It's a Bird » (REV)

Gorgeously painted by European artist Teddy Kristiansen, IT'S A BIRD is a Superman story that doesn't feature Superman at all. Rather, this unique graphic novel explores what the icon of Superman means to the world. Told from the perspective of an author who has written tales about Superman, this book explored the overwhelming effect that the Man of Steel has had on society. A compelling narrative told in a variety of experimental styles, IT'S A BIRD weaves two interlocking stories: one that ultimately explores our own mortality and another that dissects the symbolic and cultural elements which make up Superman's mythic importance. SUGGESTED FOR MATURE READERS.

The New Yorker

What the adventures of muscle-bound, crime-fighting superheroes are to mainstream comics, the existential crises of kvetchy, self-loathing comics writers are to graphic novels. In this semi-autobiographical book, the two genres collide when Steve, a comics writer—and stand-in for the author—is asked to take over “Superman,” a job most of his colleagues would kill for. Steve is haunted by his family’s history of Huntington’s disease, a genetic curse that makes Superman’s celebrated invulnerability seem distastefully phony. Alternately hostile and depressive, Steve produces a series of strikingly original meditations on Superman’s powers, his origins, and his relationship to humanity. Kristiansen’s muted watercolor washes, the furthest possible remove from the Man of Tomorrow’s primary colors, echo the prevailing tone of anguished doubt.