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Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood Kindle Edition

by J. Michael Straczynski (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition

4.9 671 ratings

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A Hugo Award Nominee!

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.

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"Gripping. An amazing testament to the range of human durability and determination."

-- "David Brin, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author"

"A hugely successful writer for TV, movies, and comics makes his debut as a memoirist with a stunning chronicle of survival...Candid, often sordid, and definitely a page-turner."

-- "Kirkus Reviews"

From the Back Cover

In this dazzling memoir, the acclaimed writer behind Babylon 5, Sense8, Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, and Marvel’s Thor reveals how the powers of creativity and imagination enabled him to overcome the horrors of his youth in a dysfunctional family haunted by a terrible secret to become one of the most successful writers in Hollywood

For four decades, J. Michael Straczynski has told hundreds of stories and forged multiple careers in movies, television, and comics. Yet there’s one story he’s never told before: his own.

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 as his father tried desperately to escape the consequences of his past.

To survive this environment Joe found refuge in his beloved comics and in his dreams, immersing himself in imaginary worlds populated by superheroes whose 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. The result was a writer’s journey that would take him beyond anything he could have imagined.

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 broke the cycle of violence to become the hero of his own narrative. It is also a road map for growth as a writer and a compelling behind-the-scenes look at some of the most successful TV series and movies recognized around the world.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07F13YLYH
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Voyager; Reprint edition (July 23, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 23, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4060 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 462 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #517,169 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #226 in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers (Kindle Store)
- #902 in Biographies & Memoirs of Authors
- #1,122 in Biographies of Artists, Architects & Photographers (Books)

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J. Michael Straczynski

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J. Michael Staczynski was born in Paterson, NJ in 1954, from a lower-middle-class blue-collar family that moved 21 times in his first 18 years. He began writing in earnest and selling at the age of 17 and hasn't stopped since. He graduated San Diego State University with degrees in Psychology and Sociology.

As a journalist, he has written over 500 published articles for such periodicals as The Los Anglees Times, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Writer's Digest, San Diego Magazine, the San Diego and Los Angeles Reader and TIME, Inc. He has also published numerous short stories in Amazing Science Fiction Magazine, Pulphouse, and various anthologies.

As a television writer and producer, he has written over 300 produced episodes, including work on The New Twilight Zone and Murder She Wrote. He also wrote, created and produced the series Babylon 5, Crusade, Jeremiah and most recently, Sense8 for Netflix.

Moving from TV to film, he wrote Changeling (directed by Clint Eastwood), Ninja Assassin (produced by the Wachowskis), provided the story for Thor (directed by Kenneth Branagh), wrote Underworld 4 (starring Kate Beckinsale), and has written numerous other films that are currently slated for production.

He has won the Hugo Award (twice), the Saturn Award, the Eisner Award, the Inkpot Lifetime Achievement Award, the E Pluribus Unum Award from the American Cinema Foundation, the Space Frontier Foundation award, the Ray Bradbury Award, the Christopher Award, and over a dozen others.

He was also nominated for a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for his screenplay for Changeling.

He writes ten hours a day, every day, and he likes it a lot.

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Jamie Z Fox

Heartfelt tragedy and soaring optimism expertly woven together

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2023

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Like many, I came to JMS via _Babylon 5_ nearly three decades ago. Some scenes were too close to home. Others inspirational beyond my worlds. The writing brought alive characters who deeply touched my heart.

This book is the most engaging autobiography I've ever read, mainly because JMS is a supreme writer, carrying the reader page to page to page.

There's great information here for anyone interested in *some* behind the scenes reality of B5. And others for his zillion other works. But what matters here is the human story of a child, with a love for stray animals, caught in a torrent of violence and bigotry, a nomad, who stayed true "to the calling of his heart" (Delenn, from B5), and achieved astounding success. Excellent read. Highly recommended.

Thank you, Great Maker.

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Joe Karpierz

Riveting autobiography from the creator of Babylon 5

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2020

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There's a subtitle to this book, which really kind of says it all about the life of J. Michael Straczynski, probably most well known as the creator of Babylon 5, and it goes like this: "With Stops Along the Way at Murder, Madness, Mayhem, Movie Stars, Cults, Slums, Sociopaths, and War Crimes". Sadly, none of this is exaggeration or anything of the sort. If you want a summary of all that, JMS, as he is known, has a nice summary of the book on his Twitter feed from back when it was just about to be released. The subtitle is a succinct overview of that summary and of the book. It's likely that some of what I say will be a rehash of that summary (no, I don't have it open as I write this), but it - and the book - does shed a light on what made JMS the writer that he became.

My first encounter with JMS was, as maybe for a lot of people, with Babylon 5, his seminal work and which I'm positive will be what he is known for long after everything else he's done has been forgotten. I really didn't know much about his work prior to Babylon 5, although I did my best to keep up with what he did after the show ended its run back in the late 1990s. Becoming Superman does its due diligence in recounting all the things that he has worked on in television, movies, and comic books. As examples, in comics he did a 7 year run on the Amazing Spiderman (which to this day I still have all the issues of), a run on Superman itself, as well as other books, including his own line of comics. Television? Too many to count, I think. Most people know about the Babylon 5 follow-up, Crusade, as well as Jeremiah and Sense8 (which I have, sadly, yet to see any of). I'm sure there are some folks out there know that he worked on Jake and Fatman, Murder She Wrote, and a revival of The Twilight Zone, for which he wrote a script from a Rod Serling outline. He worked on many cartoons, including She-Ra and Masters of the Universe. In movies, he's worked on several genre movies, and wrote the screenplay for Changeling, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Angelina Jolie, a result of years of research from back in the day when he was a journalist.

But Becoming Superman is more than just list all the above accomplishments, the kind of list most autobiographies contain. It is a story of a family that is about as dysfunctional and violent as I have ever heard of, and how that family life shaped JMS into the writer he has become. His father was a violent drunk, who beat his mother and him on a regular basis, and who has a deep, dark secret from his past that is just barely hinted at in the subtitle to the book. Aside from the war crimes, Charles Straczynski was a criminal who evaded the law by moving all over the country for years. JMS never really had a solid home because of this. He eventually tried to escape by various means (insert the "cults" here), and eventually did get away.

But it's not all bad and sad stuff. His youth, while stunting his social growth, also by necessity turned him into a persistent and stubborn individual who never gave up, and who never compromised his principles. Those uncompromising principles are on full display as he gained a reputation in Hollywood for being difficult to work with. He left Jeremiah, Crusade, and other shows due to what he saw as interference in telling the story he wanted to tell (there is advice from
a revered writer to this effect, advice which he took to heart but at the same time led to him being difficult while simultaneously helped him become a successful writer), but when left alone to tell the story he wanted to tell, a classic was born in Babylon 5.

Clearly there's a lot more to the story than I've talked about here. I didn't know much about the life of JMS before I read Becoming Superman, but as it turns out, there's a good reason for that. The family didn't want to talk about its secrets because of just how heinous they were. Once JMS decided to break the family silence, it all came pouring out in this book. Quite frankly, what he went through would have demoralized most people to the point of giving up. Becoming Superman is the tale of a man who did not give up, and the science fiction world is better for it. It's riveting reading. At times it's not very pleasant. At times it's uplifting. But it lets the world know that a person can overcome terrible hardships and become whatever they want to be. I think we all need that kind of story now and again.

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CJ Reid

Masterful Autobiography

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019

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My comments on Mr. Straczynski's "Becoming Superman" occurs on two levels. The first level -- to borrow a term from Noam Chomsky -- is related to the "surface level" of the book: it's explicit story and events in the author's life. Each year I purchase several books from Amazon. I have an entire bookshelf of biographies and autobiographies -- from Vercingetorix and Caesar to JFK and Greta Garbo. Mr. Straczynski's autobiography is without a doubt the best autobiography I've read. It in sense, it is an important book. I suspect that any reader would appreciate it, remembering that readers would relate to the book differently, depending on their own life experiences. It is indeed a good read. It's easily read; and most people can related to it in one way or another. And when you read it, lay aside all your psychological and social preconceptions, which the book may or may not validate. I can easily recommend it especially to members of the Millennial and Gen-Z generations. They all should read it. I'll leave it at that and say nothing more. You'll still enjoy the book.

The second level is an analysis at a "deep level." A "deep level analysis" would depend on a particular frame of reference: for example, a psychological frame of reference, an authorial analysis, perhaps a mythical analysis. My "deep level" frame of reference concerns the concept, "rationality." Even rationality has a variety of approaches. There are "theoretical" approaches, case-study approaches, and so forth. As it happens, my particular academic area of study deals with rationality and the issues related to examining case studies, which may be rational or irrational. For example, JFK's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis was rational; LBJ's decisions that led American into the Vietnam War were basically irrational. At the individual level, Vercingetorix's surrender to Caesar was rational; Custer's decision to attack a Sioux village was irrational.

Mr. Stracznski's book manifests a number of instances of rationality, starting with his early childhood decisions to ensure his survival. In the nuclear age the Summum Bonum of human action and an ethic related to rationality is survival of the human species. Pursuit of this value begins at the individual level: then, survival of the community on this earth is primary, indeed, an explicit value in the Old Testament. In the context of human survival, preserving freedom of choice and action is the definition of rationality. When you read through Mr. Straczynski's book, you'll note how he acts to preserve his survival as a child; and, as time and his choices progress through a sequence of contexts, he makes a set of decisions that on the surface appears to be "unconventional," but in fact at a deeper level are manifestations of rationality. [If you have nothing to compare my analysis of Mr. Straczynski's decisions and actions with any other life story, I can recommend the book, "South: The Endurance Expedition," by Ernest Shackleton, a completely different narrative, but one that explicitly demonstrates a sequence of rational decision making.]

Simply put, "Becoming Superman" is a masterful book, well-written, easily read, and likely to be meaningful to anyone who reads it, albeit in a sui generis personal way.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Good Biography

Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2024

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Great book read by one of the excellent stars from the series Babylon 5, Peter Juracik.

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dvdden

I'm not a reader of autobiograhy's but this was great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2023

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It doesn't matter whether you like Babylon 5, Spiderman, Superman or if you just need a good book to read there is plenty in this book for you to read.
Babylon 5 fans you get some new information about the creation of the show and also tales about Michael O' Hare, Andreas Katsulas among the chapters.
There is the story behind the 9/11 black issue of The Amazing Spiderman or Superman Earth One both iconic in there own way.
While his story of fighting his way literally through life is also brilliantly written.

George van Hill

Mustread for any Babylon5 fan

Reviewed in the Netherlands on August 7, 2022

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As a B5 fan this is a complete mustread. Will shed a whole new light on the show and just generally what a story to read...Joe crawled out of hell to deliver us his fantastic stories. Thank you.

DTM

Imprescindible

Reviewed in Spain on January 5, 2020

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Como todo lo que firma Straczynski, tiene una cualidad intrínseca: te atrapa al vuelo y no te suelta hasta mucho después de haber terminado la lectura.

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Eichbjörnchen

Interessante, aber nicht immer leichte Kost...

Reviewed in Germany on August 6, 2019

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Oder - um es mit den Ärzten zu sagen: "Puh, das war harter Stoff".
Wer ein locker-leichtes Buch erwartet, in dem JMS munter seinen Werdegang schildert, liegt - zumindest für die erste Hälfte - sehr, sehr falsch. Dort lässt er sich nämlich ausgiebig über seine Familie aus, die mit dem Wort "dysfunktional" noch eher wohlwollend umschrieben ist. Der Vater wird als Monster betitelt und nach allem, was man über ihn im Laufe dieser Autobiographie erfährt, ist auch dies eigentlich noch zu harmlos ausgedrückt. Dass Straczynski bei dieser Familiengeschichte kein Serienmörder geworden ist, verwundert durchaus. Zeigt aber auch, dass die Verweise von Straftätern auf ihre "schlimme Kindheit" bestenfalls eine Erklärung, aber keine Entschuldigung sein können. Ab der zweiten Hälfte erzählt er dann von seinen Anfängen in Hollywood. Erst in der Animation (u.a. He-Man, She-Ra und Real Ghostbusters) und dann im Fernsehen (Captain Power). Inklusiver der Leistung, in beiden Bereichen auf der "Blacklist" zu landen (letzteres wegen "Jeremiah"). Einen grossen Teil nimmt natürlich sein opus magnum "Babylon 5" ein. Auch hier sind die Auseinandersetzungen, die er sich mit diversen Studios liefert sehr interessant (nicht zuletzt, weil Paramount seine Konzepte ziemlich dreist und offensichtlich für "Deep Space Nine" "geborgt" hat). Danach geht's dann wie erwähnt dank "Jeremiah" wieder den Bach runter, bis er sich zusammenreisst und "Changeling" schreibt, was ihn in die A-Liste Hollywoods katapultiert. Dazu natürlich noch seine erfolgreichen Comicprojekte. Dazwischen wird es aber immer wieder melancholisch, wenn er über das Ableben seiner B5-Begleiter schreibt.
Heftig, wenn er über Michael O'Hares paranoiabedingten Abstieg in den Wahnsinn schreibt.
Traurig, wenn er darüber schreibt, wie plötzlich Richard Biggs aus dem Leben gerissen wurde.
Beklemmend, wenn er darlegt, wie Zack Conaway als Drogenwrack endet.
Deprimierend, wenn er zeigt, wie Jerry Doyle sich buchstäblich zu Tode gesoffen hat, weil er keine Hilfe von aussen annehmen wollte.
Mitfühlend, wie man miterleben muss, wie Harlan Ellison körperlich verfällt.
Aber auch rührend, wenn er einen letzten gemeinsamen Abend beschreibt, an dem er, Andreas Katsulas und ein paar andere noch mal viel Spass hatten, bevor Katsulas - der sich mit seinem Schicksal abgefunden hatte - wenig später aufgrund seiner Krebserkrankung verstirbt.
Ein bißchen befremdlich allerdings, dass Stephen Furst mit keiner Silbe erwähnt wird.
Trotz allem in weiten Strecken ein sehr motivierendes Buch voller lustiger Anekdoten (z.B. sein Treffen mit Rod Serling), in dem er viele Tips gibt, wie man es als Autor zu etwas bringt und wie man diverse Hürden, die einem das Leben in den Weg wirft, meistern kann.

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Gabe

Riveting and Inspiring

Reviewed in Australia on June 15, 2023

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Whether you have been aware of his contributions in tv comics or movies over the last 40 years. This book is an awesome read, detailing his life and works in the most immersive way.

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