The DC Universe is a pretentious book, authored by Douglas Brode. It contains a number of essays that attempt to deconstruct and overanalyze the DC heroes in a contemporary context.
The whole thing is pointless and rambling at times, but worst of all there’s a notable historical error.
This inaccuracy is found in the Introduction which talks at length about Jerry Siegel’s legal battle against Major Malcolm Wheeler Nicholson, National Comics’ legendary founder.
The Major had been forced to leave the company by Harry Donenfeld, Jack Liebowitz and others early in the game. By the time Siegel & Shuster tried regaining control over Superman, the Major already left. The Major was forced out of the company before Superman had even been purchased.
The book is so full of citations of other books that at times I wondered why I didn’t read them.
Others are obsessive about the sexual preference of fictional characters. They forget, however, that characters can have only the sexual preference assigned by the writer at any given time.
Michelle D. Miranda’s essay “From Sherlock Holmes To Contemporary Superheroes” is one of the most interesting, focusing on the forensics in the DCU dating back to Silver Age.
It’s interesting that an entire chapter is dedicated to Ambush Bug, but it becomes obvious that Ambush Bug was a joke character that was created by the DCU for the sake of humor. It’s a summary that is overly ambitious of Ambush Bug’s adventures, comparing him to Samuel Beckett at some point.
Brode returns to the subject of Tomahawk. I found it interesting even though, personally, I never liked that name until Frank Thorne & Bob Kanigher changed it into The Son of Tomahawk.
At the end of this book, the writers are listed. They include professors, assistant lecturers, PhD candidates, librarians, and other Ph.Ds.
The DC Universe is the latest example. I am glad that these people are taking an interest in comics.