It’s incredibly rare to find a picture book still in print after 20 years, unless it is remarkable.  Brace yourself to meet a very incredible (dare I say “perfect”?) picture book.

Troy Wilson has visited my blog several times.  He lives in Victoria, BC, Canada. His debut picture book, Perfect Man, was published 20 years ago, and received praise from none other than Stan “The Man” Lee. You can learn more about him at his website or follow him on Twitter.

PERFECT MAN is a story about a boy, Michael Maxwell McAllum, who loves one superhero above all others: Perfect Man.  Then one sad day, Perfect Man announces he’s retiring.  But Michael suspects he knows where he’s really gone.  He just has to be his teacher, Mr. Clark.  He’s convinced of it.  Where the story goes and the twists it takes are unexpected and wonderful.  It pays tribute to every fan boy out there, but also every teacher who tries to “save the world in other ways.”  This book with its wonderful illustrations by Dean Griffiths pays homage to the superheroes, including those who teach.  If you’re looking for the perfect (see what I did there?) teacher gift, perfect story for a superhero fan, or just a great book, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Welcome back Troy!

Me: I love this story of heroes and fans, of writers and teachers!  It combines so many things.  It’s wonderful!  What gave you the idea? Is it based on anyone you know?

Troy: I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jena. Thanks!

The idea was sparked by an issue of a comic book that was published the year I was born – Green Lantern 76, written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams. In it, an elderly man confronts spacefaring superhero Green Lantern about helping extraterrestrials of all colors while neglecting people of color on earth.

And how does that have anything at all to do with Perfect Man, you ask? Well, it led me to think of a scene in which a boy confronts a superhero named Perfect Man about how he’s not really improving the world. He’s just fighting the same villains over and over. The boy suggests that maybe Perfect Man should become a teacher or something, and help make sure kids never grow up to be villains in the first place.

But it didn’t ring true. The boy in that scene wasn’t thinking or speaking like a boy. He was thinking and speaking like … well … an elderly man. So I jotted the idea down and let it stew.

And as it stewed, the boy became a boy. He became the superhero’s biggest fan. And my portrayal of him was inspired by three other superhero fans. (1) The boy in the classic comics tale “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man”, written by Roger Stern and drawn by Ron Frenz. I read this one in the early 1980s when it first appeared as a back-up story in Amazing Spider-Man 248. (2) The Superman super-fan in The Kryptonite Kid, a novel written by Joseph Torchia, which I had first stumbled upon in my high school library in the late 1980s. (3) Me. I was a longtime superhero fan and comics fan. (A fan of all kinds of comics, by the way, not just superhero comics.)

The teacher in this story was not inspired by any one teacher. He is more of an amalgam of all the great ones I had.

Me: Not all books get to reach their 20^th print anniversary.  How does it feel to have a book that is still selling after 20 years?  What do you love about this book the most?

Troy: Not all books get to reach their 10^th. Or even their fifth.

Most of all, I just feel grateful. Grateful to my younger self for writing and submitting it. Grateful to Orca Book Publishers and illustrator Dean Griffiths for doing more and better with it than I ever could have imagined. And grateful to all the kids, teachers, librarians, booksellers, reviewers, interviewers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and colleagues who loved it and/or helped it along the way.

And what do I now love most about the book itself? I love that we never find out for sure if the teacher, Mr. Clark, is truly Perfect Man in disguise, like Michael Maxwell McAllum believes. Kids always ask me if he is, but I never give a definitive answer – because there is no definitive answer, not even in my own mind. Some days I believe he is, and some days I don’t. I designed the story to work either way. This is a book that wears its message on its sleeve. It spells everything out, and then spells it out again. So I love that it keeps this one big card close to its superheroic chest. Plus, the whole teacher-with-an-amazing-secret-life thing is always fun. And all great teachers are superheroes anyway, disguised or not.

Me: After seeing the book around for 20 years, is there anything you would change or wish you had done differently in the story?

Troy: First and foremost, I’d get rid of the entire first spread. It’s totally unnecessary. Plus, if we started with the first sentence of the second spread (“Michael Maxwell McAllum was Perfect Man’s biggest fan”), it would bookend so nicely with the “biggest fan” line on the last page.

I’d pare down the news conference where Perfect Man quits. No need for him to mention the fact that other superheroes will take care of things now, because we will see them doing that later anyway.

I might change the name Perfect Man. A monicker like that cries out for some sort of perfection vs. imperfection material, which the book does not deliver. On the other hand, Perfect Man is indeed perfect as far as Michael is concerned. Who better for him to idolize? On the yet another hand, having Michael idolize a slightly quirkier hero as perfect might work even better…

I would definitely add three of my most important writing teachers to the dedication. Rod Brown from Nanaimo District Secondary School in Nanaimo, BC. And Ron Smith and Steve Guppy from Malaspina College in Nanaimo, BC. The good news is, I’ve since thanked all three profusely, along with every other writing teacher who had a significant impact on me. 

Me: How on earth did you get Stan Lee to write a blurb for the back of your book???

Troy: I snail-mailed him a copy, along with a note thanking him for all the superhero entertainment he and his artistic collaborators had provided over the years. But I didn’t mail it to him via Marvel. As per a wise suggestion from Roger Stern (writer of “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” and so much more), I mailed it to Stan via POW! Entertainment. This was a smaller venture that Stan was involved with. A path to Stan’s attention that was surely far less traveled than Marvel would have been.

And I almost missed his lovely email response – because it ended up in my spam folder! Thank goodness I happened to check it. I shudder to think how close I came to never, ever knowing what he thought of the book.

And my interactions with Stan didn’t stop there. He later agreed to write a three-panel gag strip for a comics-format charity anthology I was heading up called Panels for Primates. So I actually received an original Stan Lee script in my inbox (not my spam folder that time)! The strip ended up being drawn by cartoonist Dean Haspiel, and it was the one and only time they ever got to collaborate. It was so fun to see a picture of the two of them together at a comic convention after the strip had run.

Me:  The illustrations by Dean Griffiths are perfect.  I almost felt like I was reading a comic book, but there was enough style here that I knew I was really reading a picture book.  It’s an amazing line to walk and quite a feat Dean pulled off!  Were there any illustration surprises for you?  What was your favorite illustration?

Troy: In a sense, all the illustrations were a surprise to me because I never saw any of the roughs along the way, just the full-blown finished art. And wow, what a rush that was! It was like going from zero miles an hour to hyper-speed in a span of an instant. These days I get to see the artwork at every stage, but not so for that book.

The two biggest and best surprises were these: Perfect Man wearing a helmet and the fact that Perfect Man and Mr. Clark both had big chins. I knew Dean had to solve the visual problem of how much Perfect Man and Mr. Clark should and should not resemble each other, and he solved it brilliantly. The helmet provides some disguise and the chins provide some resemblance. I had more of a Superman/Clark Kent thing in my head, with glasses and hair style differences. But Dean’s solution is a billion times better. Hence, why he is the illustrator, and I am not.

As for my favorite illustration, it’s hard to beat the alien invasion scene. Great variety of superheroes, great variety of citizens, great design of the aliens. And the lady poking the alien in the eye with her cane is priceless! In fact, it was Dean’s generous practice to give each author the spread of their choosing, absolutely free, and that was the one I picked. Even better, he also gave me the rough art that led up to it. This pairing of rough art and finished art was invaluable for school presentations.

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing this story?

Troy: I was surprised by how much of myself made it into the character of Michael Maxwell McAllum. It wasn’t just the love of superheroes. It was the fact that Michael became a published author. It was the fact that Michael needed to find a better balance between writing in his room and living in the world. It was the fact that Michael received the only advice that might have moved me as a kid to get out of my room and experience more. It’s no coincidence that Michael and I share the middle name Maxwell.

Me: For a book to remain in print after 20 years, it has to have an amazing track record.  Has it had great sales or received awards, etc?  Do you know what has kept this book in print for so long (besides the fact that it’s an amazing story)?

Troy: Yes to great sales. Yes to award nominations. Yes to great reviews and lists and media coverage.

Like you said at the outset, the book combines so many things. And that turned out to be a winning combination. I guess it was just the right book at the right time by the right people with the right publisher.  And for that I will always be grateful.

And, of course, I’m grateful for this interview, too. Thanks, Jena!

Aww!  You’re welcome Troy.  Thank you for stopping by my blog again today.

But wait, dear readers.  Troy has generously agreed to giveaway, not one, not two, but THREE copies of this book to three lucky winners.  This is limited to US and Canadian contestants only.  You can enter the rafflecopter here.