Skip to main content
Trade Books For Courses Tradebooks for Courses

Superfolks

A Novel

Robert Mayer; Foreword by Grant Morrison

St. Martin's Griffin

opens in a new window
opens in a new window Superfolks Download image

ISBN10: 0312339925
ISBN13: 9780312339920

Trade Paperback

240 Pages

$18.99

CA$26.99

Request Desk Copy
Request Exam Copy

TRADE BOOKS FOR COURSES NEWSLETTER

Sign up to receive information about new books, author events, and special offers.

Sign up now

David Brinkley used to be a hero, the greatest the world had ever seen—until be retired, got married, moved to the suburbs, and packed on a few extra pounds. Now all the heroes are dead or missing, and his beloved New York is on the edge of chaos. It's up to Brinkley to come to the rescue, but he's in the midst of a serious mid-life crisis—his superpowers are failing him.

At long last this classic novel, a satire that changed superheroes forever, and that would become the inspiration for the next generation of comic book creators, is back in print. It's a hilarious thriller that digs deep into the American psyche.

Reviews

Praise for Superfolks

"Infectiously funny."—Los Angeles magazine

"It is gorgeous. It is splendid. It is funny as hell . . . [Mayer] writes like an angel."—Newsday

"What if you were a superhero going through a mid-life crisis? Your tights are in a bunch. You've lost your hair. Your powers have a mind of their own . . . You'll never look at superheroes the same way again!"—Stan Lee, comic legend and creator of Spiderman and The X-Men

"What Robert Mayer has done, and done with real aplomb, is carry off a smart satire and a very funny novel while at the same time caring enough about his characters that the reader's investment is respected and paid dividends. Without being derivative, it reminds me of early Vonnegut—Vonnegut through Cat's Cradle—as well as the first couple of the Hitchhiker's Guides. It's always satisfying when an influential but neglected work—in any genre, in any field—is 'rediscovered' and given its proper credit."—Tom de Haven, author of Funny Papers, Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies, and Dugan Under Ground

"Superfolks is an irreverent look behind the mask of superheroes wrapped up in a cutting lampoon of late 70's attitudes."—Paul Dini, writer and producer of Batman: The Animated Series

"Superfolks was the book that showed me you could do more with superheroes than adolescent power fantasies. Without Superfolks I doubt there'd have been an Astro City."—Kurt Busiek, Multiple Eisner Award-Winning Creator of Astro City

Reviews from Goodreads

BOOK EXCERPTS

Read an Excerpt

BEFORE THERE WAS WATCHMEN, there was SUPERFOLKS.
BEFORE THE INCREDIBLES, there was SUPERFOLKS.
BEFORE DICK CHENEY, there was SUPERFOLKS.

Introduction

I'd been writing comics for money for more than...

About the author

Robert Mayer; Foreword by Grant Morrison

Robert Mayer (1939-2019) is an award-winning journalist and writer. Mayer covered New York City for Newsday for many years, bufore moving to New Mexico. During a mid-life crisis, he got in touch with his inner superhero and created Superfolks, his first novel, which was originally published in 1977.