Becoming Superman

With an introduction by Neil Gaiman 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.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.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, thehe 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. Best Download Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr When Joe Straczynski talks publicly about his difficult upbringing, it s easy to insert a generic, TV movie sort of rags to riches story Only in this book does he reveal, after most of the participants have died, the depths of the awfulness of his childhood and family It s almost certainly worse than you imagined.The magic of Becoming Superman, though, is that it s simultaneously horrifying and uplifting, and a great read It helps that not only is Straczynski an accomplished writer, but tha When Joe Straczynski talks publicly about his difficult upbringing, it s easy to insert a generic, TV movie sort of rags to riches story Only in this book does he reveal, after most of the participants have died, the depths of the awfulness of his childhood and family It s almost certainly worse than you imagined.The magic of Becoming Superman, though, is that it s simultaneously horrifying and uplifting, and a great read It helps that not only is Straczynski an accomplished writer, but that this is the story he s been training to tell for his entire life It s funny, sad, infuriating, and inspiring often a...If there is anything remarkable about my life, it is that I did not come out the other side a serial killer.When I review a book, I ll highlight passages I ll want to refer to after I complete it By the end of chapter two of J Michael Straczynski s autobiography Becoming Superman I had already highlighted an obscene amount of passages and notes expressing a mix of shock, incredulity, and an unhealthy amount of swearing Similar to Jeanette Walls The Glass Castle and Tara Westover s Educated, If there is anything remarkable about my life, it is that I did not come out the other side a serial killer.When I review a book, I ll highlight passages I ll want to refer to after I complete it By the end of chapter two of J Michael Straczynski s autobiography Becoming Superman I had already highlighted an obscene amount of passages and notes expressing a mix of shock, incredulity, and an unhealthy amount of swearing Similar to Jeanette Walls The Glass Castle and Tara Westover s Educated, the first half ...I first met Joe in 1984 when we both attended a talk by producer Dan Blatt about NBC s V series We were both fairly terrified at his pronouncement that SF could be anything, without being grounded in, you know, science We became friends and would run into one another at east and west coast conventions over the next few years before he blossomed into a prolific writer producer in TV.At one point, he expressed interest in comics which led me and or Marv Wolfman offering him an issue of Teen Tita I first met Joe in 1984 when we both attended a talk by producer Dan Blatt about NBC s V series We were both fairly terrified at his pronouncement that SF could be anything, without being grounded in, you know, science We became friends and would run into one another at east and west coast conventions over the next few years before he blossomed into a prolific writer producer in TV.At one point, he expressed interest in comics which led me and or Marv Wolfman offering him an issue of Teen Titans Spotlight, followed by my offer of an issue of Star Trek.But I had no idea about his background so when NetGalley offered me a chance to read a galley of his autobiography I snatched it up Somehow I miss...Holy cow.The first 16 pages are unnerving the next 12 pages will curdle your blood And it doesn t stop Chapter after chapter, the evil, the depravity, of the author s family mainly his father beggars belief For plenty of people, this is all they need for a five star memoir My Horrific Childhood could be the title of any number of popular books.This one is different Yes, the author wants to lay bare the details of his family history, but it is only because he wants to speak the truth He Holy cow.The first 16 pages are unnerving the next 12 pages will curdle your blood And it doesn t stop Chapter after chapter, the evil, the depravity, of the author s family mainly his father beggars belief For plenty of people, this is all they need for a five star memoir My Horrific Childhood could be the title of any number of popular books.This one is different Yes, the author wants to lay bare the details of his family history, but it is only because he wants to speak the truth He tells his story in the most matter of fact way, sometimes with dry humor, completely lacking self pity or even pathos It doesn t need pathos because it is awash in horror but even the horror is not the point No, the point of this book is to tell us how and why Joe Straczynski became a successful writer Of course, part of his becoming a writer involved surviving his childhood And then surviving Hollywood The remarkable thing, of course, is that he survives with his in...In this book, author J Michael Stracyznski JMS to his fans tells the story of his family and his life Starting with his grandparents, he gives us some background before telling us about his childhood under an abusive father and a distant mother In between moving every few months to stay ahead of creditors, JMS discovered ways to escape via TV shows, comic books, and science fiction As he discovered the power of words, he vowed to become a writer That desire eventually lead him to a career In this book, author J Michael Stracyznski JMS to his fans tells the story of his family and his life Starting with his grandparents, he gives us some background before telling us about his childhood under an abusive father and a distant mother In between moving every few months to stay ahead of creditors, JMS discovered ways to escape via TV shows, comic books, and science fiction As he discovered the power of words, he vowed to become a writer That desire eventually lead him to a career in comic books and in Hollywood on such things as He Man She Ra The Real Ghostbusters Babylon 5 Murder, She Wrote Sense8 and the movies Changeling, Thor, and World War Z.I picked up this book because I am an obsessive Babylon 5 fan Those picking it up for lots of Hollywood behind the scenes stories will be disappoint, although we do get some in the second half Instead, it isa story of his family, their sec...Full disclosure I won a free ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway And I m also a big fan of Straczynski s work I was first exposed to it in an issue of Teen Titans Spotlight, but I didn t really start to take notice of it until my wife and I started watching Babylon 5 around about season 3 or so Anyway, yes, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion I was going to like this You have been warned So This is an autobiography of J Michael Straczynski, who s written for movies, television, Full disclosure I won a free ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway And I m also a big fan of Straczynski s work I was first exposed to it in an issue of Teen Titans Spotlight, but I didn t really start to take notice of it until my wife and I started watching Babylon 5 around about season 3 or so Anyway, yes, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion I was going to like this You have been warned So This is an autobiography of J Michael Straczynski, who s written for movies, television, radio, comics, newspapers, and pretty much anything that will hold still long enough to be written on Unless you...This book is really good, an autobiography about someone whose work I knew, but not his personal history Straczynski digs deep into both, discussing everything from his work on some of my favorite TV shows, Real Ghostbusters, He Man, and his creation, Babylon 5 He details his comic book work, including writing the issue of Spider Man where the Marvel heroes and villains reacted to the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks JMS gets to all that, but first, he discusses how he rose from poverty and su This book is really good, an autobiography about someone whose work I knew, but not his personal history Straczynski digs deep into both, discussing everything from his work on some of my favorite TV shows, Real Ghostbusters, He Man, and his creation, Babylon 5 He details his comic book work, including writing the issue of Spider Man where the Marvel heroes and villains reacted to the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks JMS gets to all that, but first, he discusses how he rose from...I received a copy of Becoming Superman from HarperCollins Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Wow, this book was exceptional The beginning was horrifying but somehow entrancing in a way that all survivor stories are.Joe Straczynski made a choice and by Grabthars h...My father was a monster As a fan who s seen J Michael Straczynski JMS at a number of appearances, I d heard those words and imagined the worst father I d ever known or heard of I couldn t have beenwrong if I d been picturing Mr Rogers.Year by year, step by step, JMS describes every conscious decision he made, even while extremely young, that would form him into the man he wanted to be, not what seemed destined by family and society Leavened with snark and humor, the book is grippi My father was a monster As a fan who s seen J Michael Straczynski JMS at a number of appearances, I d heard those words and imagined the worst father I d ever known or heard of I couldn t have beenwrong if I d been picturing Mr Rogers.Year by year, step by step, JMS describes every conscious decision he made, even while extremely young,...From comic books to real life, this author engages the reader This book is a rarity the chance to get to know the life of a creative voice, the reality that exists behind authorship and invention.Just an amazing book.Not always an easy read there is a lot of dark and terrible things in Straczynski s life but an absolutely compelling read I did not want to put this down These original reading dates say it took me almost a month in reality, it waslike two or three days, just separated by several weeks of classwork I personally became aware of Straczynski because of Babylon 5, which is obviously discussed, but not particularly in depth I suspect this is because he covered it all quite thorough Not always an easy read there is a lot of dark and terrible things in Straczynski s life but an absolutely compelling read I did not want to put this down These original reading dates say it took me almost a month in reality, it waslike two or three days, just separated by several weeks of classwork I personally became aware of Straczynski because of Babylon 5, which is obviously discussed, but not particularly in depth I suspect this is bec...Some of us might know Joseph Michael Straczynski through his work on Babylon 5 Some of us came to know him through his time on the Spider Man and Superman comic book lines Some might have found Joe by browsing on Netflix and finding Sense8 Some of us might even know him primarily through his always amusing and often insightful Twitter feed Well, unless you ve read this book, you don t know Joe.Becoming Superman is a surprisingly intimate, honest, and at times raw look back on Straczynski s l Some of us might know Joseph Michael Straczynski through his work on Babylon 5 Some of us came to know him through his time on the Spider Man and Superman comic book lines Some might have found Joe by browsing on Netflix and finding Sense8 Some of us might even know him primarily through his always amusing and often insightful Twitter feed Well, unless you ve read this book, you don t know Joe.Becoming Superman is a surprisingly intimate, honest, and at times raw look back on Straczynski s life, especially his youth Reading this book, I felt like I was afforded a peak inside the mind of a brilliant writer sometimes haunted by demons from his past Straczynski s life story is in parts both depressing and inspiring, sometimes all at the same time And being a master storyteller, Straczynski knows exactly how to tell his life s story to keep readers engaged I m reluctant to talk too much about Straczynski s life in this review because there are details that I think ne...Originally published at Reading RealityI jumped at the chance to read this book and be on this tour because, well, basically because Babylon 5 Which I ve watchedthan once, and have frequently cited in regards to its treatment of chaos vs order in the Shadow War Because that dichotomy rears its head, over and over, in SF, in Fantasy, in life.It s what makes Loki such a fascinating character, because he represents chaos While the MCU may equate chaos with evil, it ain t necessarily so T Originally published at Reading RealityI jumped at the chance to read this book and be on this tour because, well, basically because Babylon 5 Which I ve watchedthan once, and have frequently cited in regards to its treatment of chaos vs order in the Shadow War Because that dichotomy rears its head, over and over, in SF, in Fantasy, in life.It s what makes Loki such a fascinating character, because he represents chaos While the MCU may equate chaos with evil, it ain t necessarily so There s a reason why seemingly every mythology has a chaos avatar because chaos and the response to it pushes us forward.It s what makes Ben Franklin s quote about sacrificing freedom to obtain security so powerful, as freedom is generally a bit chaotic, while security generally aligns with order But too much of either, no matter how well intentioned, is always a bad thing.The surprising thing about this autobiography is just how much chaos swirled around the author s...

• 08 February 2018
J. Michael Straczynski
• ebook
• 480 pages
• 0062857851
• J. Michael Straczynski
• Becoming Superman