It seems like there’s a pile of stuff on my Amazon wishlist at any given time, way more than I have time to even get to, however, it makes for great Christmas gift options for my wife!  Among the books I got this year during the holidays was one I had seen talked about on social media channels I follow quite a bit, and was published last fall, “Voices from Krypton” by Edward Gross.  

I’ve never read a book by Ed Gross, who apparently has become something of a pop culture guru over the years, in that he has written similar books about the history of Star Trek, Star Wars, James Bond, and others.  Looking up his resume, I found that he used to write for several sci-fi magazines I used to read frequently, most notably Cinescape.com, which I still miss!  I tore through this 702-page behemoth, chronicling the history of the Man of Steel, over the entire month of January, and wanted to share a few of my thoughts here.

Pros:

“The definitive book on Superman.” – Mark Waid

I’ve read so many great histories of comics and Superman- “Super Boys,” “Men of Tomorrow,” Tye’s “Superman,” and others- that despite the hype I wasn’t sure if this would be a redundant retelling.  However, what separates Ed’s books from others, apparently, is the way in which nearly the entire book is quotes by those involved, with a little of his commentary sprinkled in simply as segway from one topic to the next.  At first it was a little jarring, as I’m more used to one author writing about an entire subject themselves, and guiding the reader through it.  After the first 10-20 pages, however, I found myself getting used to the flow of one quote after another, and found myself enjoying it quite a bit.  If you were to imagine each one of the individuals speaking, it’s as if you’re watching a documentary which moves from one interviewee to the next and with a narrator occasionally chiming in, just without pictures.  As such, the book ended up being a really interesting read.

Ed also does a good job of giving a fair share of time to every notable period in the Man of Steel’s history, something that’s hard to do.  His book is equal parts comic books, TV shows, and movies, with great contributions from the key players in Every. Single. Thing.  One of the aspects of pop culture history books that drives me nuts is how an author might tend to hone in on their favorite era or topic, and devote the majority of the book to it.  I’ve seen this time and again when it comes to Superman, with most histories talking extensively about the Silver and Bronze Ages, when understandably a good deal of Superman’s popularity was at its peak, but at the expense of the Modern Age, or others.

Whether it’s the legal saga of Siegel and Shuster, the making of the Reeve films, Superboy season 3 or “Kryptonite Nevermore,” Gross touches on all of it, and doesn’t short change anybody.  Each season of Smallville is talked about as much as the George Reeves’ Adventures of Superman or anything else that had a season of television.  Heck, even Tim Burton’s unmade Superman Lives film, as well as the full-length Schnepp documentary, is touched on here pretty extensively.  If you’re coming at this book hoping to get something from your favorite era, you’ll be happy with this.

The interviews are all really great as well, with many of them having been done for just this book.  When it came to those creators who had passed on before it was put together, Gross did a good job of tracking down older interviews with relevant commentary and including them, as well.  I was blown away by how much I had not heard or read about so many Superman creators (and I’ve read a lot!).  You get to hear from George Reeves’ cast members what their thoughts were about his death, the shady business the Salkinds were involved in, the long trudge through Hollywood red tape to get to Superman Returns and so much more.  This book was super informative and really interesting, but be forewarned, if you’re more of a casual fan, you’re going to be wading through a lot of information you may not care about, even if I was totally fine with it.

Great, great stuff.

Cons:

Not too many down sides to this book!  The only minor quibbles I might have about it would be that, because it is an unofficial history (which is even stated on the cover) it really would have benefited from an editor, or at the very least another proofreader.  There’s probably a typo every 3-4 pages, which, if you care about it, kind of takes you out of what you’re reading, and makes it feel a bit like a purely fan project (which I guess it is).  Thankfully, it doesn’t make or break the book by any stretch.

I mentioned earlier about how most Superman fans gravitate to the Silver and Bronze Ages, in my experience, which is totally fine, but some historians Gross interviews speak poorly about Superman’s modern age in comics- the “Triangle Era” and “Death and Return of Superman” years, which is too bad because they also have a lot of fans, including yours truly.  Ed did do a nice job including commentary by creators from those eras for sure, so at least there’s that, but I would have preferred historians of more recent eras speaking about them as well.

Also, while I personally don’t care that much as I never really got into them, Ed devotes minimal pages to the DC animated films of recent years which feature Superman.  He definitely touches upon those a bit, but not as much as other animated works, so if you’re a fan of these you might be disappointed.  Then again, if you’re a casual fan of Superman, you might also be disappointed, as this is way more information that you’ll probably need or care to know.  Definitely for the passionate fan, only.

Conclusion:

A really great book with great information on our favorite character which fans will no doubt love, told in a style that is different from other books on the same topic.  Definitely going to look into other books Gross has written as well now.  I highly recommend it!

Capeage Meter: 9 out of 10