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AMAZING FANTASTIC INCREDIBLE

A MARVELOUS MEMOIR

A worthwhile primer for adoring acolytes, but too much P.T. Barnum and not enough behind-the-scenes insights for a broader...

Comic book legend Lee offers fans a graphic autobiography in his inimitably jaunty style.

There’s no denying Lee’s place in the pop-culture pantheon. As the writer and co-creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, and numerous other spandex-clad superheroes, he not only influenced subsequent generations of writers and artists, but also laid the foundation for the multibillion-dollar movie franchises those characters have since spawned. Along with co-writer David (Artful: A Novel, 2014, etc.) and artist Doran (The Vampire Diaries, 2014, etc.)—whose detailed linework is superb—Lee recounts his hardscrabble youth in Manhattan; his entry into a nascent comic-book industry still dominated by horror, Westerns, and romances; military service in World War II, during which he was responsible for the creation of a particularly memorable poster reminding soldiers to do their duty to get treated for venereal disease; and rise from intern to icon as superheroes came to dominate the comics landscape (in large part due to Lee’s efforts). After years of being accused of perhaps claiming too much credit for his creations, Lee casts ample spotlight on artists like Jack “King” Kirby (X-Men, Fantastic Four) and Steve Ditko (Spider-Man), who played equally important roles in developing the heroes that are so ubiquitous today, but he makes sure the light shines brightest on himself. The author’s influence on the comics industry cannot be overstated; even if he sometimes gets too much credit for creating characters and stories, he doesn’t get enough recognition for being the driving force behind connecting those characters to an audience hungry for flawed human heroes. One might argue, however, that among his myriad creations, one of his most impressive—and persuasive—may very well be the legendary Stan Lee himself.

A worthwhile primer for adoring acolytes, but too much P.T. Barnum and not enough behind-the-scenes insights for a broader audience.

Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-5011-0772-6

Page Count: 192

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015

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NIGHT

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance.

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

FROM MEAN STREETS TO WALL STREET

Well-told and admonitory.

Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.

Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.

Well-told and admonitory.

Pub Date: June 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-074486-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

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