Gina Misiroglu is a fourteen-year veteran of the West Coast publishing industry, specializing in the development and editing of popular culture, reference, and women's studies. Misiroglu has edited and developed hundreds of books in her publishing career for a number of presses, including Price Stern Sloan/HP Books, New World Library, Lowell House, Visible Ink Press, Macmillan Reference USA, and Adams Media Corporation. Misiroglu is the author of Girls Like Us: 40 Extraordinary Women Celebrate Girlhoods in Story, Poetry, and Song (New World Library, 1999), winner of the New York Public Library's "Best Book for Teens" Award, and Imagine: The Spirit of Twentieth-Century American Heroes (New World Library, 1999). She lives in Los Angeles, California.
"Because of the universal interest in superheroes, fueled by the many successful superhero movies, TV shows, and video games, it seems there can never be english superhero reference books. Judging by what I've seen of "The superhero book: The ultimate encyclopedia of comic-book icons and hollywood heroes, it definitely fills a much-needed niche in the growing lore of the genre and will be a welcome addition to the collection of any fan of spectacular superhero sagas. Excelsior."
"Because of the universal interest in superheroes, fueled by the many successful superhero movies, TV shows, and video games, it seems there can never be english superhero reference books. Judging by what I've seen of "The superhero book: The ultimate encyclopedia of comic-book icons and hollywood heroes, it definitely fills a much-needed niche in the growing lore of the genre and will be a welcome addition to the collection of any fan of spectacular superhero sagas. Excelsior."
Along with her own articles, Misiroglu (The Supervillain Book) here presents pieces by Michael Eury, Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin, Adam McGovern, Frank Plowright, David Roach, and Peter Sanderson, all of whom have well-established credentials as writers and editors in the comics business or the fan press. The book covers a surprising variety of superheroes, both popular and obscure, and is well illustrated with full-color reproductions of covers and panels. This is impressive given the reasonable page count and the extent of the entries, which recount each character's entire history to the present. Unfortunately, those virtues leave little room for the humor and liveliness suggested by the book's appearance and common in similar works; the title does not provide any analysis of, or opinions about, the subject matter. Fifteen years ago, comics fans would have found this resource useful whenever they needed to straighten out a character's convoluted backstory or learn about past superheroes from cancelled titles. Now a fan can use Wikipedia or a similar Internet site to get this kind of information but might read a book like this for fun. Other superhero fans might look to it for more insight into their favorite characters. This volume is suited to neither of these purposes. However, middle and high school students needing an authoritative source for an assignment, and who are often barred from the Internet at school, will find this helpful. -VERDICT While not useful for the average fan wanting to know about a character, this is recommended for students in high school and below.-Robert Mixner, Bartholomew Cty. P.L., Columbus, IN (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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