Sattin is genuinely funny and writes exuberant, engaging prose; the addition of the cheeky and light-hearted send-up of masculinity and its ridiculous tendencies makes League of Somebodies insightfully inquisitive and a pleasure to read. Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review League is a dazzling investigation into masculinity and hero-making. It's also a rollicking good time, and his characterscrazy, troubled, hilarious, endearingare unforgettable. Sattin magnificently tackles many big themes of our age: inheritance, the burdens of manhood, creating our own identities, and last but not least, love. In Sattin's fiction, there is no such thing as a marginal character, no matter the world's attempt at marginalization. Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban and The Lady Matador''s Hotel Trying to fit comic book storytelling into a traditional novel format can be quite challenging [. ] Sattin seems to have struck the right balance with his new novel, League of Somebodies which has been earning praise as a smart look at hero-making that's part old-school epic, part coming-of-age tale, and part comedy. Tim Donnelly, New York Post League represents an interesting turn away from other literary treatments of comic book themes in that it seems more inspired by the graphic medium''s present than its past [.
] Sattin appears to draw inspiration from more current postmodern superhero writers like Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis [.] League of Somebodies bears far more of a debt to Doom Patrol than to The Avengers . Aaron Fox-Lerner, Los Angeles Review of Books This is a big-bodied, big-hearted novela novel about fathers and sons and superheroes and villains; about heredity and hope; about the secret, sometimes awful expectations we have for our offspring and what happens when they inevitably fail to meet them. Ellen Cushing, East Bay Express How to explain this mystic monster League of Somebodies? Part old-school epic, part coming-of-age tale, and part comedy in the spirit of Mel Brooks''s Young Frankenstein . Sattin is a mad scientist! Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine and The Devil in Silver League is so rich with originality that it''s actually radioactive. If you captured Owen Meany in a literary time machine and fed him a strict diet of comic books and plutonium, you would come up with a main character a hell of a lot more well-adjusted than Lenard Sikophsky. Read at your own risk and beware: laughter is the first sign of infection. Mat Johnson, author of Pym, Incognegro, and Dark Rain Those of you who are considering poisoning, terrorizing, and forcing their boys to read maniacal misogynistic rantings may want to read League of Somebodies as a cautionary tale.
The rest of you, though, will have fun with this satiric American saga of squalid super-heroics. Corwin Ericson, author of SWELL and Checked Out OK If there was an alternate reality where comics god Jack Kirby taught a postgrad "religion and superfamilies" lecture, this would be Sam Sattin''s final paper. Evan Narcisse, Kotaku In our been-there-done-that world, Samuel Sattin has managed to create something new: a graphic novel without the graphics. A superhero story about twisted fathers and frightened sons, betrayals of the heart and home. This non-comic comic-book is a big-themed story-telling bonanza whose major elements are not only thematic, they''re chemical. If you crave a wild and original read, you''ve come to the right place. Amanda Stern, author of The Long Haul Sattin''s first novel is a whirling force that blends the family saga, superhero lore, and a coming of age story to a frothy cocktail. Imagine The Godfather remixed with Chabon''s classic Kavalier and Clay.
Joshua Mohr, author of Fight Song, Damascus, and Termite Parade Tucked into these pages [is] a great little story about breaking from tradition and finally discovering the real joy of fatherhood. James Floyd Kelly, GeekDad League is a powerful story that examines the age old tale of fathers trying to prepare their sons for the world, and sometimes irrevocably damaging them in the process . I would love to see a low budget film adaption by James Gunn, director of Super . Nick Sharps, SF Signal.