Who has not wanted to be a super hero?  When I was growing up, I wanted to be an X-Man until I realized that I would rather be the first American to play the Doctor on Doctor Who.  Over the years, many actors and actresses have actually gotten to be super heroes on both the small and big screen.  Some of them, like Hugh Jackman, became stars as a result.  Others, like Adam West and anyone who has ever played Superman, spent the rest of their career dealing with being typecast.  Of course, a few, like George Clooney, were lucky to survive the experience with any sort of career at all.

In the new book How To Be A Superhero, Mark Edlitz interviews 30 actors, asking them what it was like to be a hero and how the experience changed (or did not change) their lives and careers.  Edlitz is a good interviewer and all of the conversations are full of interesting tidbits and trivia but what really sets this book apart is the wide variety of people who Edlitz interviews.

While Edlitz interviews everyone who you would expect to be interviewed in a book like this (Adam West, The Adventures of Superman’s Jack Larson, Dean Cain, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston, and others), he also finds the time to speak to and acknowledge some of the lesser known heroes.  John Wesley Shipp and John Haymes Newton (who, in the early 90s, respectively played The Flash and Superboy) both share bittersweet memories of only getting to play their iconic heroes for one season.  Helen Slater reflects on playing the title character in 1984’s Supergirl.  In one of the book’s best interviews, Nicholas Hammond talks about playing Spider-Man on TV in the 1970s and how, as a result of getting into the role, he once tried to foil an actual mugging.  The cast of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four share their disappointment when they discovered that their movie was never going to be released.  Even Chip Zien, who voiced Howard the Duck, offers up a few less-than-positive memories.

Not everyone that Edlitz interviewd wore a costume.  Leonard Nimoy, in one of his final interviews, assures Edlitz that Spock would win a fight against Kirk.  George Lazenby talks about coming to terms with the experience of briefly being James Bond.  Roger Moore’s memories are much more light-hearted.

Edlitz also speaks with some of the people who worked behind the scenes.  Especially interesting is his interview with screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, who talks about what it was like to write for both James Bond and Superman.  Among many other stories, Mankiewicz tells how he introduced Sean Connery and Christopher Reeve at a party.  When Reeve asked what he should do if Superman turned out to be a hit, Connery advised him to hire a good lawyer and sue the producers for more money.

Insightful and always enjoyable to read, How To Be A Superhero is a book that belongs in the library of anyone who has ever dreamed of being a hero.