book. The author includes a provocative afterword about Jerry and Joe’s long struggle with DC Comics when they realized they had made a mistake in selling all rights to Superman for a mere $130!

Marc Tyler Nobleman’s text captures the excitement of Jerry and Joe’s triumph, and the energetic illustrations by Ross MacDonald, the author-artist of Another Perfect Day, are a perfect complement to the time, the place, and the two young visionaries.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–6—Nobleman portrays teenaged Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as outcasts who found solace in the world of pulp magazines and comics. Their peers did not understand their fascination with tales of musclemen and detectives with gadgets, and their teachers deemed the stories that they loved to write and illustrate "trash." Despite these obstacles, the two friends continued writing and illustrating, and in 1934, Siegel had an avalanche of ideas about a new type of hero that he then shared with Shuster, who drew the first concept illustrations of Superman. It took another four years, however, before the superhero would make his public debut in Action Comics #1. MacDonald's illustrations are a tribute to 1930s pulp art, from the lines of the characters outlined in brown to the washes of yellow in the background. While the layout remains primarily in picture-book format, comic-book elements appear sporadically, such as with phrases separated from the rest of the text and placed in oval bubbles. One spread also uses panels to depict Siegel's thoughts as he conceptualized Superman. The story ends with the young men successfully landing a publisher. The afterword fills in more of the details, including Siegel and Shuster's long-running battle with DC Comics for a greater share of the profits, how their Jewish background affected Superman during World War II, and their final years. Boys of Steel is a solid introduction to the history of Superman's creation, especially for children who find an outlet in storytelling and art.—Kim T. Ha, Elkridge Branch Library, MD
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Though rich in thrilling big breaks and cultural touchstones, comic-book history appears most often in books for adults, such as Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000), inspired by the story of Superman’s creators. This book brings the young men behind the Man of Steel to a picture-book audience. Along with a compressed account of the partnership between nerdy high-school outcasts Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, Nobleman includes insights about superheroes’ cultural significance and the chord struck by Superman—a “hero who would always come home” even as World War II loomed on the horizon. It’s hard to imagine a better sidekick for the text than MacDonald’s illustrations, which capture the look of 1930s comics with their sepia-toned, stylized imagery, although some children may wish for more distinctions between Shuster and Siegel’s bespectacled faces. The narrative ends on an upbeat note, but the detailed, candid afterword clues youngsters into the creators’ bitter compensation battle with DC Comics. A bibliography and assurances that “all dialogue was excerpted from interviews” puts factual muscle on the narrative. Any kid who has scribbled caped crusaders in the margins of homework will find Shuster and Siegel’s accomplishment of interest; this robust treatment does their story justice. Grades 1-3. --Jennifer Mattson

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375838023
• ISBN-13: 978-0375838026
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 0.4 x 11.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > Literary

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man and Super Men, July 25, 2008

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (Hardcover)

Time was when a comic book wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in Hades of getting into a library's collection. And while some library systems have grown more open to the notion of comic book heroes leaping about their hallowed halls, there's still a great deal of resistance to the idea. Now Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ross MacDonald have found another way to get a fella like Superman into a library, and it's definitely a slick idea. Until now the story of Superman's creators Jerry ...more Time was when a comic book wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in Hades of getting into a library's collection. And while some library systems have grown more open to the notion of comic book heroes leaping about their hallowed halls, there's still a great deal of resistance to the idea. Now Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ross MacDonald have found another way to get a fella like Superman into a library, and it's definitely a slick idea. Until now the story of Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster has never been told in a format accessible to children. Now in Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, Nobleman and MacDonald pay homage to the fellas that brought to life "the greatest superhero of all time," in such a way that no library in the world could object to the book's style and panache. And though I've a quibble with it here and there, the next time you have a seven-year-old moaning about needing to read a biography make sure that this book is the ace up your sleeve.

Dateline: Cleveland, Ohio - The 1930s. Jerry Siegel had many interests but what he really liked to do was escape from the world around him. By reading the tales of Tarzan, Buck Rogers, and other fantastical heroes, Jerry could find high adventure and this was an interest he shared with Joe Shuster. Shy like Jerry, Joe loved to draw, and together the two came up with all kinds of interesting ideas. But it wasn't until a hot night in 1934 that Jerry found his inspiration. What if this hero looked like a normal dweeby guy (a guy like Joe and Jerry) but was really a superhero in disguise? That night Superman was born and in his own Action Comics he found his audience. An Afterword to the book discusses how Jerry and Joe sold their Superman rights for a pittance and fought over the years to get them back.

There were little details in Boys of Steel that did the old heart good to see. For example, it would have been the easiest thing in the world for Nobleman to say that Superman was meant to fly. Yet anyone who has ever read the earliest Superman comics will note that he didn't begin his existence flying. Rather he had, "a habit of leaping so high that it would look as though he were flying." Remember that line, "Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"? That's where that came from. The author walks the fine line between the original Superman and the one we all recognize today, and does so while still remaining factually accurate. No small task.

Anyone who has ever read Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay knows at least a little about the background of Siegel and Shuster. So it was that I started noticing what Nobleman wouldn't mention, as opposed to what he would. In the majority of the text, no mention is made of the fact that the two men were Jewish (though Nobleman takes pains to mention how similar they were) or that they were the children of immigrants. Superman's an immigrant too, but that doesn't come up in the story. Admittedly, that element is a side issue that would probably constitute a long biography in and of itself. And the ethnicity of our heroes is certainly brought up in the Afterword. But how many kids are going to read through that? Even so much as a sentence mentioning that they were Jewish would work to place them within the context of their times.

As it currently stands, Nobleman's focus is less on Superman's genesis as it related to his progenitors' birthright and more on how this creation was the right comic book hero for the right time. "The other heroes Jerry and Joe read about were regular humans in strange places. This hero would be a stranger in a regular place." An alien in a regular environment. And in a scant 40-page picture book Nobleman even manages to draw ties to Superman's rise alongside WWII. Here was America in a strange war and "People wanted a hero they knew would always come home. Jerry and Joe gave them that - the world's first superhero."

The amount of research necessary for a book of this scope would have to be hefty and I was pleased to see a small list of Selected Sources available on the publication page. Much of this research ends up in the Afterword, a three-page encapsulation of Shuster and Siegel's life after they sold away their creation's rights. It is fortuitous that this book will be released just as the March 26, 2008 posthumous lawsuit entitles Siegel's estate to share in Superman's United States copyright. I am reviewing Boys of Steel from an advanced readers copy, so I cannot speak to whether or not the final copy will contain this additional information. Yet even if it does not, Nobleman has covered his tracks fairly well with the note that "Negotiations are ongoing" (particularly since the suit is far from over and will undoubtedly be challenged).

As for the illustrations, I've been a Ross MacDonald fan for years. You simply cannot read his simpler picture book work (including as Achoo! Bang! Crash! The Noisy Alphabet and Bad Baby) without falling just a little bit in love with the man's comic-influenced style. Clearly MacDonald was a natural choice to illustrate Nobleman's biography. His love of the subject matter coupled with his ability to replicate Joe Shuster's original style is to his advantage. But MacDonald's choice to render Siegel and Shuster virtually identical is perhaps a counterintuitive move. I can understand why he would have gone in this direction. Siegel and Shuster were similar fellows, sure. And by making them virtually indistinguishable (Jerry's a little more plump than Joe and has lighter eyebrows) he pits them as two guys together against the world. And while it wouldn't have been my choice to deny Jerry and Joe their individuality, I can see why MacDonald chose to go the route that he had.

Certainly the design of the book itself is pretty keen. Comic book tropes pop up unexpectedly at the most interesting moments. Some descriptions appear in white bubbles around the pages. At another point Joe is seen tearing up his pages, action lines emanating off his body. The format doesn't actually break down into panels until Jerry has his 1934 Superman brainstorm. Then we get a quick fire rapid montage of thoughts, images, concepts, and ideas. It breaks down the elements of who Superman is and what he stands for and works brilliantly to tie in the elements of his existence to the boys' own lives. For the most part, MacDonald sticks to a palate of brown, blue, green, and yellow. Red appears only when it can heighten the scene and make a point; Once when Jerry has his brainstorm and once at the end when we see Superman at last in all his red-caped glory.

Comic book characters rendered in the style of their original creators are quite the rage in picture book publishing right now. With Ralph Cosentino's Batman doing Bob Kane proud on the one hand and MacDonald polishing his Shuster skills on the other, this is a good time to get kids into superheroes in all their myriad forms. And with a great real-life story to boot, this is one biography that's going to lure the kids like nothing else. I haven't read a bio this kid-friendly since Siena Siegel's To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel. Though I would have tweaked a detail here and there, Marc Tyler Nobleman and Ross MacDonald do Superman's creators proud. More fun than any children's biography has any right to be.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two boys' review: Superman fans will like it but young fans will need to wait, January 1, 2009

By 

Jared Castle (Roseburg, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (Hardcover)

I picked up this picture book for my two sons, ages 6 and 4, thinking I'd introduce them to the world of Superman. The book honors the creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, but the story is just too "fan-centric" for young kids who are experiencing Superman for the first time.

I want to be absolutely clear. This is a beautiful picture book, a work of love and a book that any die-hard Superman fan would be proud to own. However, it is not a book for young children, especially children under 6. I would consider introducing this book to older children attending grade school for their book report. Jerry and Joe's hardest years are summarized in the book's final three pages. Understandably, poverty, depression and lawsuits are harder to convey in picture book form.

I give a four-star rating for Superman fans but recommend parents of young children look elsewhere to find a Superman story for bedtime reading. I plan to dust this book off in a couple years and share it again with my sons.

Adult fans will want this book on their coffee table along with Superman vs. Hollywood: How Fiendish Producers, Devious Directors, and Warring Writers Grounded an American Icon.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Up, up and away, July 28, 2008

By 

Erika Tsoukanelis - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (Hardcover)

Marc Tyler Nobleman has done a masterful job at telling the story of two underdogs who captured the spirit of their time and the imaginations of generations. While more of a Batman and Wonderwoman woman myself, I could not help but root for Jerry and Joe, the painfully shy but brilliant duo who would not give up on their dream creation. Superman was not just a story to them; he was an emblem of goodness and hope. I came away from this deceptively simple text with an appreciation of the ultimate superhero having been birthed during the Great Depression, when many were in need of saving and many more believed in the possibility of such salvation.

Illustrations by Ross MacDonald are understated yet fun, reflective of the time period and subject matter.

Younger children will follow the text, which is readable for slightly older children and entertaining for adults. As a bonus, a more detailed, young-adult level narrative of the struggle Jerry and Joe went through in fighting for the rights to their work can be found in the back of the book. In short, Boys of Steel is for everyone who loves comics, Superman or artistic triumph. Let Boys of Steel take you up, up and away!