FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION
Part I: How to Have an Origin Without a Planet Blowing Up, Parents Murdered, Radioactive Spider Bites, Cosmic Rays, Gamma Rays, White Dwarf Stars, Aliens Crash-Landing, a Magic Word, a Magic Hammer, or a Super Serum
CHAPTER ONE The Secret Origin of Michael Uslan, Comicbookman!
CHAPTER TWO Just Imagine! Team-Ups and Sidekicks!
CHAPTER THREE Paul and Michael . . . Brother, Power, the Geek!
CHAPTER FOUR Batman and Robin's Dirty Secret!
CHAPTER FIVE Batman Begins . . . for Me!
CHAPTER SIX A Campy Batman on TV. "Holy Shit!"
CHAPTER SEVEN The Comic Book Club—No Girls Allowed!
CHAPTER EIGHT Pros and Cons and Con Artists!
CHAPTER NINE "And Then There Were None!"
Part II: "You Still Read Comic Books at Your Age?!"
CHAPTER TEN Good-Bye Smallville! Hello Metropolis!
CHAPTER ELEVEN The World's First College Professor of Comic Books!
CHAPTER TWELVE I Was a Teenage Junior Woodchuck!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Plan B: A Strange Costume for Batman and Robin,
A Strange Choice for Me!
Part III: Bloomington to Hollywood: How to Get There from Here!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Life is Not a Comic Book!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN I Know What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Going Backward? Me, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and a Toyota!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Raging Bullshit on a "Rocky" Road!
Part IV: At Long Last, the Dark Knight Returns!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Ben and Me, the World's Finest Producer Team!
CHAPTER NINETEEN Blackest Night: The Ten-Year Human Endurance Contest!
CHAPTER TWENTY Infinite Crises! The Human Endurance Contest Continues!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE It's the Stuff Dreams Are Made Of!
Part V: "Bats" of Luck
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO After the Dark Knight, the Brightest Day!
EPILOGUE The Road Taken, the Road Not Taken!
SUPER EPILOGUE TO THE SECOND EDITION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IMAGE CREDITS