Thanks to Humanoids for this advanced reading copy of The Twilight Man in exchange for an honest review!

I went into this book not knowing a whole helluva lot about Rod Serling aside from the fact that he made The Twilight Zone, easily one of the finest and most complex science fiction shows in the history of television. I requested the book based on this small sliver of knowledge, and absolutely do not regret it. Shadmi's style lends itself very well to Serling's tale, from military to Manhattan, paratrooper to Pacific Coast. The book is deeply informative, and framed in an interesting way. The ending? Absolutely perfect.

In an increasingly non-fiction heavy graphic novel landscape, this book is a standout. Highly recommend.

I found this graphic novel rather interesting since I have always been a fan of The Twilight Zone. I like the way the author told Rod Serling's story as a story he told a seat mate on an airplane. The author did a fine job of giving us details of Rod's life while making it appear that we were in a Twilight Zone episode ourselves. Bravo!

Told in graphic novel form, this is the biography of Rod Serling, best known as creator and writer of The Twilight Zone. The story is told within the frame of Rod speaking to a woman next to him on a flight, telling her his life story. He begins with him becoming a paratrooper during World War II, and continues through his life in college and beginning his career as a writer. Fans of The Twilight Zone will love the behind the scenes look at his writing process and negotiations, but he also just had a fascinating life. The style of the art is reminiscent of The Twilight Zone in the black and white panels, and scenes from the show will be recognizable to fans. This gave me insight into a writer I knew little about, and it put his work into perspective for me.

Beautiful artwork and an interesting historical story form the basis of this book. I would gladly use it in a graphic novels course — looking forward to getting my own paper copy.

ARC copy provided by NetGalley and Humanoids.

I was force-fed (eventually by choice) classic Twilight Zone episodes as a kid, so I jumped at the opportunity to read about creator Rod Serling in this graphic biography and was glad I did. Rendered in neat black and white reminiscent of 50's TV, the story is framed by the introduction of Serling (of course, smoking a cigarette) detailing his life to a bored woman on a plane ride. Right off the bat, that setting has the capacity to hook Twilight Zone fans, as we're almost expecting a gremlin to appear on the plane wing. The anxiety of the main character manifests in this case much differently, with Serling recalling his trauma from serving in World War 2 and the consequence of that on his family and domestic life as he navigates pedestrian life and eventually the creation of his iconic show.

Twilight Man explores how entertainment can be used to pull the edge of social issues off the populace, something Serling would do with his sci-fi drama and commentary of the show. It provides examples of literary and artistic influences on Serling, his time in school, his Jewish heritage, radio days, his move into TV, his post-military life and how those experiences shaped him. Nothing like wartime living to conjure thoughts of existential dread and the dubious human condition.

The book is less so about the Twilight Zone and more about the man responsible for it, specifically the experiences that shaped HIM and therefore the show itself. We see how the industry pushes back at him and he sticks to his guns with artistic conviction. Though the artwork isn't particularly surreal until later on in the story, there are subtle nods to Twilight Zone in its design and the frames are selected in very deliberate way. We also see some iconic images we'd later know from the show. The story ramps up alongside the stresses and anxiety Serling faces, in such a way that it becomes an exciting page turner toward the end mimicking the thrilling aspects of the show, with some twists reminiscent of the subjects own writing.

I highly recommend the book to fans of the TV show and now that Jordan Peele has his reboot running, librarians and collectors may want to add this to their collections. I have increasingly become a fan of the graphic biographies and this is a fine example.

For those who are familiar with the Twilight Zone, this graphic novel version of Rod Serling's life reads like an extended twilight zone story.

It starts with Rod on board a flight, where he strikes up a conversation with his seat mate, who asks him about the story of his life, so he begins with the army.

It helps that we start there, because we get the essence of what shaped him.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5232" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/twilight-zone2.png" alt="" />
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5231" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/twilight-zone.png" alt="" />

I grew up watching the Twilight Zone, though it must have been in syndication, because it was over before I was old enough to have understood what was going on.

Nicely done. I wanted to go back and reread it once I was done, to see if I caught everything that was going on.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy.

The art was just okay but the story itself was the best aspect of this comic about Rod Sterling.

I recommend checking out this interesting twist on nonfiction.

This was a timely book for me because we watched an episode of Night Gallery for a library program this evening. A good overview of Rod Serling's life with a Twilight Zone-like format. Just the right amount of info.

Book Review
The Twilight Man
a graphic novel by Koren Shadmi
Publish date: 08 Oct 2019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com

I don't care whether you're a fan of "The Twilight Zone" or not. This graphic novel biography about Rod Serling is excellent. It's strength is that it showed the evolution of the man and his storytelling. The drawings were clear and not confusing while maintaining drama and emotion. It was a quick read for 169 pages. And the ending didn't disappoint; well, in real life it did, but this iteration of the storytelling did not. I cannot wait to get this for my high school library!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This graphic novelized bio of The Twilight Zone creator offers a sensitive, creative take on Serling and is sure to be coveted by the many rabid fans of the show.

It captures the essence of the genius once known as the “angry young man” of Hollywood, who often clashed with TV execs and sponsors over such issues as war, racism and censorship.

Serling spoke at my hubs’ fifth grade English class, smoking cig after cig the whole time. He started his professional career in Cincinnati as a continuity writer for WLW, going on to write for TV on WKRC. We claim him as our own, so I know many in the Queen City will also really dig this fine book, with its TZ-vibed illustrations and story. 5/5

Pub Date 08 Oct 2019.

Thanks to the author, Humanoids and NetGalley. Opinions are mine.

#TheTwilightMan #NetGalley