In the anthology LAST NIGHT, A SUPERHERO SAVED MY LIFE, editor and Batman enthusiast Liesa Mignogna taps a wide array of writers to articulate how reading comic books and emulating superheroes affected each of their lives. Some instances are more dramatic, others more resonant; as with any anthology, some of the included pieces work better than others. But the book captures the outsider environ of comic book fans before superhero movies found a global audience, and the way lives can be influenced by a character on a page.

It was a little surprising --- and relieving --- to get into this collection and find that it wasn’t essay upon essay about swapping comics with friends in basements and consecutive Halloweens dressed as Superman. This doesn’t come across as a book strictly for fans of comics. Instead, each new essay carries a weight --- a tribulation suffered by the writer and the strength found through a comic book superhero.

In Delilah S. Dawson’s exquisite essay, “On the Hulk: You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry,” she discusses a turbulent home life with a drunken and verbally abusive father, a suicide attempt as a teenager and the Hulk she harbors inside her. In the South of France as a 17-year-old exchange student, Ms. Dawson decided she couldn’t go back to the States, to her home and to her father, so she took a swim in the sea. She swam as far out as her body would physically take her, and then she sank into the murky water, letting it fill her lungs as she willingly gave up.

"...a fantastic example of how heroes, real or made up, can change lives.... It serves as a testament to the staying power of story and how, sometimes, a fictional character can save a real life."

She came to on sand, waves gently lapping at her feet. “Some monstrous, unbeatable, utterly indestructible beast inside me was willing to rise and bypass my brain and heart to keep going, even when the rest of me had given up,” she writes of finding herself alive on the beach. Rather than repress her Hulk, she embraced it, and it served her well in the life she continued to live.

Brad Meltzer writes humorously about the first love of his life, Terra of the Teen Titans series, and “slam books” of 1980s Brooklyn, how his choice of girl in a fifth grade slam book was indicative of his adoration for Terra several years later. She ultimately broke his young heart when she betrayed the Titans and morphed from lonely orphan into femme fatale.

Batman wins as most popular character. Even in essays that don’t focus on the Caped Crusader, he’s in the shadows. Unlike his counterparts --- Superman, who is an alien and can fly in space; Wonder Woman, who is an Amazonian princess and has a Lasso of Truth --- Batman is human. He’s a guy with a chip on his shoulder who knows parkour and wears a cape and cowl. This seems to make him the most empathetic to mortals. The sentiment allows that if Batman can survive The Jokers and The Riddlers of Gotham, we as humans can survive the deaths, abuses, depravities and tragedies that befall us.

As this is an anthology, themes recur, and it can start to feel redundant. Reading it straight through can make some essays lose meaning. Conflicts and heroes begin to meld, voices become less unique, and the niche that was charming in the beginning feels repetitive, as though the book needs to be about 60 pages shorter. To get the most out of the collection, read it in sections --- it’s set up with three to four essays in each section, e.g. Superheroes and Love, Superheroes and Being Human --- or choose an essay from several different sections to read in one sitting.

It is, regardless of reading method, a fantastic example of how heroes, real or made up, can change lives. In some regard, LAST NIGHT, A SUPERHERO SAVED MY LIFE is an ode to the importance of reading in childhood, as the vast majority of essays steer clear of modern cinematic adaptations and stick to the original panel comics. It serves as a testament to the staying power of story and how, sometimes, a fictional character can save a real life.