A review by vanessakm
Last Night, a Superhero Saved My Life by Liesa Mignogna
4.0
This book was completely off my radar until it jumped out at me from the library's new releases shelves. I expected it to be a fun, slightly glib collection of why the assembled writers love comics. And while some of the essays (like Jim Di Bartolo's homage to Superman) are that, it's more. So much more.
Superheroes-and by extension, pop culture-got some of these people through REALLY bad times: abuse, extreme poverty, various demons, internal and otherwise. It's humbling what they chose to share here. Several essays made me laugh, others made me cry like a bitch. Jamie Ford's essay seemed like he was going the wistful but funny route till he got to the end and effortlessly sucker punched me--and I loved it. Delilah S. Dawson's essay made me want to hug her, Carrie Vaughn's made me want to high five her. Brendan Deneen's story about getting a fan mail answer from Matt Wagner (and how that changed his life) was perfectly sweet. I want Leigh Bardugo to be my best friend because, girl, I GET YOU!! Anthony Breznican and Alethea Kontis' stories....I'm just glad that I read them at home because I bawled uncontrollably. There's a real variety here, always delivered with glorious hardcore fanboy/girling.
My count is that Batman won the most hearts and minds in this collection, followed by Wonder Woman and Superman. The top is rounded out by various X-Men.
I'm not going to list everything, but these essays were amongst my favorites:
I tried to restrain myself to my very favorites, and I still listed 12 essays. That's over half of the essays in the collection! This was clearly a passion project of the editor, Liesa Mignogna, who contributed one of my favorite essays about growing up with a truly amazing single mom and a passion for Batman (Mignogna further demonstrates her bona fides by making her author photo a picture from her Batman-themed wedding. I love this woman!) (And her mom!)
(As a random aside, I was surprised to see Jodi Picoult's name on the book cover. Apparently, she's written some Wonder Woman comics. There's your left-field trivia for the day.)
If you love comic books, this is a no-brainer. But even if you don't, I predict you'll like it or maybe love it. Maybe so much that you'll want to buy your own copy. Reader, I did.
Superheroes-and by extension, pop culture-got some of these people through REALLY bad times: abuse, extreme poverty, various demons, internal and otherwise. It's humbling what they chose to share here. Several essays made me laugh, others made me cry like a bitch. Jamie Ford's essay seemed like he was going the wistful but funny route till he got to the end and effortlessly sucker punched me--and I loved it. Delilah S. Dawson's essay made me want to hug her, Carrie Vaughn's made me want to high five her. Brendan Deneen's story about getting a fan mail answer from Matt Wagner (and how that changed his life) was perfectly sweet. I want Leigh Bardugo to be my best friend because, girl, I GET YOU!! Anthony Breznican and Alethea Kontis' stories....I'm just glad that I read them at home because I bawled uncontrollably. There's a real variety here, always delivered with glorious hardcore fanboy/girling.
My count is that Batman won the most hearts and minds in this collection, followed by Wonder Woman and Superman. The top is rounded out by various X-Men.
I'm not going to list everything, but these essays were amongst my favorites:
"On the Hulk, You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry" by Delilah S. Dawson
"Dented Hearts: A Story of Iron Man" by Anthony Breznican
"The Weight of Four-Color Justice" by Christopher Golden
"Daredevil, Elektra, and the Ninja who Stole my Virginity" by Jamie Ford
"Everything I Know About Love, I Learned from Gambit and Rogue" by Karina Cooper
"How I Spent My Summer Vacation with the Judas Contract" by Brad Meltzer
"All the World is Waiting for You" by Carrie Vaughn
"We are not Amazons" by Leigh Bardugo
"Weapon X" by Ron Currie
"Becoming Bethany: A Life in Seven Deaths" by Alethea Kontis
"Swashbuckle My Heart: An Ode to Nightcrawler" by Jenn Reese
"The Hero I Needed" by Liesa Mignogna
I tried to restrain myself to my very favorites, and I still listed 12 essays. That's over half of the essays in the collection! This was clearly a passion project of the editor, Liesa Mignogna, who contributed one of my favorite essays about growing up with a truly amazing single mom and a passion for Batman (Mignogna further demonstrates her bona fides by making her author photo a picture from her Batman-themed wedding. I love this woman!) (And her mom!)
(As a random aside, I was surprised to see Jodi Picoult's name on the book cover. Apparently, she's written some Wonder Woman comics. There's your left-field trivia for the day.)
If you love comic books, this is a no-brainer. But even if you don't, I predict you'll like it or maybe love it. Maybe so much that you'll want to buy your own copy. Reader, I did.