Product Description: What goes up must come down. It's a natural law that the New Economy just learned all over again. Recent times have been fantastically dramatic in the cloistered world of American business: Narratives full of larger-than-life characters, outsized egos, astonishing hubris, and lots and lots of money. It's action-packed. It makes good comics. That's the idea behind Titans of Finance, a new and groundbreaking merger of reality - straight from the business pages - and comix. You've never seen anything like it: True tales from the world of big money, wittily translated through America's most populist medium. Meet Ron Perelman, the man who made millions while presiding over the Mighty Marvel Comics train wreck. Thrill to the antics of "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap, Mike "The V-Man" Vranos, and "Jaybird" Goldinger - and many more of Wall Street's most well-known Icaruses. These aren't just instructive episodes about the current climate. They're timeless tales, like the Bible or Cats. Never mind Spawn and Spider-man. These are our superheroes now.These tales "hit the mark," says Harvey Pekar, and are "a brilliant use of the medium," according to TheStreet.com's James J. Cramer. Best of all, it's all true! Titans of Finance is entirely based on press accounts. The results are mind-blowing. Over the past five years, in fact, Titans has crushed the benchmark S&P 500. You've never seen anything like it - this is one acquisition you won't regret. Titans of Finance features the crisp art of Josh Neufeld (co-creator of Keyhole), and the incisive scripts of the mysterious R. Walker.
Those horrible, horrible, very rich men! ^ Josh Neufeld is known for his work on autobiographical comics featured in Keyhole (with Dean Haspiel) and in his newer comic "The Vagabonds." He's also worked on Harvey Pekar's landmark comic "American Splendor," which is now a major motion picture.
Titans Of Finance is also a comic book, albeit an unusual one. It's a departure for Neufeld- I think it was conceived as a one-shot, but who knows, hopefully there will be more. The cover gives readers a good idea of what to expect. Walker and Neufeld lambaste their greedy subjects, but treat them as human as well. This doesn't make us like them any better, but it does make these stories ring with truth.
If you are interested in biographical comics, or in finance, this book is for you. I truly hope they are reading it on Wall Street.
For true laughs, opt for "X-Presidents" ^ I enjoyed "X-Presidents" so much I thought I'd try "Titans of Finance," thinking it would be in the same vein. While inspired, "Titans" is just not in the same league. If you're in finance and enjoy seeing some fine skewerings (most of them deserved), then give this book a whirl. Otherwise, spend a few more dollars and go for the "X-Presidents."
These people scare me... ^ I'm sure that Mr. Walker and Mr. Neufeld will be able to spend the rest of their lives on this brilliant (and disturbingly funny) title -- there seems to be an endless supply of stories about nasty, nasty people doing nasty, nasty things in the corporate world. So, when do they tackle the big fellas in our current regime who're sleeping with big money? Guess it's not a good time to rock the boat these days -- might end up in front of a court run by rabid kangaroos...
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