Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life

June 1, 2016

Mignogna (vice president, editorial director, Simon Pulse: Simon & Schuster) presents this collection that looks at the relationships between authors and their superhero idols. The essays discuss how each writer finds inspiration and the impact the heroes have had on their lives. For example, Delilah S. Dawson's "On the Hulk: You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry" is not an analysis of the Hulk but rather an investigation into Dawson's experiences, her anger, and the idea of coming to terms with the dark parts of oneself. This is a collection with a lot of heart and variety; each piece takes the premise in a different direction and unveils in compelling ways why these superheroes are so revered. VERDICT More a book of motivational stories and slices of life than of comics legends, this compilation will appeal to fans of the genre as well as admirers of the contributors (among them Neil Gaiman and Scott Westerfeld), as each piece uncovers a bit about the writer's personality.--Matthew Gallagher, Victoria, BC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
More memoir than social commentary, these essays are explicitly not about superheroes but rather the relationship between humans and superheroes. There are deliberations on how we can see love, childhood, gender, and writing through the lens of superheroes, from the popular to the obscure. But at the heart of the collection are contributions that plunge deeply into dark recollections of personal trauma, most effectively editor Mignogna's wrenching The Hero I Needed. These essays bear out how superheroes (mostly Batman) are powerful psychological receptacles, helping us define the crucial strength we need to survivea sentiment which will be of great value to many soul-searchers. The sense of joy inherent in these characters, however, goes mainly untapped, and Scott Westerfeld's soaring Spider-Manhattan is almost the only one that suggests superhero stories can help expand our understanding of the world outside us, too. Still, there's ample insight to be found here, not the least of which is that superheroes have a deep, resounding place in our cultural and individual psyches.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)