Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood

by J. Michael Straczynski, Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

Overview

Featuring an introduction by Neil Gaiman!

“J. Michael Straczynski is, without question, one of the greatest science fiction minds of our time.”   — Max Brooks (World War Z)

For four decades, J. Michael Straczynski has been one of the most successful writers in Hollywood, one of the few to forge multiple careers in movies, television and comics.  Yet there’s one story he’s never told before: his own.

In this dazzling memoir, the acclaimed writer behind Babylon 5, Sense8, Clint Eastwood’s Changeling and Marvel’s Thor reveals how the power of creativity and imagination enabled him to overcome the horrors of his youth and a dysfunctional family haunted by madness, murder and a terrible secret.

Joe's early life nearly defies belief. Raised by damaged adults—a con-man grandfather and a manipulative grandmother, a violent, drunken father and a mother who was repeatedly institutionalized—Joe grew up in abject poverty, living in slums and projects when not on the road, crisscrossing the country in his father’s desperate attempts to escape the consequences of his past. 

To survive his abusive environment Joe found refuge in his beloved comics and his dreams, immersing himself in imaginary worlds populated by superheroes whose amazing powers allowed them to overcome any adversity. The deeper he read, the more he came to realize that he, too, had a superpower: the ability to tell stories and make everything come out the way he wanted it. But even as he found success, he could not escape a dark and shocking secret that hung over his family’s past, a violent truth that he uncovered over the course of decades involving mass murder.

Straczynski’s personal history has always been shrouded in mystery. Becoming Superman lays bare the facts of his life: a story of creation and darkness, hope and success, a larger-than-life villain and a little boy who became the hero of his own life.  It is also a compelling behind-the-scenes look at some of the most successful TV series and movies recognized around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062857842
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/23/2019
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	55,085
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

J. Michael Straczynski has had one of the most varied careers of any American writer, penning hundreds of hours of television, comic books for Marvel and DC that have sold over 13 million copies, and movies that have grossed over a billion dollars.

Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, and The Graveyard Book. Among his numerous literary awards are the Newbery and Carnegie medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner awards. Originally from England, he now lives in America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction Neil Gaiman xi

Chapter 1 We Were Told 1

Chapter 2 Strange Relations 17

Chapter 3 Faster Than a Speeding Bullet 29

Chapter 4 Death as a Lifestyle 35

Chapter 5 Pigeon Dinner with a Slice of Watermelon 39

Chapter 6 The First One's Always Free 49

Chapter 7 The Face Behind the Mask 65

Chapter 8 The Wind Took Away His Name 73

Chapter 9 Being Invisible 81

Chapter 10 Targets of Opportunity 89

Chapter 11 Patricide by Proxy 103

Chapter 12 Discovering Words, Worlds, and Estrogen 115

Chapter 13 The God Thing 131

Chapter 14 The Weed of Evil Bears Strange Fruit 145

Chapter 15 The God Thing, Redux 155

Chapter 16 Blood in the Street 169

Chapter 17 When the Light at the End of the Tunnel Isn't a Train (For a Change) 183

Chapter 18 The Big Con 207

Chapter 19 God, Death, and Harlan Ellison 223

Chapter 20 An Unexpected Journey to Toon-Town 233

Chapter 21 Who Ya Gonna Call? 249

Chapter 22 Captain, My Captain 269

Chapter 23 Into the Zone 279

Chapter 24 Blowing Up the World 285

Chapter 25 Things I Learned Dancing with the Fatman 295

Chapter 26 Paging Jessica Fletcher 303

Chapter 27 Boarding Babylon 323

Chapter 28 The Christmas Ambush 333

Chapter 29 Swingin' with Spider-Man 355

Chapter 30 Lost in the Tall Grass with Jeremiah 367

Chapter 31 What Was I Thinking? 389

Chapter 32 Being Superman 407

Chapter 33 The Truth Unearthed 413

Chapter 34 Selah 433

Epilogue 441

Editorial Reviews

06/24/2019

Straczynski, a prolific comics, television, and film writer, delivers a frank memoir that’s equally harrowing and triumphant. Raised by a depressed, battered mother and violently abusive, alcoholic father, Straczynski found in comic books, first, refuge from his dysfunctional family, and then inspiration to pursue a writing career. He particularly admired Superman (whose adventures he would eventually write), finding in the character an ethical core that “meant everything to a young kid trapped in a family that operated without any sort of moral compass.” Though Straczynski’s anger (at his father, most notably) comes across as still raw, he balances it with heartfelt appreciations of colleagues such as Harlan Ellison, who, “despite his reputation for crankiness,” was “one of the most gracious souls I have ever known.” He also offers tantalizing looks at behind-the-scenes creative battles. While Straczynski could do nothing about an executive mandate that his animated show She-Ra, Princess of Power’s title character be not warlike but “maternal, nurturing, and nonthreatening to male authority figures,” on the later SF series Babylon 5, he achieved his ambition of telling, over the series’ entire course, a “single overarching story with a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end”—a television first. Fans of this and other achievements in Straczynski’s career will find much to enjoy here. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

His true life story turns out to be as gripping and inspiring as any of his fiction.

B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

I’ve rarely felt such pain while reading a memoir, or felt so satisfied at its conclusion. It’s some kind of miracle that he’s taken this lifelong experience, leavened it with perspective, and created something so universal. Powerful, powerful stuff.

Andy Ihnatko

Once I started, I couldn’t put it down.  Straczynski embedded a mystery in an autobiography.  Has to be a first.

Dan DiDio

J. Michael Straczynski is, without question, one of the greatest science fiction minds of our time.” 

Max Brooks (World War Z)

Gripping. An amazing testament to the range of human durability and determination, overcoming our impossibly dark side with something even more unlikely and miraculous — hope.”

Hugo and Nebula Award Winning Novelist David Brin

A fascinating journey through careers in three different professions—comic books, TV, and movies—from an accomplished master of each. Rare to have such detail and such access. A major literary autobiography!

Bestselling author Greg Bear

I just finished reading Becoming Superman and can, without a mote of hyperbole, state it is one of the most terrifying and inspirational, funny and empathic nonfiction books of our time. I’m too old to be currying favors. Just trust me. Buy it or die!

Walter Koenig

Straczynski’s life story is simultaneously horrifying and uplifting. He survives a childhood worse than almost anything you could imagine and ends up taking an unlikely path to Hollywood success. It’s funny, sad, infuriating, and inspiring—often all at once.

Jason Snell

A deeply moving testament to the power of storytelling, and a no-bullshit guide to becoming, if not Superman, a better person and writer.

Tor.com

“Becoming Superman is a valuable resource for those wishing to look behind the curtain to one of pop culture’s most cherished and esteemed writers [...] It is an incredible story of familial abuse and its aftermath, of perseverance and fortitude, of endurance and determination. Highly recommended.

Fantasy Book Review

2019-04-28
A hugely successful writer for TV, movies, and comics makes his debut as a memoirist with a stunning chronicle of survival.

Straczynski grew up in a destructive family, subjected to "the worst kinds of physical, psychological, and emotional torture" by an alcoholic, violently abusive father, a lifelong admirer of Nazis; a depressed mother, repeatedly institutionalized, who once dropped her young son from a roof; and a grandmother who tried to sexually abuse him. The family was rootless, moving 21 times in 19 years, often fleeing in the middle of the night and "roaring cross-country in an alcohol-fueled haze of drunken violence" to take up residence somewhere else. In one unheated apartment, ill with pneumonia, the author slept in front of an open oven door all night for warmth. He suffered corporal punishment at a Catholic school run by angry nuns and was victimized by bullies elsewhere. Comics, and especially Superman, provided Straczynski with escape and hope. Morally upright, patient, gentle, and powerful, the valiant hero became his model. A bright spot in his dismal childhood occurred in his senior year of high school, when two teachers saw his potential and invested "time, effort, and belief" in him, praising his writing and encouraging him. The author recounts his rocky start as a writer, sending short stories to magazines and collecting rejection slips; getting a gig as a humor columnist for a college newspaper; taking creative writing classes; and submitting reviews, feature articles, screenplays for sitcom pilots, and scripts. He wrote tirelessly and obsessively, not eating or sleeping, until finally some of his efforts bore fruit. Successes, which seemed like miracles, often were followed with spectacular failures. Although he encourages young writers to work hard and follow their passion, the viciously competitive and capricious entertainment industry, as he portrays it, is not for the faint-hearted. Besides recalling professional challenges, Straczynski admits personal struggles resulting from emotional wounds: "social awkwardness" and "compulsive self-reliance" that made him unable to form lasting relationships.

Candid, often sordid, and definitely a page-turner.

Kirkus Reviews

“His true life story turns out to be as gripping and inspiring as any of his fiction.”

B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“Straczynski’s memoir more than lives up to the promises of its sub-subtitle…Joe never saves the world à la Superman, but pulls through with a heart, spine, and soul of steel. ..”

AV Club

“His ability to stay the course, to work hard at all times, and to keep writing were his salvation time and again. This book is a testament to that — and it is an inspiring, touching look at how someone born into darkness can find the light and go on to do great things.”

NPR

Part Hollywood how-to, part Frank McCourt-style reflection on emotional neglect and poverty, “Becoming Superman” is an enveloping look back at a unique career.

Washington Post

“Everything I read made me want to stand up and salute. I can’t stress enough how significant and moving (to say nothing of gripping and sometimes hilarious) this book is.  It’s a magnificent piece of work that will stay with me for a long, long time.”

Cory Doctorow

Part Hollywood how-to, part Frank McCourt-style reflection on emotional neglect and poverty, “Becoming Superman” is an enveloping look back at a unique career.

The Washington Post

His true life story turns out to be as gripping and inspiring as any of his fiction.

B&N Sci-Fi &Fantasy Blog

06/01/2019

Straczynski (Babylon 5; Changeling) tells all in this half-shocking, half-juicy memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional, abusive household and his path to becoming a television, movie, and comic book writer. Straczynski was raised in poverty in a family that saw more than its share of trauma: domestic violence, alcoholism, incest, murder, and even war crimes. The clan moved frequently to chase jobs and escape debt collectors, resulting in numerous school changes for Straczynski and his sisters. Despite the continuous upheaval, Straczynski earned two bachelor's degrees and began his writing career in the late 1970s. His work has resulted in hundreds of hours of television and five movies, plus more than 15 years' worth of releasing comics with publishers such as Top Cow, Image, DC, and Marvel. Straczynski holds court in this book, spinning one tale after another about his family, other writers, and the movie, television, and publishing industries. VERDICT Recommended for readers of true crime and intense family drama, behind-the-scenes stories of Hollywood and the world of publishing, sf/fantasy fandom, and, especially, Straczynski's work.—Monica Howell, Northwestern Health Sciences Univ. Lib., Bloomington, MN

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