Superman

April 16, 2012
Tye offers this super-powered, well researched look into every aspect of the character in comics, radio, TV, films, and theater, muscling into such areas as insider editorial decisions, licensing, litigations, and mass comic book burnings. Following his bestselling Satchel Paige biography, Tye hits another home run with this overview. Tracing the Man of Steel through eight decades, he begins in Cleveland, where teenager Jerry Siegel created “The Super-Man” in 1932 and then teamed with artist Joe Shuster: “They agreed that Superman had to be everything they were not: strapping and dashing, fearless yet composed.” After six years of rejections, their character soared in 1938 to “quickly become the big brother every kid needed.” With a $130 contract, Siegel and Shuster had launched the multibillion-dollar industry of comic book superheroes. To document Siegel’s anger and angst along with Superman’s “loves and deaths, reinventions, resurrections and redemptions,” Tye interviewed more than 250 writers, artists, editors, actors, filmmakers, and collectors, and he hired student researchers in four cities to do library and courthouse searches. The lengthy legal battles seeking fair compensation for Superman’s creators fill pages. Anyone looking for truth, injustice, and the American way will find it in this comprehensive, definitive history. Agent: Jill Kneerim.

May 15, 2012
It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's Tye's (Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, 2009, etc.) merry, dizzyingly detailed history of America's first and greatest superhero. Superman made his debut in 1938 in Action Comics #1. The brainchild of Jerry Siegel and illustrator Joe Shuster, two young dreamers from the tough Jewish precinct of Cleveland, Superman was an instant hit and remains an American icon. Tye explores the reasons for Superman's enduring popularity by examining the lives of the many people who created and re-created the Man of Steel. Siegel and Shuster soon lost artistic control of their superhero, but others maintained the core of his appeal while changing the details of his image and story to fit the times--a chiseled and invincible image in the 1950s, for instance, then a more nuanced and vulnerable image in the '70s. While he always fought for what was right, what was wrong would change, from fascism to pollution to greedy financiers, and so on. Able to leap from medium to medium in a single bound, Superman was also a marketing goldmine. He starred in a radio show in the '40s (taking on the Ku Klux Klan in the first episodes) and became a movie star in an earlier serial but more significantly in the later films with Christopher Reeve in the starring role. Superman conquered television in the 1950s, as George Reeves donned the red-and-blue costume, and there has seldom been a period when some sort of Superman TV show has not been on the air. At his best, Tye ably narrates the stories of the many actors, artists and writers who influenced Superman. Occasionally, he offers details only true devotees will care about or be able to follow--e.g., the ever-changing story of what exactly happened on Superman's home planet of Krypton. Fun, enlightening pop-culture history.

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Starred review from June 15, 2012

Tye (Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend) presents the definitive history of Superman. Though much has been written about the Man of Steel, no book has dealt with so many aspects of the character through time. This is a compelling history of how Superman's nerdy teenage creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made the character the figure we know, how Action Comics brought him to life, and how Superman ultimately became a comic book, radio, television, film, and merchandising juggernaut. Readers learn Superman's religious affiliation and see how his attributes, plot lines, and enemies have morphed to suit each era in which he has existed. Tye also discusses how those associated with Superman suffered misfortune with uncanny regularity under the "Superman Curse." Ultimately, readers gain an understanding of how the character was brought to life and how numerous individuals and organizations have shaped his fate over the decades. VERDICT Tye is an excellent storyteller, and this work is thoroughly researched. The result is a rich history full of lively heroes and villains--much like a comic book. Essential for Superman fans and popular culture historians.--Elizabeth Winter, Georgia Inst. of Tech. Lib., Atlanta

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