Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal [Hardcover]

Alex Irvine (Author)

Book Description

Series: Supernatural | Publication Date: February 3, 2009

Sam and Dean Winchester know all the secrets their father recorded in his journal. Now you can, too.

On November 2, 1983, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force. In the wake of the tragedy, their father, John, set out to learn everything he could about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America . . . and how to kill it. In his personal journal, he not only compiled folklore, legend, and superstition about all manner of otherworldly enemies but he also recorded his experiences—hunting the creature that killed his wife even as he raised his two sons.

Part prequel, part resource guide, John Winchester's Journal finally gives fans the ultimate companion book for Supernatural. It's all here: the exorcism Sam and Dean used in "Phantom Traveler," John's notes on everything from shape-shifters to Samuel Colt, Dean's first hunt, Sam's peewee soccer team . . . and John's single-minded pursuit of a growing and deadly evil.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alex Irvine is the author of seven novels, including The Narrows, A Scattering of Jades, and Batman: Inferno, and two collections of short stories, most recently Pictures from an Expedition. He has also written a Marvel Comics series, Hellstorm: Son of Satan, and online narratives. His fiction, which has been translated into nine languages, has won the Locus, Crawford, and IHG awards and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the World Fantasy Award. In 2005, he was awarded the New England Press Association's top prize for investigative journalism, and that same year was part of a writing team that won a Webby and the International Game Developers Association Innovation award.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: It Books; Mti edition (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061706620
• ISBN-13: 978-0061706622
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Native of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Writer of books, comics, games etc. Fan of Detroit sports, any and all soccer. PhD, former professor. Father of three. Resident of Maine. Favorite writers, in no particular order: Cervantes, Borges, Murakami, Dick, Pynchon, Herriman, Chaucer, Kelly. Ask me again tomorrow, the list would be slightly different.

Some favorite books, not written by people on the previous list (but all written by people who might have been on the list on a different day), and again in no particular order: Sarah Canary, Gould's Book of Fish, Geek Love, Midnight's Children, Song of Solomon...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for Casual Fans, June 29, 2009

By 

Erana Zeitler (Long Island, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal (Hardcover)

If you're a casual fan of Supernatural, if you, say, watch it when it airs once a week and maybe have the DVDs, but have only watched them once or twice - this is a good book for you. It's entertaining, it has some good back-story moments, and it's well written.

If, however, you're a Supernatural-fanatic and have watched the DVDs more times then you can count, read fanfic and the tie-in novels, and were uber-excited to hear about this release because you'd get to read what Dean and Sam have read on the show? You're not going to like it. I knew that within the first two pages - there's just too many inconsistencies. Others have listed them in detail, so I'll just name the first one: Missouri.

It starts off exactly like Dean said it did in "Home": "I went to Missouri and I learned the truth." However, if the author had continued *watching* "Home" he'd know that Dean's next statement was, "I always thought he meant the state." He never knew Missouri was a person. John, however, goes into detail in his journal about their conversation, making it very clear that Missouri's a psychic.

Like I said, though, if you're a casual viewer and don't mind some inconsistencies, you'll probably enjoy this. But don't think you're going to be reading something you can imagine as the *actual* journal of John Winchester - it's not even close.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected..., June 8, 2009

By 

drt1970 (Lawrenceville, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal (Hardcover)

I am a hardcore Supernatural fan. I wasn't impressed because of this: I have the first three seasons on DVD and I watch them all at least twice a month each. I have sat down with pen and paper and I have made note of every instance from the DVD that mentions something about "dad's journal". I have re-read the book with these notes and have found very little in the book that corresponds with these notes. It's not a bad book at all... just frustrating when you know the show in detail and then they don't match.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the John Winchester I know, May 23, 2009

By 

Julie Dowdy (Westerville, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Supernatural: John Winchester's Journal (Hardcover)

The one fantastic thing about it is the "source" material for the demons, rituals, supernatural things that John writes about. That's pretty interesting.

John's part of the journal? It sucks. This is the biggest character assassination of him yet. Lately it seems fans of the show are supposed to go from believing he was a strong, brave, driven man to a weak, whining, shell of a human that couldn't do anything but run from his past.

His parts of the journal can be summarized in a few words: Mary's still dead, he and the boys are moving yet one more time, and that he is unable to get a grip on anything in his world.

There is no strength of character as portrayed in the show. Instead, he's whining and weak. There's no sense of him being any kind of father. Instead, he focuses almost solely on whining about how what he can't do for them. There's no cool, collected stregnth as a hunter either. Instead, he constantly says how he doesn't believe in demons.

What?

There is no mythology explained, no how the hunters were formed, how they communicate, are they even a group? He says he kills some of them. Why? How? Where? What for? We never find out. A bunch more die. Why? How? Where? From what? We don't know!

And if you think it's going to give you any more information on the Yellow-Eyed Demon that killed Mary and started all of this? WRONG. Because, remember, John doesn't believe in demons. YED is mentioned once as the launch from the journal to the show.

The book almost totally ignores Dean. It makes him into this non-entity. This machine that means nothing more to John than Sam's bodyguard. He obsesses on Sam, which makes me believe the book was only written to further Sam's storyline, his mythology, for this last season (4).

I felt like the writer only had one goal in mind - to butcher the character of John Winchester. They've been doing it on the show, too, and I don't like either of that.

The journal is a wasted opportunity.

We could have gotten some backstory about how John felt about Mary being a hunter. Did he believe in what she did? What about her being a hunter with kids? Did she stop? How did they stay safe for all of that time?

Who did John trust within the community? Had this happened to anyone else with a family? What was his goal besides the droning "I'll find who did this to you, Mary!" Why didn't he go all out to find out why Sam was "special"? Why wasn't more of the focus on YED?

I couldn't have been more disappointed if John had found out the kids weren't his.