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An Unlikely Prophet: A Metaphysical Memoir by the Legendary Writer of Superman and Batman by Alvin Schwartz
A profound investigation into the shifting nature of identity and reality Looks at the ways thought is embodied and how it takes on a life of its own Shows how Superman, an archetype of popular culture, is a perfect example of the nonlocality of quantum physicsWriter Alvin Schwartz received a great deal of attention from fans when he began talking publicly about his seventeen-year stint writing Superman and Batman comics. One of the individuals who contacted him was no ordinary fan, but a seven-foot Buddhist monk named Thongden, a tulpa or individual who was thought into being by a Tibetan mystic. Thongden put Alvin Schwartz on the path without form, an amazing journey he took in the company of Hawaiian kahunas, quantum physicists, and superheroes. Superman, as it turns out, is also a tulpa, a being created by thought that takes on a life of its own and, in Mr. Schwartz’s words, is an archetype expressing the sense of nonlocality that is always present in the back of our minds--that capacity to be everywhere instantly. Superman is one of the specific forms that embodies our reality when we’re at our highest point, when we’re truly impermeable, indestructible, totally concentrated, and living entirely in the now, a condition each of us actually attains from time to time.Alvin Schwartz’s story is a personal journey through a lifelong remembrance of synchrony, inspiration, accident, and magic. As it unfolds it puts into vivid clarity the saving grace that inhabits every moment of our lives. The author travels as a stranger in a strange land, whose greatest oddity is that this land is our own.
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First published June 1, 1997
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About the author
Alvin Schwartz
68 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Alvin^^Schwartz
Born in NYC in 1916, Alvin Schwartz wrote his first comics for Fairy Tale Parade in 1939, and wrote extensively for Shelley Mayer, then an editor at Max Gaines’ All-American Publications (later purchased by National/DC in 1944). He had also done a short stint at Fawcett on Captain Marvel. Schwartz wrote his first Batman story in 1942, and his first Batman newspaper strip in Aug 1944 (an assignment he continued on until 1958) and his first Superman newspaper strip in Oct 1944. He had a long association with Superman as the writer of both the Man of Steel’s newspaper strip and many of his comic book appearances, and one of his many enduring contributions to the Superman mythology was the creation of Bizarro, a character who became a part of popular culture, quite apart from comics. While writing most of DC’s newspaper strips between 1944 and 1952, he also went on to do stories for many of their comics magazines, working on characters such as Aquaman, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, Date With Judy, Buzzy, House of Mystery, Tomahawk, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Newsboy Legion and numerous others.
After his 1958 departure from comics, Schwartz took on a whole new role in the corporate world, using the knowledge of plotting gained in comics to open new directions in market research, developing the now well-known techniques of psycho-graphics, typological identification and others, until as Research Director for the famed think tank of Dr Ernst Dichter, The Institute for Motivational Research, he provided structural and marketing advice to some of America’s largest corporations ranging from General Motors to General Foods. He was subsequently appointed to an advisory committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
Schwartz also authored three novels for Arco Press, one of which, Sword of Desire, a detective story, won praise for its successful takeoff on Reichian orgone therapy, a popular psychotherapeutic technique during the 40s and 50s. His Beat generation novel, The Blowtop was published by Dial in 1948. Under the title Le Cinglé, it became a best seller in France. He also wrote and lectured on superheroes at various universities and received a prestigious Canada Council Grant for a study on the religious symbolism in popular culture, using Superman as a springboard.
Also in Canada, he wrote feature films and did numerous docu-dramas for The National Film Board for nearly 20 years and did a number of economic and social studies for the Canadian government.
His last two books, written in his eighties, were: An Unlikely Prophet: Revelations on the Path Without Form (published in 1997) — a memoir dealing with some very off-the-wall experiences generated by his years doing Superman which led him to a unique understanding of Superman’s significance as well as some life-enriching possibilities available to every one of us, and the sequel A Gathering of Selves: The Spiritual Journey of the Legendary Writer of Superman and Batman (published in 2006).
Schwartz received the first Bill Finger Award for his contributions to comics via writing in 2006. The Finger Award was created by the legendary creator Jerry Robinson to honour his friend Bill Finger (the uncredited co-creator of Batman) and is given to comic book writers as part of the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards in July of each year.
Alvin^^Schwartz
Born in NYC in 1916, Alvin Schwartz wrote his first comics for Fairy Tale Parade in 1939, and wrote extensively for Shelley Mayer, then an editor at Max Gaines’ All-American Publications (later purchased by National/DC in 1944). He had also done a short stint at Fawcett on Captain Marvel. Schwartz wrote his first Batman story in 1942, and his first Batman newspaper strip in Aug 1944 (an assignment he continued on until 1958) and his first Superman newspaper strip in Oct 1944. He had a long association with Superman as the writer of both the Man of Steel’s newspaper strip and many of his comic book appearances, and one of his many enduring contributions to the Superman mythology was the creation of Bizarro, a character who became a part of popular culture, quite apart from comics. While writing most of DC’s newspaper strips between 1944 and 1952, he also went on to do stories for many of their comics magazines, working on characters such as Aquaman, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, Date With Judy, Buzzy, House of Mystery, Tomahawk, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Newsboy Legion and numerous others.
After his 1958 departure from comics, Schwartz took on a whole new role in the corporate world, using the knowledge of plotting gained in comics to open new directions in market research, developing the now well-known techniques of psycho-graphics, typological identification and others, until as Research Director for the famed think tank of Dr Ernst Dichter, The Institute for Motivational Research, he provided structural and marketing advice to some of America’s largest corporations ranging from General Motors to General Foods. He was subsequently appointed to an advisory committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
Schwartz also authored three novels for Arco Press, one of which, Sword of Desire, a detective story, won praise for its successful takeoff on Reichian orgone therapy, a popular psychotherapeutic technique during the 40s and 50s. His Beat generation novel, The Blowtop was published by Dial in 1948. Under the title Le Cinglé, it became a best seller in France. He also wrote and lectured on superheroes at various universities and received a prestigious Canada Council Grant for a study on the religious symbolism in popular culture, using Superman as a springboard.
Also in Canada, he wrote feature films and did numerous docu-dramas for The National Film Board for nearly 20 years and did a number of economic and social studies for the Canadian government.
His last two books, written in his eighties, were: An Unlikely Prophet: Revelations on the Path Without Form (published in 1997) — a memoir dealing with some very off-the-wall experiences generated by his years doing Superman which led him to a unique understanding of Superman’s significance as well as some life-enriching possibilities available to every one of us, and the sequel A Gathering of Selves: The Spiritual Journey of the Legendary Writer of Superman and Batman (published in 2006).
Schwartz received the first Bill Finger Award for his contributions to comics via writing in 2006. The Finger Award was created by the legendary creator Jerry Robinson to honour his friend Bill Finger (the uncredited co-creator of Batman) and is given to comic book writers as part of the Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards in July of each year.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 24, 2011
One way to generalize what the book is about is to say that it deals with what is "reality" and how we each shape our reality with our beliefs. Reading this book put me into a mind space I don't often inhabit, one where the line between "real" and "unreal" became blurred, and I think the book is powerful in its ability to induce that blurriness. The blurred line, for me, happens because I'm not sure what I am, as the reader, am meant to believe is "real" and what the narrative/author believes is "real". The narrative is rife with challenges like this -- for example the narrative is advertized as a memoir (i.e., non-fiction), but the author is a former fiction writer (he used to write for the Superman and Batman comics). This fact in-and-of-itself has no power to blur reality for me. Certainly lots of authors of fiction write non-fiction, and when I read such things, I don't come away with a blurred sense of reality. But as the events in book become more and more "unreal", but are presented as "real", I am left to wonder if Schwartz is drawing on his fiction writing skills, and/or if he is deliberately toying with the expectation that a memoir is non-fiction.
I think the blurriness of reality is done very deliberately. Early in the book, Schwartz casts doubt on the literalness of his own writing, a fact that I think further blurs what is real. A strager calls him on the phone, prompted by an article Schwartz had written about his experience writing Superman comics in which he writes:
"For about sixteen years, from the beginning of the forties to the mid-fifties, I suffered a peculiar kind of occupational thralldom. But I wasn't entirely aware of it. In fairy tales and legends, there are numerous stories of humans bound into the service of trolls, giants, witches and other demonic and supra-human entities. But in today's rational world, we are scarcely likely to recognize or give credence to such creatures. Consequently, when we are, in a very direct sense, takaen over by such a being, we either tend to reduce it to mere psychology or deny that it's happening altogether.
"In my case as well as that of all my co-workers, we chose the path of denial. It simply never would have occurred to us that we were, to put it bluntly, 'being directed.' ... I was not to understand until long afterwardsd, however, that it wasn't I, or any of the other writers or the editors ... who directed Superman's destinies. Superman directed his own destinies. All of us were merely his pawns. But the realization seems to be, long after the fact, mine alone. (p. 4 - 5)
The stranger, Thongden (the soon-to-be guide of Schwartz's spiritual journey), reads Schwartz's writing literally and would like to engage him in a conversation from the assumption that Schwartz believes in the literalness of his words. But Schwartz says to Thongden about his writing "It was just a fanciful way of describing my experience" (p. 3). Could I not, also, chock up this whole narrative as another fanciful description of his experience?
At the very least, I think, I am meant to believe that the premise of the narrative, that reality is created by our beliefs, is a "law", so to speak, of the universe. The story of the writing of the narrative is woven into it, which includes Schwartz periodically meeting with his literary agent to talk about this narrative, the narrative he plans on writing. At one of their meetings they have the following conversation:
"I've got this idea," I began. "Coming down this morning, I thought maybe it was too wild -- it has to do with -- well -- something about the ability of the imagination to create reality."
She didn't even blink. "I thought that was always the point," she said.
"I mean -- literally."
"Of course literally." (p. 45)
The message of the narrative, at least, is literal.
Right after the conversation quoted above, Schwartz writes, "I didn't realize that she truly meant something about the flexibility of reality that I hadn't begun to grasp" (p. 45). I think this is an important statement for reading this narrative because the confusion I felt, and continue to feel as I think about the narrative, in some ways parallels Schwartz's as he procedes down his spiritual journey, or the "path with no form" as he calls it. He struggles throughout the book with a constantly redefined sense of "reality." And I suspect that part of the blurred sense of "reality" the narartive leaves me with is a deliberate attempt on Schwartz's part to affect the reader's consciousness.
Part of me feels that to approach the narrative, like I have done here, with an investigation about what is "reality" is unfair since so much of its message is that we draw, whether consciously or unconsciously, our own boundaries between "reality" and "unreality". Ultimately I think what is real in the context of the narrative is left blurred so that the reader is free to draw their own lines between reality and unreality.
I wish I had more time to develop my thoughts more on these topics, since I so enjoyed writing this.
An interesting quote from the book:
One day you'll find out for yourself what thinking can do. The power of thought is sometimes more than the thinker. Lucky most people don't understand that. They think so many different thoughts that nothing much happens, which is probably a good thing. But lately a lot of angels are being created. That's right. Angels. Where do you think all the books and stories about angels come from? Out of thin air? No. Because people need help and don't know where to turn, so they look for guardian angels, and the power gets formed, and the angels are there. And sometimes they can help. Up to a point. Then there are the people who create space aliens. But mostly they're very confused about what they want from aliens, you know? (p. 38)
I think the blurriness of reality is done very deliberately. Early in the book, Schwartz casts doubt on the literalness of his own writing, a fact that I think further blurs what is real. A strager calls him on the phone, prompted by an article Schwartz had written about his experience writing Superman comics in which he writes:
"For about sixteen years, from the beginning of the forties to the mid-fifties, I suffered a peculiar kind of occupational thralldom. But I wasn't entirely aware of it. In fairy tales and legends, there are numerous stories of humans bound into the service of trolls, giants, witches and other demonic and supra-human entities. But in today's rational world, we are scarcely likely to recognize or give credence to such creatures. Consequently, when we are, in a very direct sense, takaen over by such a being, we either tend to reduce it to mere psychology or deny that it's happening altogether.
"In my case as well as that of all my co-workers, we chose the path of denial. It simply never would have occurred to us that we were, to put it bluntly, 'being directed.' ... I was not to understand until long afterwardsd, however, that it wasn't I, or any of the other writers or the editors ... who directed Superman's destinies. Superman directed his own destinies. All of us were merely his pawns. But the realization seems to be, long after the fact, mine alone. (p. 4 - 5)
The stranger, Thongden (the soon-to-be guide of Schwartz's spiritual journey), reads Schwartz's writing literally and would like to engage him in a conversation from the assumption that Schwartz believes in the literalness of his words. But Schwartz says to Thongden about his writing "It was just a fanciful way of describing my experience" (p. 3). Could I not, also, chock up this whole narrative as another fanciful description of his experience?
At the very least, I think, I am meant to believe that the premise of the narrative, that reality is created by our beliefs, is a "law", so to speak, of the universe. The story of the writing of the narrative is woven into it, which includes Schwartz periodically meeting with his literary agent to talk about this narrative, the narrative he plans on writing. At one of their meetings they have the following conversation:
"I've got this idea," I began. "Coming down this morning, I thought maybe it was too wild -- it has to do with -- well -- something about the ability of the imagination to create reality."
She didn't even blink. "I thought that was always the point," she said.
"I mean -- literally."
"Of course literally." (p. 45)
The message of the narrative, at least, is literal.
Right after the conversation quoted above, Schwartz writes, "I didn't realize that she truly meant something about the flexibility of reality that I hadn't begun to grasp" (p. 45). I think this is an important statement for reading this narrative because the confusion I felt, and continue to feel as I think about the narrative, in some ways parallels Schwartz's as he procedes down his spiritual journey, or the "path with no form" as he calls it. He struggles throughout the book with a constantly redefined sense of "reality." And I suspect that part of the blurred sense of "reality" the narartive leaves me with is a deliberate attempt on Schwartz's part to affect the reader's consciousness.
Part of me feels that to approach the narrative, like I have done here, with an investigation about what is "reality" is unfair since so much of its message is that we draw, whether consciously or unconsciously, our own boundaries between "reality" and "unreality". Ultimately I think what is real in the context of the narrative is left blurred so that the reader is free to draw their own lines between reality and unreality.
I wish I had more time to develop my thoughts more on these topics, since I so enjoyed writing this.
An interesting quote from the book:
One day you'll find out for yourself what thinking can do. The power of thought is sometimes more than the thinker. Lucky most people don't understand that. They think so many different thoughts that nothing much happens, which is probably a good thing. But lately a lot of angels are being created. That's right. Angels. Where do you think all the books and stories about angels come from? Out of thin air? No. Because people need help and don't know where to turn, so they look for guardian angels, and the power gets formed, and the angels are there. And sometimes they can help. Up to a point. Then there are the people who create space aliens. But mostly they're very confused about what they want from aliens, you know? (p. 38)
January 20, 2009
An eerie read for me, as it encompassed everything I was thinking about the Man of Steel from the perspective of a man undergoing an intense spiritual journey, a man who actually wrote Superman for a good chunk of time.
Like The Pilgrammage, I take this as a flight of fancy fiction that makes some solid points about how we live our lives and how our work never leaves us, nor should we ignore its effects on the individual.
It has sort of a gotcha ending, but all in all, anyone who wants to look at the way we create ourselves and others in a startling light, give this a read.
Like The Pilgrammage, I take this as a flight of fancy fiction that makes some solid points about how we live our lives and how our work never leaves us, nor should we ignore its effects on the individual.
It has sort of a gotcha ending, but all in all, anyone who wants to look at the way we create ourselves and others in a startling light, give this a read.
May 6, 2017
I read this book a long time ago, stumbled upon at random. Reading "Mutants and Mystics", they made reference to the book, even including some additional information about Alvin Schwartz, and I decided to find a copy and read it again.
It's a great book. Not perfect, a little flakey, very new age-y, but great. Are fictional characters real? What is reality? Is this book an autobiography or something more and weirder than that? How seriously should we take all the Tibetan Buddhist stuff in this book anyway?
I've argued with people that our imaginary friends have lives of their own. Whether God, Superman, or Sherlock Holmes, they have a quality to them, a life to them, not contained by any one person.
Schwartz book speaks to this profoundly. Also, in a bit of a campy way. But it is a fun, odd book, which I highly recommend.
It's a great book. Not perfect, a little flakey, very new age-y, but great. Are fictional characters real? What is reality? Is this book an autobiography or something more and weirder than that? How seriously should we take all the Tibetan Buddhist stuff in this book anyway?
I've argued with people that our imaginary friends have lives of their own. Whether God, Superman, or Sherlock Holmes, they have a quality to them, a life to them, not contained by any one person.
Schwartz book speaks to this profoundly. Also, in a bit of a campy way. But it is a fun, odd book, which I highly recommend.
February 6, 2019
Somehow boring, which makes no sense.
Go figure.
Go figure.
September 28, 2016
Love this book! Alvin Schwartz is a very interesting man, with a very interesting life. I read this a few years ago. Read it again recently, and now I get it --- love it. So, on to the sequel -- A Gathering of Selves.
Alvin wrote the revolutionary novel Blowtop among other wotks, including Superman and Batman.
Alvin wrote the revolutionary novel Blowtop among other wotks, including Superman and Batman.
September 23, 2025
Schwartz was author of Superman comics for years. He claims in his old age to meet a Tibetan man that was actually a tulpa, a being created via meditation by a Western traveler to Tibet decades earlier. The tulpa has physical reality and autonomy but is dependent on others’ attention and mental energy to continue surviving. Legends of tulpas often include them turning malevolent over time. This tulpa’s creator recently died and he is seeking him out for continued survival. The tulpa teaches him meditation and some esoteric spiritual practices. While the tulpa is explaining all of this to Schwartz, he even gives an example of Alexander Hamilton as being a tulpa from history.
The tulpa tells him that his intense focus on Superman has also created a Superman tulpa. Schwartz then meets a mysterious young lady and has an emotional affair with her. As they’re on a carnival ride together he sees the tulpa sabotage the ride. Their car flies into the air and is landed on the ground safely thanks to… Superman. The Superman tulpa saved them from dying. The tulpa had sabotaged the ride as the catalyst to force Schwartz to manifest Superman in physical reality.
While flying through the air he asks who she is and she said to ask his wife. He confesses this later to his wife who recognizes the name and description as that of… her childhood imaginary friend. He and his wife reconcile. He never sees the tulpa again.
Schwartz claims this an autobiographical memoir and all of this happened to him. His wife is credulous but supportive throughout despite never seeing the Tibetan tulpa or any other evidence. The entire story is incredibly bizarre. The implications, if true, would be incalculable. Maybe it is…
The tulpa tells him that his intense focus on Superman has also created a Superman tulpa. Schwartz then meets a mysterious young lady and has an emotional affair with her. As they’re on a carnival ride together he sees the tulpa sabotage the ride. Their car flies into the air and is landed on the ground safely thanks to… Superman. The Superman tulpa saved them from dying. The tulpa had sabotaged the ride as the catalyst to force Schwartz to manifest Superman in physical reality.
While flying through the air he asks who she is and she said to ask his wife. He confesses this later to his wife who recognizes the name and description as that of… her childhood imaginary friend. He and his wife reconcile. He never sees the tulpa again.
Schwartz claims this an autobiographical memoir and all of this happened to him. His wife is credulous but supportive throughout despite never seeing the Tibetan tulpa or any other evidence. The entire story is incredibly bizarre. The implications, if true, would be incalculable. Maybe it is…
September 5, 2007
Most of what this book is about is a bit far fetch for the average person, but if you're willing to just "go with it" you'll find yourself entrance with unfolding story. It helps that the narrator is also a bit dubious as you follow along. Unfortunately the "it was all a dream" type ending ruined this book for me. It touches on some interesting ideas, but I felt so robbed at the end I couldn't take any of them to heart. If you're a bit more forgiving, and approach new ideas with an open min (and you have nothing else to read) - this is the book for you. enjoy.
July 7, 2012
Words almost fail me in describing how fascinating this book is for me. I was already aware of the spiritual side of Superman stories, but this book has opened up for me the real spiritual potential of the idea of Superman. I admit that part of me wants to remain skeptical of the experiences Schwartz tells of having here, but he tells the story in such a way that even he has trouble believing it. Somehow, that makes his story easier to believe.
I am certainly looking forward to this book's companion A Gathering of Selves.
I am certainly looking forward to this book's companion A Gathering of Selves.
September 6, 2008
The concept that tulpas could be actual fact is riveting. I read the book thinking, "I want to meet this Thongden." We live in a fantastic world full of greatness created by human thought. Why not thought forms, too?
October 18, 2007
read this without trying to figure out if the author is telling the "truth" or not and you will be quite entertained.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews