“These poems are like their comic book sources in many ways, all of them smart and most of them touching, but in one way most of all: pick it up and you won’t want to put it down.”
—Stephen Burt
“McDaniel doesn’t so much capture the voice of superheroes as he employs his special ability to render them—emotionally, psychologically—which is a super power in itself.”
—A. Van Jordan
“McDaniel constructs a subtle and haunting meditation on nostalgia.”
—Monica Youn
“Witty language fun for comic book fans and non-believers alike can be found in McDaniel’s poetic homage to one of the greatest superhero teams in comics.”
—Shelf Awareness
“The poems in this collection are fun, whimsical, but hiding within a secret identity. . . . [McDaniel’s] poems have the only superpower a poet ever needs; they have something to say.”
—Pleiades
“Through the intricate use of assorted poetic structures or devices, McDaniel investigates everything from teenage love triangles and last stands to mythological parallels and the limits of poetry and comics.”
—BOMB
“In Special Powers and Abilities, McDaniel—in vocabulary and forms moving between opulently whiz-band comics-inspired, deliberately and humorously mundane, and wistfully lyrical—narratives key episodes and the loves and yearnings of some of the characters.”
—Rain Taxi
“McDaniel’s affection for this comic-book world allows the reader to enter it with affection, too, and enjoy the poems whether or not they are familiar with the specifics of The Legion of Super-Heroes, or even comic book archetypes and tropes.”
—The Rumpus
“This collection is suffused with the wonder, excitement, disappointment, and grief felt periodically by many fans of long-running comic series. By its end many readers—comic fanatics and newcomers alike—may find themselves initiated into the Legion of Super-Heroes.”
—Los Angeles Review
