Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
$28.24$28.24
FREE delivery: Thursday, April 25 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Hope's Ark
$13.89
Other Sellers on Amazon
FREE Shipping
100% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
100% positive over last 12 months
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample Sample
Follow the author
OK
Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood Hardcover – July 23, 2019
Purchase options and add-ons
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.
- Print length480 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Voyager
- Publication dateJuly 23, 2019
- Dimensions6 x 1.45 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100062857843
- ISBN-13978-0062857842
Books with Buzz
Discover the latest buzz-worthy books, from mysteries and romance to humor and nonfiction. Explore more
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
Review
“J. Michael Straczynski is, without question, one of the greatest science fiction minds of our time.” — Max Brooks (World War Z)
“Everything I read made me want to stand up and salute. I can’t stress enough how significant and moving (to say nothing of gripping and sometimes hilarious) this book is. It’s a magnificent piece of work that will stay with me for a long, long time.” — Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Walkaway
“Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. Straczynski embedded a mystery in an autobiography. Has to be a first.” — Dan DiDio, Editor in Chief, DC Comics
“Part Hollywood how-to, part Frank McCourt-style reflection on emotional neglect and poverty, “Becoming Superman” is an enveloping look back at a unique career.” — Washington Post
“His ability to stay the course, to work hard at all times, and to keep writing were his salvation time and again. This book is a testament to that ― and it is an inspiring, touching look at how someone born into darkness can find the light and go on to do great things.” — NPR
“I just finished reading Becoming Superman and can, without a mote of hyperbole, state it is one of the most terrifying and inspirational, funny and empathic nonfiction books of our time. I’m too old to be currying favors. Just trust me. Buy it or die!” — Walter Koenig
“A fascinating journey through careers in three different professions—comic books, TV, and movies—from an accomplished master of each. Rare to have such detail and such access. A major literary autobiography!” — Bestselling author Greg Bear
“Straczynski [...] delivers a frank memoir that’s equally harrowing and triumphant.” — Publishers Weekly
“Becoming Superman is a valuable resource for those wishing to look behind the curtain to one of pop culture’s most cherished and esteemed writers [...] It is an incredible story of familial abuse and its aftermath, of perseverance and fortitude, of endurance and determination. Highly recommended.” — Fantasy Book Review
“Gripping. An amazing testament to the range of human durability and determination, overcoming our impossibly dark side with something even more unlikely and miraculous -- hope.”
— Hugo and Nebula Award Winning Novelist David Brin
“A deeply moving testament to the power of storytelling, and a no-bullshit guide to becoming, if not Superman, a better person and writer.” — Tor.com
“Straczynski’s memoir more than lives up to the promises of its sub-subtitle…Joe never saves the world à la Superman, but pulls through with a heart, spine, and soul of steel. ..” — AV Club
“Straczynski’s life story is simultaneously horrifying and uplifting. He survives a childhood worse than almost anything you could imagine and ends up taking an unlikely path to Hollywood success. It’s funny, sad, infuriating, and inspiring--often all at once.” — Jason Snell, host of The Incomparable podcast
“His true life story turns out to be as gripping and inspiring as any of his fiction.” — B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog
“I’ve rarely felt such pain while reading a memoir, or felt so satisfied at its conclusion. It’s some kind of miracle that he’s taken this lifelong experience, leavened it with perspective, and created something so universal. Powerful, powerful stuff.” — Andy Ihnatko, Tech Author and Co-Host of The Material Podcast
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.
About the Author
Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning author and creator of many beloved books, graphic novels, short stories, film, television and theatre for all ages. He is the recipient of the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, and many Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. Neil has adapted many of his works to television series, including Good Omens (co-written with Terry Pratchett) and The Sandman. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and Professor in the Arts at Bard College. For a lot more about his work, please visit: https://www.neilgaiman.com/
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Voyager (July 23, 2019)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062857843
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062857842
- Item Weight : 1.48 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.45 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #552,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,649 in Author Biographies
- #4,720 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #16,396 in Memoirs (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
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.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
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.
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.
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.
Top reviews from other countries
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.
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.