A review by trin
Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories by Michael Czyzniewjewski, Lauren Grodstein, J. Robert Lennon, Jennifer Weiner, Will Clarke, David Haynes, Owen King, Sam Weller, David Yoo, Kelly Braffet, Scott Snyder, Noria Jablonski, Richard Dooling, George Singleton, Cary C. Holladay, Stephanie Harrell, Jim Shepard, John McNally, Graham Joyce, Tom Bissell, Sean Doolittle, Chris Burnham, Elizabeth Crane

3.0

Anthology of short stories featuring original superheroes (and villains). On balance, I liked this collection—there were more stories I felt positive toward than ones that annoyed me. [author: Tom Bissell]’s entry was possibly my favorite and made me want to investigate more of his work; in contrast, [author: Jennifer Weiner]’s tale made me feel pretty good about the fact that I haven’t yet bothered to check out her books, even when I find them at sales for $1. In general, I wish this collection had concentrated less on superhero angst and made more room for superpower joy; I feel like that the idea of superpowers and superheroes is so saturated in pop culture that everyone’s forgotten that to suddenly be able to fly or run fast or be super strong would be awesome—in the original sense of that word. I’d like to produce a collection of superhero stories in which absolutely no emo is allowed.

I’m listening to Death Cab For Cutie as I write this, but that’s beside the point.