"I Am Superman"

Last week, when I was debating whether I should buy Superman Beyond 3-D or DC Universe: Last Will and Testament, all I had to do was look down at who wrote Last Will and my decision would have easily been made.

Brad Meltzer, who wrote Last Will, is my favorite comic book writer. Period.

His run on The Justice League was suburb and Identity Crisis is perhaps the best graphic novel I have read since The Watchmen. It's ingenious.

Luckily, Meltzer has a new novel that was released yesterday, The Book of Lies. Here's the premise of the book...


"In Chapter Four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world's most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.

"In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world's greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain's murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.

"What does Cain, history's greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world's greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common?."

I bought the novel yesterday because of that blurb. I bought it because of the kick-ass YouTube vid with appearances by everyone from Joss Whedon to Christpher Hitchens. I bought it especially because Melzer has his children and his grandmother quote from the bad reviews he has received on this new novel in yet another incredible YouTube clip.

Any man who YouTubes his bad reviews and at the end, has his grandmother say, "It's my grandson's book, don't read it!," is a rockstar to me!

But it's this video that explains Meltzer's most passionate project that I believe is the best.

Launched from a site named Ordinary People Can Change The World, Meltzer and other comic book creaters are attempting to save The Superman House, the house where Superman was created.



Watch the video, buy a t-shirt to support The Siegel & Shuster Society or just make a donation.

And buy the book, so we can talk about it.

I read the first chapter today on the bus and I am in love with it!

P.S. My favorite quote from the video...

"Superman is what I do, Clark is who I am."