Michael Fleisher

Shambler: an Insider's Novel of the Comic Book World Michael Fleisher

Kevin Ellman grew up in the Golden Age of Comics, when the heroes were the champions of all that was right in the world, defenders of the proverbial truth, justice, and the American way. As an adult, he realized his dream by becoming a professional comic-book writer, crafting comic-book stories of his favorite heroes. Kevin's greatest creation was The Shambler, a strange beast-man, half-insane but intensely empathic, and touched by the love of the Golden Starling. The Shambler's sales soared and Kevin became famous. But in the 1970s, the comic-book landscape was transformed. Those noble heroes with super-powers, those squeaky-clean warriors for justice and righteousness, were supplanted by flawed, unstable vigilantes in masks, prone to violence and revenge. Fans became drawn to these dark anti-heroes, and publishers populated the comic-book universe with them and sent them forth into battle with masters of super-villainy even darker than the flawed anti-heroes who fought them. Kevin Ellman became a casualty of this new fantasy landscape and tumbled into a nightmare world.