It's about the actors who played the roles of superheroes.
I received this book as an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. Author Mark Edlitz interviewed a slew of actors who portrayed superheroes and supervillains. The interview questions are thoughtful and the answers well considered. The time period of the book covers the earliest movies and television shows up to today. Before each interview, Edlitz gives the context of the superheroes, for example their origins and who created them. I strongly recommend this book for everyone who follows the genre.

I'm of two minds regarding this book.

I'll start with the interviews. They were pretty darn cool. My favorites of course were in the first and second section, the cape wearing heroes and the female ones. Especially the interview with Dean Cain. (What can I say, he's my 1B Superman, my 1A of course being Reeve). But all the interviews in the book were interesting, and sometimes had cool information that I had never known before, and the questions that Edlitz asked were always spot on for each person.

But on the other hand while I loved, loved the interviews, the intros before a lot of the interviews, and especially the introduction to the entire book just rambled a bit.

Still, that wasn't enough to make me dislike the book, and I came away learning quite a bit as well. (And I really need to go rewatch the animated Batman and Superman of my youth).

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bear Manor Media.

How to Be a Superhero is an excellent fangirl/fanboy concept - getting the own words behind the people who played superheroes we either grew up on or experience for the first time today. Batman, Superman, The Flash, and a host of other heroes are covered with in-depth chapter introductions, followed by interviews with the actors, some years old and others more recent. Accompanied by these interviews are pictures of the stars, over 70 to flesh out text.

The usual questions focus on the actor's feelings on initially being offered the role, what it was to be in the suit, how they were treated in the suit, what it did for their future career, and of course their personal thoughts on the superhero.

Adam West opens up the book, using a lot of humor and going in-depth with his answers, letting us know he still wears 'bat-jammies' every night, likely tongue in cheek (hopefully or not hopefully?)

Some of the other interviewees were just as funny, especially some lines such as Jackson Bostwick on playing Captain Marvel (that entire interview was one of the best):

On speaking of dating and ending the evenings: "However, toward the end of the evening I assure you, kinky or not, they would all be howling, "Shazam!" Just kidding!

The questions and answers pertaining to the costumes were interesting. Some felt like it changed the way they felt emotionally, while others like Nicholas Hammond described how uncomfortable the suit could be, especially with the heat, but points out how it was interesting that behind a mask you could really get into a role hidden and how that was an intriguing experience, how masks could be freeing.

Then you get some interviews like for John Newton as Superboy who goes deep, philosophical, and introspective on approaching life, personality, the character, and lots of details on the psychology of why superheroes appeal so much to us. He even includes a thought-provoking quote which inspired him, "On the last day of your life, Hell is meeting who you are and not who you could have been."

I've never been a big fan of certain heroes, like Captain America, but learned a lot about him through the book:

Matt Salinger goes on to say that "Superman was a superhero. I don't look at Captain America as a superhero because he wasn't super-human. He was extra-human." Most of the answers of the interviews were honest, insightful, and many of them surprising. As an example, Matt Salinger says Captain America hurt his career more than helped it.

I especially loved the interview with Dean Cain because I'm a fan of everything Superman (the writer makes a note that Dean shone more brightly as Clark than Superman). He says season five didn't happen because Terry was pregnant and couldn't continue work (didn't know that.) He gushes about how much he liked Clark Kent as a character and that unlike so many other comic characters who come from a dark place, he comes from goodness, but that Clark Kent as the man was more interesting to him. He makes an intriguing note:

For me, Clark Kent was the real character and that's really who he is, and Superman is what he did.

(On the other hand Tim Daly says he sees Superman as a sad being from a distant, dead planet, and that Clark Kent is a sad guy who can't be himself, has unrequited love, and knows he can do more but can't. Interesting reading those two interviews back to back...)

Also was happy to see James Marsden since I'm a fan (although haven't seen his particular work with Cyclops)

I was ridiculously excited about Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor on Smallville since that's my favorite villain and I think he brought perfection to the role in Smallville. The writer opens up differences on Lex Luthor's history with Superman, to Smallville's ideas on it, wrapping up with the ending conversation between the two on the series finale and how much this helps propel and transform Clark into that final line to cross on who he is meant to be.

He notes that he didn't have as much hope for the show when he first heard about it because of the network and concept but wanted to go forward when he saw some of the script; he says he thinks Smallville is the first show that gave the network some credibility. He brings up the importance of having Lex be a credible, three-dimensional person who has vulnerability and kindness which slowly evolves and was against rushing the "evil" transformation to keep it interesting and convincing. I happen to agree with that and, considering how long the show went on, wish they had slowed it down as well.

I was also interested in his response on leaving the show:

"I didn't quit the show. The contract was for six years and I worked on it for seven years. That always bothered me. I've never quit anything in my life. I don't quit. Ever. After I did my seven years, I did an extra twenty-two episodes. I felt that I was too old now and that they could've wrapped up this story easily. It should have been wrapped up after six years - seven years tops. But for purposes of monetary gain, they decided to go year after year."

The book is a good one and must-get for superhero fans. I do wish more villains would have been included or some of the big names with movies, but I realize that's not always possible.

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't find myself addicted to reading it, but I did find it hard to put down. This was a new and interesting take on the whole superhero read. I would definitely recommend reading this!

Some might see five stars going to such a one-note book as a bit dubious, but the approach behind this volume justifies its length and the contents deserve the rating. It's pretty much a sustained transcript of lots of interviews with people who have performed in cinema and TV franchises where their character has a certain cachet of global esteem – while 95% of it is superheroes and –villains, we get a fair chunk of Bond too. It successfully captures the author's ethos, that of discovering what effect the iconic characters have on those who play them – the look, the cloaks, the powers. Some of the questions are a bit cheesy, and at least one of the female respondents gets fed up with nagging about the look of her performance, but on the whole it's a great study. It brings you to the theme from a very different angle, and while it might be the result of a very bland dissertation, it has more than enough relevant detail, important documentation and warmth to make it really quite readable. It might feel a little repetitive – that's because it is – but to the genre fans it will be a must-read.

In a nutshell, this book is about interviews with actors who’ve played superheroes, sidekicks, villains, antiheroes, and others. . . and it’s 588 pages long, so you can say it’s thorough.
After an intro where the author tries to prove the point that everyone loves superheroes, we go right into the interviews, but it isn’t just all the people who have played Superman and Batman and Spiderman; there’s Flashes and Captain Americas and Hulks, plenty of women. . . even Howard the Duck shows up. Not so much in Sidekicks and Supervillains, but for me the best part was Not All Heroes Are Super, which includes Spock, James Bond, even Agent Coulson. The book closes with questions for some of the creators: comic book artists, movie directors, screenwriters, TV series creators, even Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer. The interview with Stan Lee might be worth the price of admission alone.
Just like another book I recently reviewed on character actors, it’s the same questions over and over, though these are somewhat more pointed to the subject. Still, there are some unconventional questions that pop up every once in a while, and the best parts are when the interviewees appreciate them, especially if they’d never thought of it themselves. I’m not sure how much this would appeal to the causal movie fan, but if you enjoy superhero comic books, TV shows, or movies, this will probably be worth your while.