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Written by Greg O'Driscoll Thursday, 19 June 2008 17:00

Before Metropolis, Smallville, and Krypton, Superman came from Cleveland.

40 pgs. FC; $16.99 hardcover

(W: Marc Tyler Nobleman; A: Ross MacDonald)

At the risk of revealing my sentimental side, I have to praise this wonderful book. Yes, I am a comic geek, so I am predisposed to love any work that intersects with the medium, but Boys of Steel is much more than that. It has something for children and adults, fans of comics and otherwise—though "otherwise" begs the question "what little kid doesn't like Superman?"

I don't use the word a lot, but the book is very charming. (Yes, charming. I'm not being post-ironic or anything.) Simple, straightforward, and beautifully illustrated, Boys of Steel is the story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, brothers in all but name. It is a tale of two misfits. Jerry and Joe aren't good at sports and are shy around girls. They spend most of their time imagining jungle heroes and reading science fiction. It is also a chronicle of dreams. Jerry and Joe make their own adventures. Instead of just consuming media they produce it, and ultimately create the first and greatest superhero of all time, Superman.

This is a book kids can read, or learn to read, and makes good bedtime material. Appropriately, MacDonald's art evokes Shuster's own work on Superman. People wonder why kids don't read comics anymore. The answer? You have to start them young, and young kids like smiling faces, bold warm colors, and pictures that look deceptively easy to draw. Boys of Steel offers what comics have failed to provide for some time: engaging material for the young reader [1]. The colorful illustrations lack the visual frenzy of today's comics, which is a good thing, and there are plenty of little details. It isn't all just hard luck kids from way back when. There are robbers, feats of strength, and plenty of daydreams. Even Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers pop up for brief cameos.

The story takes place during the Great Depression, yet just as easily speaks to the children of our own era. Author Marc Nobleman does not condescend to his young readers, nor does he shirk from mentioning the economic straits of the 1930s and the menace of World War II. Astute adults will draw parallels to modern events and hopefully both discern and reiterate an important underlying message: Bad times are coming, hard times are already here, and you know what? You can still make your dreams happen. In the face of loss and privation, Jerry and Joe keep trying. I hate to belabor the obvious, folks, but this is important stuff! Because I can assure you, just like Siegel and Shuster, there are young boys right now without fathers, boys that need glasses and can't afford them, or sleep in houses without proper heat in winter, and they need some dreams to keep them going.

Children will enjoy the illustrations and the "local boys make good" success story, especially if they, like Jerry and Joe, aren't the big kids in the sandbox. Things end with an upbeat note. On the last page, Jerry and Joe stand side by side, gazing up to the heavens where their creation soars like a red and blue comet. Victory achieved, Superman has arrived and "today, on every story where his name appears, theirs do, too." Cue the ominous music. Odds are good younger readers will breeze past the three pages of comparatively denser text in the back. I still remember something about being a kid: in a book like this, where the pictures end so too does the attention span. The adults might want to keep reading though. Those last three pages are a killer.

Comic book aficionados are all too familiar with the second half of Siegel and Shuster's tale, which Nobleman concisely relates in the book's afterword. Just as they created the first superstar of comic books, Siegel and Shuster were also among the first to lose control of their creation and be denied a fair share of the profits. For a time, Superman books did not even acknowledge those who had created him. Nobleman cannot relate all the details, nor should he in what is very definitely a kids' book, but let it suffice to say it became a tragedy born of creative naïveté and corporate greed. The Boys of Steel rose from despair to triumph only to end their days on the brink of poverty. Now their heirs fight the legal battles Jerry and Joe could not win in life. Not exactly kid's stuff, but there's a lesson in this too.

Boys of Steel is for those Gen-Xers, ‘80s babies, and other pop culture addicts who are even now exploring the strange and exciting territory of raising their own families. There's enough fun for the young ones and enough fact for the fussiest fanboy. Whether or not to read your children the end of this particular fairy-tale hinges upon if you are bringing them up with the original Brothers Grimm or on a diet of Disney. | Greg O'Driscoll

[1] If you like Boys of Steel, try Another Perfect Day, also illustrated by Ross MacDonald in a similarly retro style. It's like Superman meets Little Nemo in Slumberland.