Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg becomes a comic book hero
Wham, bam, pow! Move over Superman, Facebook鈥檚 Mark Zuckerberg is the new comic book hero.
Most guys his age are only reading comic books, but this 26-year-old accidental entrepreneur is already the king of social networking, has a book and Oscar-nominated movie about him, was named Time鈥檚 magazine鈥檚 Person of the Year, is the youngest billionaire on the planet 鈥� and is now the subject of a glossy comic book.
鈥淢ark Zuckerberg: Creator of Facebook鈥� is the 48-paged saga of the self-made billionaire. Publisher promises 鈥渁 more balanced portrayal of Zuckerberg鈥� than the not-so-sympathetic movie 鈥�The Social Network.鈥�
Former staff reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News Jerome Maida and illustrator Sal Field collaborated on the biographical comic that hit shelves Wednesday 鈥� just in time to take advantage of the Oscar-buzz swirling around 鈥淭he Social Network.鈥�
鈥淭his is a fascinating story,鈥� . 鈥淚 enjoyed researching it because it鈥檚 extremely compelling. Think about it. Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire on the planet and created something that has already had a profound impact on the world. Yet hardly anyone knows much about him.鈥�
鈥淩ightly or wrongly, Mark dealt harshly with some people on his way to where he is today,鈥� Maida said. 鈥淎s we see, he left many people feeling betrayed. I try my best to be fair here. No one is totally innocent in this story.鈥�
Facebook did not cooperate with Bluewater in producing the comic book.
A Facebook spokesperson told , 鈥淲e鈥檝e said all we鈥檙e going to say about the movie and the books. We鈥檝e moved on from this discussion, and we think others have, too.鈥�
has a healthy share of the biographical comic market, it seems. It has released other biographical comics, including stories about pop star Justin Bieber, First Lady Michelle Obama, Fox News commentators Sarah Palin and Bill O鈥橰eilly, and actor William Shatner. Upcoming comics will feature Richard Nixon and Fox News personality Glenn Beck.
The Zuckerberg comic book is available in stores and online for $6.99.
And it鈥檚 already spawned a movie spin-off.
Publisher Bluewater says a production company called Hayden 5 Media has already optioned the comic book for an animated movie. The movie will use real characters in an animated setting, according to Hayden 5, to achieve a 鈥渦nique comic book aesthetic,鈥� similar to.
Clearly, Superman鈥檚 days are numbered.
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
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