Estimated reading time is 3 minutes.
MARVEL SUPERHERO COMIC BOOKS! Back in the ’60s, those were magic words for thousands of kids, including me and Patrick McDonnell. While both of us had dreams of being artists when we grew up, Patrick realized that dream: he is the creator of the comic strip Mutts, one of the best strips out there!
Patrick is also the author of several books, including last year’s The Super Hero’s Journey. According to the book’s inner dust-cover flap:
“The Super Hero’s Journey is an adventure unlike any you have ever read. This all-new graphic novel love letter features classic Marvel super heroes, including the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Black Panther, and Spider-Man. It is the synthesis of McDonnell’s positive, inspirational sensibility and Marvel’s blockbuster brand.”
The Super Hero’s Journey is a synthesis of McDonnell’s inspirational sensibility and Marvel’s blockbuster brand.
The graphic novel is 103 pages of Marvel story and script by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko and artwork from the ’60s—mostly by Kirby but with a healthy dose of Ditko and a few pages by the oft-overlooked (and, by me, under-appreciated) Don Heck and their inkers—alongside new art by McDonnell.
No spoiler alert necessary
Also, this article does not contain any spoilers (unless you count a peek at some of the artwork as a spoiler).
The Super Hero’s Journey
As the story is told from the point of view of Patrick as a child immersed in the world of Marvel superheroes, his artwork throughout looks like it was done by a talented child. McDonnell’s title appears to be a nod towards the book
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
As many people have referred to Lee, Kirby, and Ditko’s characters as mythical heroes for the 20th century, an allusion to these characters and their ongoing battle against all forms of evil makes sense.
The review
Since I stopped collecting superhero comic books more than fifty years ago, I have not enjoyed watching what has become of them. While I am not given to experiencing nostalgia, there have been two events in all those years that have made me re-experience some of the joy, wonder, and just plain fun of comic books that I experienced in the ’60s:
• Spider-Man (the 2002 movie)
• The Super Hero’s Journey
I will close with an appropriate Marvel motto: “It’s clobberin’ time!”
No, wait—wrong one. How about, “Nuff said?”
FEATURED IMAGE: The image at the top of this page was cropped from an image in The Super Hero’s Journey. Above is a two-page spread with a page from The Fantastic Four Annual #2 on the left (art by Jack Kirby and Chic Stone, mostly). Opposite a drawing of Iron Man duking it out with the Hulk from McDonnell’s youthful sketchbook. (Note: I tweaked the color balance and saturation of the original to make it a stronger, more eye-catching image.)
Dedication
Finally, McDonnell included a Dedication in the front of the book: “Jack Kirby was once asked, ‘If you could have one superpower, what would it be?’ His answer: ‘Love.’ ”
Mystically liberal Virgo enjoys long walks alone in the city at night in the rain with an umbrella and a flask of 10-year-old Laphroaig who strives to live by the maxim, “It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you know that just ain’t so.
I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a college dropout (twice!). Occupationally, I have been a bartender, jewelry engraver, bouncer, landscape artist, and FEMA crew chief following the Great Flood of ’72 (and that was a job that I should never, ever have left).
I am also the final author of the original O’Sullivan Woodside price guides for record collectors and the original author of the Goldmine price guides for record collectors. As such, I was often referred to as the Price Guide Guru, and—as everyone should know—it behooves one to heed the words of a guru. (Unless, of course, you’re the Beatles.)
