Fascinating and often bizarre true stories behind more than 130 urban legends about comic book culture
Was Superman a Spy? demystifies all of the interesting stories, unbelievable anecdotes, wacky rumors, and persistent myths that have piled up like priceless back issues in the seventy-plus years of the comic book industry, including:
• Elvis Presley's trademark hairstyle was based on a comic book character (True)
• Stan Lee featured a gay character in one of Marvel's 1960s war comics (False)
• Wolverine of the X-Men was originally meant to be an actual wolverine! (True)
• What would have been DC's first black superhero was changed at the last moment to a white hero (True)
• A Dutch inventor was blocked from getting a patent on a process because it had been used previously in a Donald Duck comic book (True)
With many more legends resolved, Was Superman a Spy? is a must-have for the legions of comic book fans and all seekers of "truth, justice, and the American way."
billyconard
Posted June 29, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. Evan being a big comic book fan, I still learned quite a bit by by reading this. The anecdotes and stories are well organized and written.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The most interesting part of this entire book was when the author wrote about an episode of Mythbusters that he watched.
No, really. He watched an episode of Mythbusters and wrote about it. (See pages 201 - 203)
And he wants you to pay for it.
If that weren't bad enough, other books have covered most of the same material, and done a much better job of it. Honestly, this book reads like a junior high book report on those other books.
If you want specific examples (with page citations) of the poor editing and grammatical inanities, I've posted a more thorough review under this pen name on another website.
Please, save your money and don't encourage this kind of laziness.
1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 4, 2013
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Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 29, 2012
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous
Posted October 28, 2012
Worst book EVER !!!!!!!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 9, 2012
A collection and reworkingof Cronin's terrific weekly colu,n at CBR, this is worth buying if only to keep more coming in the future...but for far more reasons than that, too.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 3, 2012
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0 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 27, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Fascinating and often bizarre true stories behind more than 130 urban legends about comic book culture
Was Superman a Spy? demystifies all of the interesting stories, unbelievable anecdotes, wacky rumors, and persistent myths that have piled up like priceless back issues in the seventy-plus years of the comic book industry, including:
• Elvis Presley's trademark hairstyle was based on a comic book character (True)
• Stan Lee featured a gay character in one of Marvel's 1960s war ...