Becoming Superman audiobook

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 all at once.Beyond the horrific family secrets, there's also the story of how Straczynski built his career by ping-ponging from school plays to local newspapers to animation to live-action TV to comics to--in a surprisingly dramatic moment--feature films. By the time he collects a million-dollar check for a spec screenplay, you will be cheering--because you'll see how far he's come from his childhood in New Jersey.The subject matter of "Becoming Superman" is difficult, but the book itself is engrossing and enjoyable. You don't need to be a fan of "Babylon 5" or "Sense8" or "The Real Ghostbusters" or "She-Ra" to enjoy this book. You just have to be an empathetic human being.

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 missed the bits and pieces of his past he has been publically discussing since his father died in 2011 so this was all revelatory to me. They say an author is the sum of his experiences and let me tell you, this man has endured much which goes to explain why he's such an interesting writer regardless of medium. He grew up on the move, relocating annually if not more frequently, unable to form friendships or even excel in school. His parents were dysfunctional, wth dad outright abusive to all around him. The extended family also harbored secrets, which he doles out throughout the narrative. The summation is horrifying and I pity Joe and his sisters for enduring all of this.He goes on to explore how he became a writer despite the above and his experience as a journalist, animation and live-action television writer prior to moving into a production role. He doesn't shy away from the Baylon 5 vs. Deep Space Nine controversy or the demons that afflicted several of the B5 cast.This is an open and honest examination of the past, with some advice for writers sprinkled throughout. I felt compelled to keep turning the page, a sign of a well-told tale. If you like anything Joe has produced, this is a worthwhile read.

J. Michael Straczynski has been on my radar ever since Babylon 5 aired. Being a writer, myself, I liked to pay attention to stories and attach them to their creators no matter what the medium was, and Joe Straczynski had quickly become a superstar for me. Honestly, I would have just read this book for all the cool projects he had been involved with, from a large handful of He-Man and She-Ra, to the first (good) season of The Real Ghostbusters, to Babylon 5, to his writing and short acting debut within Thor (being the first man to find the hammer), to his long comic runs of Spider-Man and Superman, to even Sense8. And all of this is included, and a lot more besides. I wanted to rage, cry, and whoop for joy with Joe. I STILL can't get over the fact that he's never seen a cent out of Babylon 5.But this book, strangely enough, is NOT really about that or any of the other projects. There's a lot of detail, sure, and it was fascinating as hell, but the real story is Joe's life.His LIFE is ONE HELL of a STORY. I can't even really BEGIN to tell it. But suffice to say, he has gone through some major shit. His father was a real piece of work, and just let me mention this: I've read a LOT of books and this asshole ranks up there with fictional douchebags that are written AS sensationalized assholes.I'm frankly amazed. By any normal standards, Joe should be a broken man taking the usual route of continuing the old tragedies, but he consciously used his parents as a model of what not to do and broke a completely new trail. My words cannot do any of this justice. Joe writes one hell of a good story about his own life and backs it up with a lot of supporting research, but the spoilers are VERY hardcore. I can't just come out and SAY them because this was not just an autobiography -- it's a THRILLER.Suffice to say, I think this book belongs on everyone's bookshelf. It not only demands respect in and of itself, but so does the man. He is a model of perseverance at all costs. He has NOT had very good luck, no matter how self-effacing he is in his prose. He's gracious, a good man, and not only is he an utter nightmare behind a typewriter, but he's also one of the most prolific writers out there. He wrote almost every episode of Babylon 5. But most importantly, he knew how to take a beating and NEVER BACK DOWN even when the big boys in the networks or the censorship brigades demanded that he change the basic story. He never settles for less than the story he was made to write.Of course, this strength had to come from somewhere. He went from having Superman in the comics save him as a kid to having saved Superman as an adult. I'm telling you, this man knows how to tell a FINE story. :)

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 of Joe’s life depicts a child raised by… let’s call it unconventional means. But the similarities end there. Joe was raised by his parents and grandmother who were Polish immigrants and Nazi sympathizers. His father Charles is the pure embodiment of evil, a truly sick a vile man whose atrocities are too long to list, and he plays a central role in the story of Joe’s life. Charles is one of the most despicable humans I’ve had the displeasure of learning about, and he takes on the mantle of ‘head villain’ of Joe’s origin story. For Joe to overcome this villain and unearth his family’s various abhorrent secrets, he must rise above their absence of affection, their lack of morals, and their penchant for violence and abuse. Joe must become Superman.The only thing more shocking than the early half of Joe’s life is what happens after. Joe’s story is one that needs to be told. How he didn’t end up dead, imprisoned, or worse is a testament to his strength of will and his determination to never compromise his values. “I swore to never settle for It’s better here, it’s safer here. I would take chances, even if that meant risking everything.” Joe’s life teetered between success and failure for decades, never being able to establish steady work more than a couple of years before it all blows up in his face. Although most of his early life was spent under constant threat of physical violence and emotional abuse, Joe never wavered from his principals, relying on the teachings of comic book heroes to guide his moral compass.The horror stories from his childhood alone would be enough to sell plenty of books. But the fact that Joe became an iconic creator of She-Ra, an author of novels and dozens of short stories, the creator and show-runner of Babylon 5 and Sense 8, and screenwriter of Thor, Changeling, and other Hollywood films, is an incredible story on its own. It’s almost as if we’re getting two different life stories in one book. The writing is infused with humor and wisdom, with a sharp awareness that at times feels like Joe is an outside observer to his own experiences.This book is explicitly detailed, and its many revelations are at times truly hard to believe. But the author addresses why these memoirs are so vividly recalled, especially during his early years:There was no room for me to just be a kid, no place where I felt safe. My early memories are highly detailed because my environment was constantly changing. I became hypervigilant and self-reliant, meticulously logging everything around me and learning the rules that would allow me to adapt to wherever I was being dumped that week.This book isn’t just Joe’s story, it’s a book about stories themselves: how they’re crafted and the process behind their creation, the massive failures, creative challenges, and the incremental successes that feel all too familiar. While I thankfully don’t share many early life experiences with Joe, there are many lessons learned that can easily be applied to any of our lives.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. While at times painful and horrific, it also serves as a powerful inspiration for fighting through the very worst of situations to test your limits and realize your goals. It is an incredible story of familial abuse and its aftermath, of perseverance and fortitude, of endurance and determination. Highly recommended. It doesn’t matter if you’re seventeen, or fifty-seven--if you come from a poor background or a rich one, if you went to the best schools or the worst. It. Doesn’t. Matter. What matters is listening to the small voice at the back of your head that says this is what gives me joy.9.0 / 10HarperCollins provided an ARC for review. Becoming Superman is on sale July 23, 2019.

For a journalism course in college, we were assigned an in-depth piece on a business issue. Being a fan of sci-fi pop culture, I decided to marry my love of two new series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon Five in my assignment. Both shows were in their early days (B5 was about six to seven episodes into season one) and I decided to look at the business aspects of what kept a syndicated genre series on the airwaves.At the time, B5 creator J. Michael Stracysnki had an open dialogue with the Internet, taking us behind the scenes at the creation of his space opera. (Think DVD extras before there were DVDs). JMS (as he was called online) posted his email address in the B5 forums (ask you parents, kids) and I crafted an email to him, outlining my project and what I hoped to achieve.I received back a reply from JMS, stating that he understood what I was doing and that he was extremely busy running his show. But he didn't want to dismiss the request of a college student and as long as the article wasn't published for anytime of gain beyond a grade and I came up with three good questions (no more), he would be happy to do what he could. I then got to work, getting my background and drafting the article. When I got to a point that I felt like I could and should approach JMS again, I sent him three questions along with a draft of my story. A day later, he responded. But it wasn't just a few curt answers to my questions. What JMS gave me was several good, quotable paragraphs for my story (reading this autobiography and seeing that he worked for a time as a journalist makes it clear why he did this). I used the quotes, put the polishing touches on my article and turned it in. I got an "A" on the story and I made sure to send a thank you message to JMS, letting him know that his comments had helped as had his encouragement.I'm a writer junkie -- I tend to find and follow writers. I'm one of the few people who will read the crawl on the opening of a TV show to see who wrote a particular episode (I blame Doctor Who because the writer of a story is hugely important there). And when JMS took the time to work with me, it cemented my fandom and I've followed his career with interest ever since. I can't say I've seen or read everything he's written (I've still got to find time for Sense 8), but I've seen and read a lot. Which is why I was eager to pick up his autobiography. As I've come to expect from several decades of JMS' written output, Becoming Superman is compelling, page-turning and compulsively readable. And reading it, my profound respect for the man and writer JMS has become grew in leaps and bounds. The sheer amount of things he had to overcome, from his abusive, manipulative father to his family full of secrets, only enhances the respect I have for him. It also makes me understand a bit more about his generous nature and spirit (again, see the story above about my article) and his encouragement of other writers. JMS knows what it's like to serve the writing muse and that passion to the creative side comes across here. This isn't an easy read. As JMS uncovers and relates stories about his family, there are some hard truths and struggles chronicled. But you can see a bit of the catharsis taking place as JMS tells these stories. He also points out that he tells aspiring writers that if he can do it, anyone can but then realized he hadn't provided the backstory for them to understand why.He has now. And I thank him for a great, moving and powerful read.

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 integrity intact, hence the title: Becoming Superman (a title with many layers of significance in this many-layered book).I especially appreciate Straczynski's style. So many memoirs read like fiction, a quality I despise. I distrust plot arcs in nonfiction; I find it alienating. Now, Straczynski does have a sense of dramatic tension, and to keep the story from flagging does dole out some facts more slowly than others, but the overarching quality of his writing is that of utmost honesty. His effort to be accurate as possible to historical facts and his own internal experiences lift this memoir above the rest, along with his clear goal of making meaning and creating value in his life.This is an amazing, almost incredible tale with the strongest possible moral core. A recurring point of reflection is how bullies use victimhood narratives to justify their abuse of others, and that, moreover, the only way the real victims can survive and succeed is by casting off victimhood itself. There's so much more to it, too. The focus on personal agency and choice in the face of unbelievable odds is certainly my favorite part, but there are also themes of emotional connection/alienation, rage, responsibility, loyalty, self-expression, and courage. And then there's all the crazy stuff, not just his horrible childhood but oh, you know, the cult, the censors, the shady dealings, the "murder, madness and mayhem" of the title. All glued together by a focus on what writing is for, the writer's craft, what Harlan Ellison called a "holy chore." And an abiding love for comic books, super heroes, and science fiction.What a fantastic book for 2019.

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 is more a story of his family, their secrets, and how they impacted his life. At times, it is a hard read. JMS’s life for his first 20 plus years was not easy or fun. But, ultimately, this is a story of triumph as he works to overcome his baggage. It is a powerful story that proves where you start doesn’t have to be where you finish if you are willing to take responsibility for yourself, your actions, and your choices, something we need more of in our society today. I think this book will change my view of Babylon 5 the next time I watch it, something I need to do soon as I think knowing the man behind the story will make some things mean more and be even more powerful. This is not light reading, but it is powerful reading and worth the time spent in the book.Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

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're very young or incredibly isolated, you’ve almost certainly experienced something he’s done. Heard of it at the very least.He’s certainly led an interesting life. He survived childhood abuse and crushing poverty. Honestly, there are many aspects of his childhood that made me cringe in horror. While the events of his life shaped him into the person he is today--a fine human being and a talented writer as far as I can discern from his work--I still wouldn't wish some of them on my worst enemy. It's incredible that he survived and didn't grow up to be a serial killer or an alcoholic or something (Note: I am certainly not trying to liken the two in any way except in that they are both forms of destruction; one is just inwardly focused.)Fortunately, you get to experience the high points of his life as well as the lows. This book was compelling to the point where I almost literally couldn't put it down. It's a good thing I didn't have to work today, because I don't think I could have borne having to read only on my breaks.This one is highly recommended!