num_pages: 384
description: In the depths of the Depression, out of the crowded tenements of New York and Cleveland, the comic book superhero leapt into being. Out of a mix of geekiness, science fiction, and outsider yearning, a crew of young men from working-class Jewish neighbourhoods and shady backgrounds created a series of blue-eyed, chisel-nosed crime fighters and adventurers who quickly captured the imaginations of young and old. Within a few years their creations had spawned a new genre that still dominates youth entertainment seventy years later. Eisner Award-winning author Gerard Jones draws on exhaustive research to portray how the immigrant experience and an outsider mentality shaped the vision of the make-believe hero, while a bizarre melting-pot of left-wing politics, mob money and the worlds of soft-porn and detective magazines contributed to the publishing world that produced the comics and brought them to millions. He chronicles how the success of the comics provoked a backlash that nearly destroyed the industry in the 1950s, and how later they surged back, inspiring a new generation to transmute pre-war fantasies into art, literature, blockbuster movies and graphic novels. Men of Tomorrow  rivetingly demonstrates how the creators of the superheroes established their crucial place in the modern imagination.
language: English
title: Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book
titlecomplete: Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book
genres: Historical, Books About Books, Graphic Novels, History, Art, Biography, Superheroes, Comics, Nonfiction, Comic Book
ratings_count: 1641
awards: awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards
category: Best Comics-Related Book
publisher: Arrow Books