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Jul 27, 2009 Web Exclusive By Kyle Lemmon

Was Superman a Spy? is a novelty book based on a weekly blog/column called “Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed” that appears over at Comic Book Resources every Friday morning. Each column, Brian Cronin answers three reader questions. Cronin determines whether the rumor is true or false, and then explains the history behind the legend. The column is a real treat but at times it can be fairly dull. There are interesting behind-the-scenes stories about Wolverine originally being an actual mutated wolverine or that Green Arrow once had a heroin-addicted ward. Venom was supposedly a female character in first drafts. Many of the best ones pertain to the very rigid Comics Code. Some of Cronin’s tales are truly remarkable, like this Marvel legend that took place in the ‘70s:

“Writer Tony Isabella, who had written a number of issues for two African American superheroes over at Marvel, Power Man and Black Goliath, was approached by DC to take over a new series it had not yet debuted. Scripts were in for the first two issues, and the title was to be called The Black Bomber. It would star a Caucasian Vietnam veteran who, due to the side effects of some experiments he underwent in Vietnam (to better camouflage troops), turns into an African American man at night and fights crime as the Black Bomber. When he was his normal identity, though, he was a bigot a la Archie Bunker on All in the Family.”

The problem isn’t the content but Plume’s ludicrous decision to completely jettison the Q&A style of Cronin’s original column. Instead, Cronin assembles each of the comics lore by character and by company: Superman rumors, Batman rumors, DC rumors and so forth. Sadly, the non-Marvel characters play second fiddle and the order is a little wonky. That being said, the chapters are short enough that you find yourself breezing to the end of the book in one day. Well-known stories, such as the connection between the creator of Wonder Woman’s truth-telling lasso and the lie detector, are supplemented by a bevy of more obsure comic myths.

In addition, Cronin isn’t a very adept writer in his new chronological environs. Cronin desperately tries to link completely unrelated topics and it’s hard to follow. This should be a book you can pick up off the coffee table and dive in. The linear-esque approach makes that fairly impossible. Thankfully, all the original legends are available, for free, in their superior original context, over here. (www.goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/category/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed)

Author rating: 5/10