Who Can Save Us Now?: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories

Who Can Save Us Now? is a great collection of short fiction exploring a wide-range of the effects superpowers can have on humanity in general, but also on heroes, villains, sidekicks and bystanders. I'm a huge superhero fan, a comics reader for over a decade and creator of a comic of my own that should see publication by year's end if I play my cards right. This book scratches an itch I oftentimes find no cure for; superheroes dealt with in a mature and innovative manner. I still read comics but my tastes run towards either the older superhero stuff or Vertigo and Avatar titles. Editors Owen King and John McNally assembled a great superteam of fiction that I shared with a friend as soon as I finished the last page. 4.5/5

I think people who are giving this book mixed reviews are kind of missing the point. In no way are the stories in this book attempting to supplant Superman, the X-Men et al. in the "go forth and save the world with many mighty explosions" sense. The main complaint about this book seems to be that the stories and the characters that populate them don't seem to fit the reviewers' ideas of who and what a "superhero" is, and that has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the reader's expectations and willingness to be surprised. Most of the contributors in this book are authors of literary fiction, so when they're asked to explore their own ideas of what a superhero is, it's pretty unlikely that the results will be heavy on the crash-bang-boom big-budget pyrotechnics. If that's what you're looking for, re-examine your own expectations and look elsewhere. What you'll find in this book are thoughtful, well-written stories from a number of up-and-coming authors. The stories themselves examine everything from the trials that come with living with superpowers ("The Meerkat," "The Rememberer") to the trials that come with living with people who have superpowers ("The Remains of the Night," "Girl Reporter," and, come to think of it, "The Meerkat," again). These "superheroes" live in worlds that rarely show up in summer blockbusters: worlds without supervillains, or worlds where marketing and publicity take precedence over the ability to shoot lasers out your eyes, or the worlds that are left behind after the battles are over. Will any of them inspire thirty-year comic franchises with multiple timelines and alternate universes? Probably not. Were they meant to? Highly unlikely. Will they maybe, just maybe, make you stop and think about what's lurking behind the latex suits and high-tech gadgetry? If you're an open-minded reader with an appreciation for good writing and fresh storytelling, almost definitely. This book is highly recommended, and more than that, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Usually when I'm reading an anthology I'll find a few outstanding stories sandwiched in between tales of varying quality. So you can imagine my surprise as I made my way through this collection and found story after story after story that delighted and impressed me. The origin stories were definitely my favorite, but I appreciated all the different takes on the superhero genre, and was happy to experience characters that were new and immediately accessible. If you like fantastical tales, but don't want to deal with the decades of continuity attached to folks like Spiderman, Superman, and the X-Men, this collection is your answer. It proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that superheroes are more complex than we give them credit for, and gives comic book fans a new form in which to experience their preferred method of storytelling. Chris Burnham's illustrations are an added bonus, capturing the essence of each piece with his skillful hand.

These stories are very varied in their approaches to the super-hero genre. Some are origin stories, some are portraits, some are adventures. Some are funny, others dark. What unites the stories is the terrific quality of the writing and story-telling. I only have a couple stories left to read and I haven't read a bad one yet! Highly recommended.

This book is not only about superheroes, it's about superheroes by people who know how to write. Tom Bissell's story is about a magazine writer who secures a one-on-one interview with a superhero-slash-masked vigilante. John McNally's story is about a human-sized silverfish superhero (dubbed "the creepy superhero") as told from his servent's perspective. Will Clarke's story is about the offspring of a certain libidinous superhero: the orphan boys now fly around Shreveport and spy on sunbathing girls. David Yoo writes about a group (a support group?) of men and women with dubious powers; nonetheless, they're afraid the government will want to exploit them. Sam Weller's "The Quick Stop 5" is about a group of slackers who work at a Quick Stop and gain powers based on what they're holding when there's a toxic tanker spill in the parking lot. Some of these are origin stories in the best comic book tradition. Some are stories about the dark nature of being a superhero. Some are hilarious. Some are downright creepy, like Richard Dooling's "Roe #5", which reminds me of the kind of scary old-time sci-fi stories I read when I was a kid. (Except that this one isn't for kids.) This book has killer Russian robots (Owen King's story), a young girl who can use her power only once (Cary Holliday's story), a town menaced by the presence of superheroes (Michael Czyniejewski's story ). And more. Jennifer Weiner, who's famous for her book GOOD IN BED, has a story in here, too. I know I wrote mostly about the stories by guys (probably because I'm a guy) but there are stories by several women, too. This is a great book. In all honesty, it may be more to the liking of someone who likes Michael Chabon, etc., than someone who strictly reads superhero comic books, but I would think anyone interested in reading new takes on an old genre would be interested in this one. BTW...Nothing I wrote here is a spoiler. These are just the premises to get the stories going. I tried to touch on several of them because I don't think the person above me (or is the dude below me?) even read the book, which is too bad. It's a truly unique collection.