This is a graphic novel by Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the Mutts comic strip. It is also the second graphic novel in the Abrams ComicArts series, following Alex Ross's Full Circle. The Super Hero's Journey has much more art by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and Don Heck than I expected (I didn't expect any at all), and somewhat less by McDonnell himself. The graphic novel serves three main purposes. First, it serves as a record of McDonnell's early years as he and his siblings discover Marvel Comics at Mell Drugs, the local pharmacy and soda fountain. Second, it takes not-so-random pages and panels, mostly verbatim, from myriad early Marvels and weaves them together into a story of their own (with interstitial panels and pages in McDonnell's own distinctive style linking them together). Finally, it is a book of philosopy, copiously quoting from thinkers such as Henry David Thoreau, William Blake, Charles Dickens, Carl Jung, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Teilhard de Chardin, Eckhart Tolle, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Asari of Herat, Seng-Ts'an, Hakuin Ekaku and Milarepa among others. There are even a few from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In fact, there is a page in the back of the book which attributes the sources of all the quotations.
This is a graphic novel I would be proud to recommend to someone who has never read a comic book and is interested to learn what all the fuss is about. McDonnell presents his "afterword" in the form of a letters page, which is kind of neat. I post quite a bit to the "Your Favorite Things of the Year!" thread, but I reserve the phrase "Highest Possible Recommendation" only for the very best of the very best. I unequivocally give The Super Hero's Journey by Patrick McDonnell my Highest Possible Recommendation.
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I just read this for a second time and was more imnpressed than I was the first. I often rail against things that are labeled "ALL AGES" when they are truly for children, but this book is honestly for all ages and can be read and appreciated on multiple levels.
What McDonnell does here is take "mostly verbatim [scenes] from myriad early Marvels" (as I said above) and assembles them in such a way you would almost swear they were telling McDonnell's story all along. Seriously: Highest... Possible... Recommendation.