It's a Bird - Softcover

Seagle, Steven T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1401272886 ISBN 13: 9781401272883

Publisher: Vertigo, 2017

Synopsis

In this new edition of the stunning semi-autobiographical graphic novel, acclaimed writer Steven T. Seagle tells one of the most realistic Superman tales ever—without featuring Superman. 

Steve's given the assignment every writer dreams of: to write Superman. Only he can't relate to a Man of Steel—not when his own fears of death haunt him. Explore the cultural significance of a comic book icon as Steve comes to terms with Superman's importance and power as a fictional ideal.

This classic Vertigo tale is now re-released for a whole new generation of fans!

About this title

About the Author

Steven T. Seagle is an American writer who works in the comic book, television, film, live theater, video game and animation industries. He is best known for his nationally acclaimed graphic novel memoir IT'S A BIRD... and as part of his Man of Action Studios (with Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey and Joe Kelly) which created the animated Cartoon Network series Ben 10.

From Publishers Weekly

The first rule of metafiction: stories about how the author can't think of what to write about are a bad idea. So a story about a comics writer named Steve who's been assigned to write Superman comics but can't come up with a way to write them seems unpromising. (Seagle wrote the Supermancomic for several years.) But Seagle and artist Kristiansen (with whom he collaborated on a couple of excellent House of Secrets books) come through. This isn't a Superman story, exactly; it's an experimental, refracted, semifictional memoir, with Superman-or, rather, the variety of ideas that Superman represents-as its central symbol. Kristiansen's inventive ink-and-watercolor artwork, a bit reminiscent of the Expressionist painter Egon Schiele, gives a crisp, arty look to the sections about Steve's progressively more messed-up personal life and family secret. (The latter has to do with Huntington's disease, the discussion of which here approaches Very Special Episode territory.) Both writer and artist shine on the sections that explore Steve's thoughts about what Superman means: Nietzschean übermensch, synthesizer of primary colors' symbolism, embodiment of benevolent violence, alien who's accepted where others aren't, etc. Kristiansen devises a distinct visual technique for each, often inspired by other 20th-century painters. It's a sweet, clever meditation on what makes the concept of Superman so powerful, and the troubled relationship between powerful concepts and creative narrative.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vertigo
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1401272886
• ISBN 13: 9781401272883
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144
• Illustrator: Kristiansen Teddy