I have real concerns about Men of Tomorrow but there is value as a comic book history in it

 I had seen references to Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones for years. My understanding was that it was a history of early comic books from a publishing angle as opposed to a creator angle. When I finally got a chance to read it, I took that chance. And it turned out to be a wilder read than I expected. 

Let’s take care of the elephant in the room first. In the time since the book was written and I first heard about it, Gerard Jones was convicted and sent to prison for crimes that I honestly don’t feel comfortable discussing on a family blog. And that did color my reading of the book. 

And I do feel there is an agenda. I felt like every comic book creator in the entire book was depicted as being emotionally damaged. And, while Jones rightfully derides Fredric Wertham’s theories about comic books, some of his arguments about how comic books work sound very similar.

Okay. Is the book actually worth reading? Yes, it is.

The book is very anecdotal but is also very clear about that. In a lot of ways, it’s an oral history of the origins of comic books. The sources are very clearly laid out and when I cross referenced more factual elements, they matched up. (Of course, sometimes other sources cited Men of Tomorrow as their source)

The through line of the book is Jerry Siegal’s legal struggles with the ownership of Superman. (Superman is the only property discussed at any length and, yes, there is a lot less focus on Joe Schuster) That said, since that is already well known and documented, I found everything else more interesting.

For instance, I had never heard of Harry Donenfeld before the Men of the Tomorrow. And he was Superman’s original publisher so I’d have really thought that I would have. However, he was also a mobbed up publisher of racy magazines so I can see why DC Comics tries to ignore his existence. 

Interestingly, when I looked into Donenfeld more, I found out that he helped hundreds of refugees flee Nazi-occupied Europe and helped found the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Jones glossing over that just reinforces my impression that he has an agenda beyond historical information.

On the one hand, I think it’s important to approach Men of Tomorrow with a very critical eye. On the other hand, it covers a lot of information that the popular history of comic books leaves out. It has legitimate flaws but it is also an important work.