Becoming Superman

Becoming Superman by Michael J. Straczynski.

A lot darker than you'd expect.

Man, this guy had a rough life. The first few chapters where he lays out the (surface level!) history of his family is a tough read, and I could definitely see people bouncing off there. Things get better eventually, at least for the author, but not without chapter upon chapter of reminders that people can be really fucked up. It would've been pretty incredible for Michael to become just a functioning member of society, but the fact he went ahead and became a massive success in multiple different fields of entertainment is really something to be proud of.

There's a pretty huge tonal shift between the first and second halves of the book, from his life being a near constant stream of awfulness to a near constant stream of incredible achievements (albeit accompanied by plenty of professional setbacks). The big reveal at the end doesn't really come as much of a surprise given how much of a piece of shit he already established his dad to be, but I imagine it had to be pretty cathartic. He almost seems more at home writing about the messed up stuff than the successes, there's a noticeable difference in the writing style to go along with the shift in tone.

Overall I'm glad I read it; seeing things from the perspective of someone who went through all that and came out the other side is interesting. As is finding out he had a hand in a bunch of things I've heard of/watched. I should reiterate though, it's tough to read at times. If you can think of a trigger warning it probably applies, some of the milder stories are his mum trying to drop him off a roof as a child and his dad regularly beating the crap out of her in front of the kids. If reading about things like that is going to be a big issue for you, skip it. Otherwise I think it's worth the read.