Ten Favorite Superhero (Non-Graphic) Novels
(Many—perhaps even most—SF and fantasy novels feature characters who possess what could be fairly described as superpowers, but the ten novels or story collections I’ve listed here are in direct and obvious conversation with the tropes popularized by a near-century of superhero comics. I’ve arranged them alphabetically by author.)
Come Back, Dr. Caligari (specifically the story “The Joker’s Greatest Triumph”) by Donald Barthelme
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
Dear Cyborg by Eugene Lim
Who I Was Supposed to Be (specifically the story “Retirement”) by Susan Perabo
Little Gods (specifically the story “Captain Fantasy and the Secret Masters”) by Tim Pratt
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Third Class Superhero (specifically the title story) by Charles Yu
— March 2, 2021