Written by by Brian Michael
Art by Bill Walko, Wes Dzioba
Published by Dark Horse Comics
I have never been a big fan of the writing of Brian Michael Bendis.
Wait! Don’t get me wrong! I do quite like what work of his I’ve read. It’s just that I’ve never gone out of my way to read something just because he wrote it. I
have to say, though, that after reading Fortune & Glory-The Musical, that may well change.
Why? Because at this point, because of this book, I now find myself a big fan of Bendis himself!
Ostensibly the story of the celebrated comic book writer’s aborted involvement with the legendarily troubled Broadway musical of Spider-Man, it’s more simply a graphic novel memoir.
In fact, I see where it’s the second volume of Fortune & Glory from Dark Horse
I plan on soon picking up the first, as well as any other later volumes. It’s that good.
The most obvious comparison would be to Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, in which the main character both breaks the fourth wall and imparts knowledge, history, and a bit of philosophy to the reader as both the protagonist and omniscient narrator. Bendis even acknowledges the importance of McCloud’s books here at a couple of points.
One major difference from McCloud is that Bendis, despite the fact that he is, as we are told, also an artist, only writes here, with the art, colors, and letters prominently credited to, respectively, Bill Walko, Wes Dzioba, and Joshua Reed, even on the cover!
Not sure if it’s really editor Dan Chabon or Bendis having some fun in his name, but there’s also a clever and amusing running gag in the book about the editor’s protest of the use of copyrighted images in certain panels.
Bendis’s bald look has made him an easily recognizable figure in the industry for some years now, iconic even. Fortune & Glory takes us back to meet the young comics fan, with his full head of hair and his steadfast notions that he alone could save Marvel Comics.
Oddly, we learn that he was originally desiring to be an artist. We follow the young lad’s introductions to superhero movies, art classes, comic book conventions, and meeting his first pros. We also see him building a collection of rejections letters. I think it’s safe to say that many of us can relate to such scenes.
Through it all, though, our hero is portrayed as cheerful, friendly, and always open to learning new things, especially from his mistakes. The whole story, of course, is a flashback form his current life, and this flashback contains numerous flashbacks of its own. It’s all very meta!
The overarching plot, as promised in the title, is the story behind what ended up being Bendis’s non-involvement with Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. We start out with the phone invitation but it’s quite a while before we circle back to that story, and then even longer before the eventual coda to it.
None of that matters, though! One of the things I quickly realized as I read this 148-page book in a single sitting is that I didn’t care so much about a stage musical I had never seen but rather much more so about the charming, relatable character of the balding, aging comic book fan and his struggles to make his dreams come true.
Along the way, we also get cameos from Walt Simonson, Lee & Kirby, Gil Kane, and David Mack (a local artist whom I knew from the comic shops when he was a kid).
Every aspect of the book works, with the clean, simple, cartoony art by Walko perfect for the relatively light-hearted biographical story.
Fortune & Glory: the Musical, never once interested me in seeing that now long-gone Spidey stage travesty, but it did most definitely entice me to seek out more work from Brian Michael Bendis, himself. Did I mention I’m a big fan of that guy?
Booksteve recommends.


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