 The Dark Menace of the Universe is a somewhat peculiar book authored by Tom Filsinger, game designer and creator of the long-running small-press wrestling game, Champions of the Galaxy. At various times it's an autobiography, a discussion of creativity, an insight into game production, and an insider's look at Champions of the Galaxy. Despite being somewhat scattered it does provide interesting and insightful looks at all of these topics.
The Contents
Here's what you'll find discussed within Tom's four topics in The Dark Menace of the Universe:
The Autobiography: Tom Filsinger was born in 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio. After a youth of creativity (and a basement wrestling league!) Tom went on to marriage, family life, and a college professorship. This is the thumbnail of the story of Tom's life, and it's the spine that (somewhat) holds the book together.
Tom's writing is engaging and thus the biographical discussion is interesting on multiple levels. Early in the book he paints a vivid picture of life in mid-twentieth century America which I enjoyed quite a bit for its historical point of view. Tom's later biographical writings, talking about meeting his wife and beginning his college career don't have quite the same historical depth, but do remaining interesting on the personal level.
Creativity: If the autobiography is the spine of Tom's book, his discussion of creativity is its heart. He sees himself, and others like himself, as a "Dark Menace" (hence the title of the book). Dark Menaces are, quite simply, creative people, but because they're creative people they tend to both question authority and be questioned by it, hence the nomenclature.
Tom approaches creativity both from his personal experience, and from his role as a psychology professor. Overall, his insights feel dead on. I found myself smiling and nodding throughout the book's most in-depth discussions of creativity, because I see a lot of the traits Tom discusses within myself.
There's some interesting discussion on ideas, on children & creativity, on characteristics of creative people, and more. It's mostly analysis & discussion, not a how-to book, however it does end off with "Nine Rules for Being a Dark Menace".
Game Publishing: There is some discussion of game publishing in The Dark Menace of the Universe, but it's mostly vestigial--an outgrowth of the discussion of Tom's games. Nonetheless, there's some good insight here, not necessarily into game design, but rather into publishing, marketing, convention attendence, licensing, art direction, and everything else you need to do to get a game out the door--and keep it going over many years.
Champions of the Galaxy: Finally we come to the body of the book, which is the discussion of Tom's ongoing wrestling game, Champions of the Galaxy. There is a wealth of information here that I'm sure would be of immense interest to any fan of the game.
There's discussion on the game's early genesis and on many of its artists (including, I was amazed to see, Brian Michael Bendis, who is now one of the finest comic authors writing). There's interesting insight into early Champions of the Galaxy conventions, and the book ends with 40 pages of appendixed discussion of the game's characters and plotlines.
As someone who had never heard of Champions of the Galaxy until shortly before receiving this book I was occasionally lost, though for the most part I managed to figure out the gist of things. Despite my lack of interest in the game itself I did find all of the discussions about it fascinating, not just for their exemplar nature (as a specific discussion of game design and creativity), but also for the insights they offered into the game and into the community that surrounds it.
Other Topics: The book ends with some discussions of two of Tom Filsinger's other projects, the Legends of Wrestling game and the Countdown calendars.
I was going to write that I'm not quite the target audience for The Dark Menace of the Universe, but I'm actually probably three-quarters of it. I was quite interesting in three of the topics: the historical autobiography, the discussions of game design, and the discussions of creativity. Fans of Champions of the Galaxy will probably get the most out of this book, and I'd generally and widely suggest their picking it up, but people interested in reading about creativity & the game industry in general may well be interested as well, thanks to Tom's interesting writing style, and the experience with which he approaches all of his topics.
Numerically, I've given this book a "3" out of "5" for Style; it's a fairly normal trade paperback production with some pictures (though not many pictures from the games, which I would have loved to see). I've given it a "4" out of "5" for Substance. It's an interesting read, and it's going to stay on my bookshelf.
Conclusion
Tom Filsinger's book, The Dark Menace of the Universe, is a bit scattered, but gives good insights into a variety of topics, among them creativity, producing a game, and his own game, Champions of the Galaxy. I found it an interesting and worthwhile read.
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