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    Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood
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    Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood
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    Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood
    Ebook570 pages8 hours

    Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood

    By J. Michael Straczynski and Neil Gaiman

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 23, 2019
    ISBN9780062857859
    Author

    J. Michael Straczynski

    J. Michael Straczynski has written hundreds of hours of television, major motion pictures and graphic novels. He is the widely acclaimed creator of Babylon 5, cocreator of Netflix’s Sense8, and writer for Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, which earned him a nomination for a British Academy Award for Best Screenplay (BAFTA). His work has frequently appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and his extensive list of awards includes the Hugo Award, the Ray Bradbury Award, the Eisner Award, and the GLAAD Media Award. He lives in California.

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    Reviews for Becoming Superman

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      In Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood, with Stops Along the Way at Murder, Madness, Mayhem, Movie Stars, Cults, Slums, Sociopaths, and War Crimes, J. Michael Straczynski delves deep into his own history, beginning with his grandparents through to the modern day while also discussing his development as a writer, first as a reporter before he transitioned to radio, animation, live-action television, comic books, and film. He details the brutality he experienced as a child from his abusive father and the hope he discovered in comic books and science fiction, which first made him want to tell stories. Amid all of the abuse, he managed to rise above it and channel his focus into becoming the best writer he could at each project he tackled.Straczynski believed in his artistic vision on every project and, while he was open to notes from those above him or the ideas of his collaborators on a series, he resisted those who sought change out of insincere motives or who didn’t know what they were talking about. While working on The Real Ghostbusters, Straczynski created a show with its own mythology and dynamic characters that weren’t simply carbon copies of characters on other shows. Unfortunately, Broadcast Standards & Practices had their own ideas about showing the supernatural or hinting at death (even though the show was about ghosts) and how women characters should appear. At the height of the satanic panic, they tried to argue that The Necronomicon, a fictitious book H.P. Lovecraft created, was real. Rather than give in to these ridiculous ideas, Straczynski left, though he exposed BS&P’s hypocrisy in an article in Penthouse, adding a final touch of irony to his departure (pgs. 252, 290-293).He describes his writing as coming from a personal place. For example, Straczynski wrote of his process in creating Peter Dawson, a character who cannot be harmed but also cannot feel positive sensation, for Rising Stars: “I’d survived my childhood (and much of my adulthood) by isolating myself so I couldn’t be hurt no matter how hard I got pounded; the price was a veil between me and my emotions” (pg. 359). He was true to his vision in creating Rising Stars for Top Cow comics. Straczynski writes, “I decided to go against the usual norms because in the late ’90s mainstream comics had entered a creative slump. Sales at Marvel and DC had fallen to record-low numbers and most of the independent comics were artist – rather than writer – driven. From a commercial standpoint the market wasn’t suited to the kind of story I wanted to tell, and my relative inexperience meant that the possibility for failure was immense. Which of course was the biggest part of the attraction” (pg. 358). So, he upended the superhero genre, creating something that gained immediate attention in the industry and opened opportunities to write Amazing Spider-Man for Marvel and then to write for his childhood hero, Superman.Straczynski writes of that experience, “…I finally realized that becoming Superman isn’t the point; the trick is being Superman on a moment-by-moment, day-by-day, choice-by-choice basis. Being kind, making hard decisions, helping those in need, standing up for what’s right, pointing toward hope and truth, and embracing the power of persistence… those were the qualities of Superman that mattered to me far more than his ability to see through walls. Because all of use can do those other things, can be those things; we can be Superman whenever we choose” (pg. 412). In a time when DC is struggling to make the character relevant, Straczynski shows how Superman remains important and can serve as an inspiration to readers of all backgrounds.Straczynski’s personal narrative, while brutal at times in his frankness, offers the same hope for readers that he found in Superman. He includes footnotes for several of the details about his father’s actions, recalling the process he described in writing the screenplay for Changeling so that readers would know that all the painful things he describes are true. The catharsis comes from knowing that the good things are true, too, and that a person can weather the pain to become creative and generous and caring. Becoming Superman is a must-read and tells a story that anyone who’s been in pain or felt lost can identify with and draw upon for hope. It also offers unique insight into the creative process of one of the greatest American writers of the last thirty years.
    • 5/5
      You come into this book excited to learn more about shows, cartoons and movies that JMS has enriched your life with. That's all there, but the real life upbringing and family of the author is the true driving narrative of this book and every bit as compelling and shocking as any fiction ever put to screen or paper.
    • 5/5
      Biographies are not part of my usual “reading menu”, but in this very special case I decided to make an exception: J. Michael Strackzynski (JMS for brevity) is the creator - among an amazing number of other works in several mediums - of the SF show Babylon 5, which I consider the peak of televised storytelling, and not just where science fiction is concerned. It was Babylon 5 which brought me to this book, because I’m in the middle of the complete rewatch of the series I’ve been promising myself for a while: since I’ve been aware of JMS’ autobiography for some time, I decided to read it in the hope of gleaning a few more details about the creation of my favorite show. What I found was a completely unexpected account of a dreadful childhood, a harrowing youth and a constant, never-ending struggle to keep faith with the uncompromising moral compass that was born as a reaction to those early horrors. I am not going to dwell on those details from JMS’ past, suffice it to say that his childhood and youth can be labeled as a nightmare whose main players were an abusive, alcoholic and control-freak father, a psychically troubled mother incapable of defending herself or her children, and a grandmother about whom the less said, the better. Add to that a constant status of extreme poverty and endless moves across the country that prevented JMS from forming any lasting friendships, and you have the “perfect” recipe for disaster: he himself, at some point, writes that “If there is anything remarkable about my life, it is that I did not come out the other side a serial killer”.What prevented him from turning to a life of crime or from becoming, in turn, an abuser or worse? Comic books - and more precisely the character of Superman, who gave the young JMS a role model to draw inspiration and guidance from, and a set of stories whose heroes made choices based on a set of moral guidelines that were sorely lacking from his home life. There is a passage in the book in which the author describes the moment in which he realized he had a choice in front of him, that of following in his father’s footsteps or to negate this “heritage” and walk in the opposite direction: in that passage he tells how he drew a list of his father’s most frequent behaviors, and a list of all their antitheses that would guide his life from then on, and to which he would adhere without fail. And now that I’ve read this book, and this particular section, one of my favorite quotes from Babylon 5 comes to mind, and takes a deeper shade of meaning:There is always choice. We say that there is no choice only to comfort ourselves with a decision we have already made.Harsh as childhood and youth were for JMS, his adult life turned out to be one of struggle still, not only with financial issues but with his career as a writer: having discovered the power of narrative, he chose to become a crafter of stories in many different mediums, from animation to comic books to television and movies, but always keeping his unwillingness to compromise front and center, which did not help in dealing with censors or studio executives or all those “powers that be” convinced they knew better than anyone what the public wanted - or deserved. What others might have labeled as a difficult personality, is instead a steadfast faithfulness to one’s own principles, even at the cost of losing everything: we can find this kind of attitude in many of his characters, which are heroes not because they perform great deeds, but because they are average people who find the courage to do the right thing in the most challenging circumstances, without ever giving up on the basic principles of decency and humanity. It’s indeed not surprising that in the course of Babylon 5’s arc the final lines of Tennyson’s Ulysses are often quoted as a message in that direction:[…] to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.Given what I’ve learned from this autobiography, what so far was mere admiration for JMS’s writing skills in the creation of memorable characters delivering even more memorable lines (many of which I know by heart), turned into admiration for the person behind those stories, for the individual who had the moral fortitude to escape from the injuries of a terrible past and turn into a powerful, talented and inspirational storyteller. Becoming Superman is a hard book to read at times, and yet it’s also a compelling one because of the underlying hope it manages to convey even in the bleakest moments, just as one of his characters says:[…] hope that there can always be new beginnings - even for people like us.I can only highly recommend this book: if you are aware of JMS’ work, it will open a new, enlightening window into his creative process; and if you are not, maybe it will drive you on a journey of discovery. In the end, you will find out that it was quite worth it.
    • 5/5
      I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of autobiographies I've read. I've always viewed the form skeptically -- for reasons you can probably guess.

      But this book. This book floored me. Humbled me. Made me bristle with anger. Took me to the brink of tears.

      The Babylon 5 universe almost completely contains my familiarity with JMS. And I loved and still love B5. Even today, it stands at or near the top of the mountain of sci-fi series ever made in my opinion.

      I know now that I read comics he wrote, watched other series he scripted, I didn't pay attention to writers. The only non-B5 thing he did I knew he wrote was Sense8, but only after I started watching. So, it was shocking to hear just how much of his work I'd enjoyed, from He-Man to Murder, She Wrote to the film adaptation of World War Z.

      I was a little embarrassed to be honest. Embarrassed because I really loved B5, and so why hadn't I looked around to see what else he had done, was doing?

      His success as a writer in every field he applied himself (journalism, cartoons, TV series, comics, novels, movies, and now, of course, autobiography) grows all the more shocking when you learn about his childhood. By all rights, and by his own admission, he should've ended up as the world's biggest asshole. His father was a raging alcoholic, control freak, wife-beater, child abuser, inveterate liar, cheat, racist, and a war criminal.

      That JMS survived that to become not just successful, but as kind, honest, and willing to stand by his principles as anyone, speaks volumes about our ability to rise above our circumstances, be personally and professionally courageous, and pursue our passions even when circumstances stand at their most precarious -- and that sometimes life may shit on us for doing so, but sometimes it rewards us too.

      I listened to the audio version of this, read by Peter Jurasik. Fans of B5 will likely recognize the name as that of the actor who played Londo Mollari, and did a damn fine job of it. He does a damn fine job reading this too. Five stars to you as well, Mr. Mollari.
    • 5/5
      If this story were fiction, no one would believe it. The cover gives you an idea--murder, madness, cults, and war crimes. No father in any biography I have ever read--or any work of fiction I have read--falls to the depths of Straczynski's father's cruelty and abuse. By rights, he should have been locked up for life. The portions of the text dealing with his almost nightly beatings of Straczynski's mother and his abuse of his son are painful to listen to. Somehow, Straczynski survives, and the book recounts his struggles and ultimate success (with more struggles in between) in the fields of journalism, cartoons, television, comics, and movies. The last chapters, fittingly for someone who majored in psychology, exhort readers (and listeners) to reach out for help if they need it (echoing Straczynski's stories of actors on Babylon 5 who sought help and who didn't) and to never give up your dreams and always resist the "Tyranny of Responsible Voices" of well-meaning friends and relatives. This is a very personal story, but there are also interesting insights into Straczynski's various creative endeavors, from Babylon 5 to Changeling to comic books, etc. Readers/listeners will recognize some of this book's true life characters and incidents as they appear in Straczynski's fictional work.This is not an easy read or listen, but it is an unforgettable story. Peter Jurasik does a fine job reading it--but, unfortunately, not in his Lando voice. On second thought, given the subject matter, that's a good thing.
    • 5/5
      J. Michael Straczynski could have played it safe. He's been the creator, showrunner, or producer for several successful live action television shows, as well as a couple of animated series - all of which performed better when he was associated with them than when he was not. He's had successful runs as a novelist, comic book writer, and screenwriter. Before any of that, he was a successful journalist. When he sat down to write his autobiography, he could have focused entirely on his professional life, detailing his time writing for She-Ra, The Real Ghostbusters, regaling readers with his experiences showrunning Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. He could have spent chapter after chapter talking about bringing Babylon 5, Jeremiah, and Sense8 to the screen. No one would have complained at all had he spent the pages of the book discussing how he wrote Spider-Man, Thor, and Superman, or any of the other projects he worked on. Those things are all in this book, although not as much as one might think, because Straczynski had another story to tell, a story that involved absolutely not playing it safe.In Avengers: Infinity War, Dr. Strange says that he looked at fourteen million possible futures to find the one where the Avengers are able to prevent Thanos from eradicating half the population of the Universe and defeat the mad titan. After reading Becoming Superman, I feel like there are fourteen million alternate universes in which J. Michael Straczynski never broke free of his past and was never able to produce the wonderful body of work that we have been able to enjoy for the last couple of decades. There are universes where Straczynski didn't survive infancy, killed by his depressed and unstable mother. There are universes where he died of sickness and neglect, or where he was abducted and killed on the streets of New Jersey. There are universes in which his abusive father went too far and left the boy version of Straczynski too shattered to continue. Or where the constant stream of violence and neglect was compounded by the institutional indifference of the schools that were supposed to educate him, resulting in Straczynski's life being derailed into crime, addiction, or simple despair.[More forthcoming]