Sometimes, the stories behind a work of entertainment are as interesting — or even more so — than the actual work. That holds true for music, for movies, for TV and now — judging from the basis of WAS SUPERMAN A SPY?: AND OTHER COMIC BOOK LEGENDS REVEALED — for comics.
An offshoot of a popular online column, Brian Cronin’s book peels back the layers of many famous — and several infamous — creations of DC, Marvel and other comic book companies. Some of the tales are merely interesting; some qualify as absolutely amazing. But weeding through the actual and the apocryphal is the intent of the book.
DC is first up, including such stories as Superman’s battle with the Ku Klux Klan, how much of Batman wasn’t created by Bob Kane, that the Atom was jokingly named after a real-life dwarf, legal troubles with fitness guru Charles Atlas and all-around headaches with Alan Moore.
Marvel is next, spotlighting how early Fantastic Four covers tried to disguise the fact that they were superheroes, why the creator of Venom got only $220 for doing so, how the Hulk was almost colored red for the 1970s TV series, Wolverine’s origins as an actual wolverine, singer Amy Grant’s court squabble with Dr. Strange, and Stan Lee initially turning down the idea of doing comics based on Conan the Barbarian and STAR WARS.
Tales involving all other publishers comprise the book’s final 40 pages, such as how an Uncle Scrooge comic influenced RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, EC Comics ripping off Ray Bradbury, and FANTASY ISLAND actor Hervé Villechaize’s brief career inking for Harvey Comics.
Well-illustrated, the book shares a wealth of did-you-know material that should appeal both to the casual four-color fan and the obsessive OVERSTREET PRICE GUIDE memorizers. The one thing I’d change about it would be to introduce each new item with a subhead that asks a question, as the cover’s examples do (i.e. “Did the inventor of the lie detector test also invent the lasso of truth?”). Otherwise, they don’t quite qualify as urban legends if not presented as such. That alone would make the book easier to navigate and grant it a little more playful mystery. —Rod Lott
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- The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America
- Free Comic Book Day this Saturday
- Why Comic-Book Geeks Need to Get Over Comic-Book Movies
- Titles lined up for Free Comic Book Day
- Legends
