Little did I know that Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life was going to contain so many serious essays. For example, Delilah Dawson talks about her anger management issues which led her to admire The Hulk. Jamie Ford talks about his relationships and how he lost his virginity while under the influence of Daredevil and Elecktra. I preferred the lighter pieces in this anthology: Joe R. Lansdale on Batman’s influence in Lansdale’s writing career and Carrie Vaughn’s love of Wonder Woman. And, who knew Jodi Picoult wrote for comic books? “In the last issue I wrote for DC Comics, I wrote myself into the script, instructing the illustrator to make an Amazon warrior look like a certain red-haired novelist moonlighting as a comic book writer. And, sure enough, when the issue hit the stands, there was my alter ego…systematically beathing the crap out of Batman.” (p. 190) Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life is full of surprises and great writing. Don’t miss this one! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION
SUPERHEROES AND BEING HUMAN
Me and Batman and you / Austin Grossman —
On the Hulk: you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry / Delilah S. Dawson —
Dented hearts: a story of Iron Man / Anthony Breznican —
The weight of four-color justice / Christopher Golden —
SUPERHEROES AND LOVE
Daredevil, Elektra, and the ninja who stole my virginity / Jamie Ford —
Everything I know about love, I learned from Gambit and Rogue / Karina Cooper —
Spider-Manhattan / Scott Westerfeld —
How I spent my summer vacation with the Judas Contract / Brad Meltzer —
SUPERHEROES AND WRITING
How Batman saved my life / Joe R. Lansdale —
All the world is waiting for you / Carrie Vaughn —
The devil inside: how Matt Wagner’s Grendel saved my life / Brendan Deneen —
You never forget your first time / Neil Gaiman —
SUPERHEROES AND GENDER
We are not Amazons / Leigh Bardugo —
Weapon X / Ron Currie, Jr. —
Wonder Woman / Jodi Picoult —
SUPERHEROES AND CHILDHOOD
God of thunder / Kevin Seccia —
Underdog and me / Martin Kihn —
Superman: one rad dude / Jim Di Bartolo —
Some interstitial thoughts on the In-Betweener / Charles Yu —
SUPERHEROES AND TRAUMA
Becoming Bethany: a life in seven deaths / Alethea Kontis —
Swashbuckle my heart: an ode to Nightcrawler / Jenn Reese —
The hero I needed / Liesa Mignogna.
This looks like fun.
Patti, I was surprised by the stories these writers told about growing up with their favorite super-heroes. Very compelling!
I love the Picoult story. Will look for this one.
Jeff, I was floored by some of the stories in this book. I went in thinking “fun and humor” but many of these stories will bring a tear to you eye!
OK, my library has an ebook copy, so I downloaded it!
Jeff, your Library seems to have EVERYTHING!
I know. Lately they seem to be buying a LOT of ebooks.
Jackie has tendinitis in her right thumb, which makes it hard for her to hold a book open for any length of time, so she is always asking me to check if they have her books available in ebook format, as the Kindle is a lot easier for her to use. Sometimes I’m amazed at how many they do have.
Jeff, I just received an email from Matthew Hughes about his new ebook. I will, of course, download it. Hope Jackie’s tendinitis gets better!
I haven’t heard of many of these writers. The ones that sound most interesting are Neil Gaiman (taped but haven’t watched the new starz series based on his novel), Joe Lansdale, Brad Meltzer and Martin Kihn.
BTW, back in my bookselling days, I had bought a bunch of comic books with a sharyn mccrumb story. When I found them recently, there was also a neil gaiman story. I think I may have some left, If I can find what I did with them.
Maggie, you’ll find those Neil Gaiman and Sharyn McCrumb comics will bring high prices!
I read “Last Night a Superhero Saved My Life” a few months ago and I enjoyed it very much.
Mark, I thought LAST NIGHT A SUPERHERO SAVED MY LIFE would be a frothy confection. Little did I know that many of the stories in this book would be so intense!
I think I may have posted this already, but a freebie site Heyitsfree often lists ebooks that are available free. they list them in categories, and though I don’t have an ebook reader, there seem to be many available. I think fri. might be the day he lists them.
Maggie, ebooks are proliferating at an incredible rate! Thanks for the heads up!
Maggie, not a day goes by when I don’t get an offer to download free ebooks. And I already have over 100 ebooks on my iPad waiting to be read!