Raising Cain

Brad Meltzer Reopens the Book on the First Murderer

By John Hood

They call it The Invisible Army of Good. Well, he calls it that anyway. And when I get the e-mail blast alerting me to its formation, I’m ready. I mean, hell, after dealing with all the bad guys in the cat’s book (not to mention my life), I’m up for any good I can glean.

This good happens to be super good, as in Superman good, specifically saving the house where Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the legend. But it’s not so much about the bulletproof superhero — it’s about the courage it takes to become one. Clark Kent ripping off his shirt to save the world. We all have it in us, and he is intent on giving it voice.

The ‘he’ I mention is Brad Meltzer, author of best seller The Book of Fate and now, The Book of Lies (Grand Central $25.99), which is what we’re here to discuss. Unlike Fate, Lies rides mostly in Miami (Meltzer’s kinda de facto hometown), and is concerned not with politics and assassination, but with a man named Cain and hero known as Superman.

Yes, you read that correctly: Cain and Superman. The first murderer and Mister Bulletproof himself, linked in ways you’d never dream. Unless, of course, you’re the type to envision Superman’s father getting murdered over one of the bible’s great mysteries: the weapon Cain used to kill Abel.

OK, so it was Jerry Siegel’s pops who got offed way back in 1932 and after the father of a troubled altruist named Cal Harper gets popped with the same gun, that case gets unceremoniously reopened.

Which brings about the why of it all: Was Mitchell Siegel really killed over the first murder weapon? If so, what was it, who has it and how do we get it? Put some immigration and customs agents — good and bad — into the fray, not to mention a pre-Nazi secret society called Thule, a defrocked pastor named Roosevelt and a man who carries both the mark and the beast of Cain, and you have the makings of one bag o’ smart popcorn. 

In an interview included in the press pack for Lies, Meltzer said, “Our heroes and villains tell us who we are.” I gave him the ol’ either/or to see just what he meant.

Cain or Abel?

Cain. He’s not the bad guy in the story (except for that whole dead brother thing in Act 1).

Marvel or DC?

DC. I love my archetypes. Plus, no one beats Batman.

Batman (the TV show) or The Dark Knight?

Y’know, the movie was great. It was. But Act 4 of it wasn’t. There. I said it.

Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt?

Eartha Kitt made me discover puberty.

Lois Lane or Hildy (His Girl Friday)?

The best part of the story isn’t Superman. The best part of the story is Clark Kent. Because we’re all Clark Kent. All of us know what it’s like to be plain and ordinary. And [how] to long for Lois.

George Reeves or Christopher Reeve?

Christopher Reeve. (This was actually the easiest question.)

"Superman" Robyn Hitchcock or "Superman" REM?

REM is on the soundtrack for The Book of Lies. Hitchcock isn’t.

The Fortress of Solitude or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay?

Kavalier & Clay.  (name-drop extravaganza: When I met Chabon, he knew lots of planets from the Legion of Super-Heroes. That is good.) Plus, he writes the pants off anyone.

The Book of Laughter & Forgetting or The Book of the Law?

You trying to name my sequel?