Super Soldiers

A Salute to the Comic Book Heroes and Villains Who Fought for Their Country

By: Jason Inman

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran and former host of All Access, DC Comics' web show, Jason Inman, discusses the influence war has had on some of the most memorable superheroes in comics.

©2019 Jason Inman (P)2019 Tantor

Super Personal and Super Great

If you don’t get the Captain America pun in the title, a reader could have some reservations. Some may be afraid that the book will simply be using comics as a propaganda piece to uphold the American industrial complex. Others may fear that Inman is doing the reverse and using comics to deconstruct the military and its values. I’m happy to report that both of these are unfounded. Instead what he presents us with is a deeply personal reflection. On the one hand, we get the ideals of the American military in Captain America, exemplary leadership in John Stewart, and character formation in Flash Thompson. On the other, we get prejudice in Gravedigger and Isaiah Bradley, betrayal in Captain Atom, military machismo gone wild in the Punisher, and toxic patriotism in Nuke. All of these character studies are filtered through Inman’s own time in the service. Part history. Part memoir. Inman uses the military as lens to examine the comics industry and as a tool to explore his own years of service. While my favorite chapter is the Flash Thompson chapter, I will say the chapter that surprised me the most was the Hal Jordan chapter. Long time listeners of Inman’s Geek History Lesson podcast will be just as shocked as me where he lands on Hal and perhaps get a little testy eyed for his message to Hal at the end of the chapter. Speaking of GHL, I am sad that Inman didn’t read the podcast himself but Eric Michael Summerer does a great job. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to see their favorite comic characters in a new light or as a way to humanize the experience of enlisted veterans. The later was the book’s gift to me. All the personal stories are the best parts. If they were touching to me I can only imagine how touching they will be to vets and active service members. Oh and one more thing: Graham sucks! (To get that. Read the book!)

An absorbing and extremely well researched book!

On its surface, Super Soldiers sounds like an interesting read. Once you get started, you will not want to stop. Inman’s storytelling is wholly absorbing as he effortlessly goes back and forth between the history of military comic book characters to his own experiences in the US Army. The way he relates his personal anecdotes to some of the most popular, as well as a handful lesser-known, comic book characters was consistently fascinating. The guy knows his comics. I loved the author’s takes on the authenticity of the comic book stories and their characters as they related to the armed services. As a lifetime comic reader, it was intriguing to see beloved characters from a perspective that I had never considered. Reading Super Soldiers and then going back to read Captain America, Green Lantern, and the others discussed in this book can’t help but add an important layer to these characters. And that’s a good thing.

One hundred percent recommended.

Finished it in one night. I couldn't stop listening. What a great audiobook! I discovered a lot about our amazing heroes including the incredible author.

Jason Inman did a fantastic job of connecting these larger than life characters to the real life traits and values of those who serve. Eric Summerer's narration brings it all home with energy and emotion aplenty.

I recommend this to comic fans, service members, super heroes, or any combination of the above.

I enjoyed this

it was a enjoyable lesson and I learned some great characters I never knew about

If You like Comic book mythos this is for you

Im a fan of Geek History Lesson Podcast and Jason Inman is one off the best teachers for anything comicbook/sci fi and anything Geek. In this book he gives you a unique perspective about this characters that we all know love or hate . He brings the same knowledge and humor that he has on the podcast, but with the addition of stories from his time in the armed forces. Its a well told and well researched book as expected from him.
Happy Reading...

Unfair to a Hero

This book crapped on Carol Danvers, calling her immoral and claimed she isn't truly heroic. Even questioned her commitment to the values of the military. Shame on this author, he doesn't understand Carol at all.

Way to much virtue signaling

Like we get it man, you’re woke as hell. Very obvious that a lot of your points were more so about sucking up to certain fans and less about honesty. Trying to make the claim that Gravedigger should be as popular as Superman was laughable

Not what I expected

Full disclosure - I could only get through a little over an hour of the book before I had to turn it off. The summary of the book says it’s a discussion of “the influence war has had on some of the most memorable superheroes in comics.” The book (at least the first hour) is more of a critique of characters had they actually been in the military; for instance, Carol Danvers did not act in accordance with military rules and values. She is a fictional character! I do not necessarily expect that fictional characters would act as they should in real life. The fact that Carol has otherworldly super powers is a bit of a clue that we are not dealing with reality in the Captain Marvel comics. The author spoke of her as if she was an actual person with some shady ethics. I was looking for discussion on how war influenced comic characters - not on how the characters would stack up if they were real soldiers. I may have felt differently about the book if my expectation had not been based on the summary. Actually, I would have never purchased the book at all had the summary been more accurate.