Anthology focuses on unusual superheroes

book cover to "Who Can Save Us Now?," an anthology edited by Owen King and John McNally.

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS

Unusual superheroes populate “Who Can Save Us Now?,” a superhero prose anthology from 22 writers, including Will Clarke, Jennifer Weiner and Sam Weller.

The anthology was edited by Owen King (“We’re All in This Together”) and John McNally (“America’s Report Card”).

Heroes include the creepy Silverfish, the cuddly-but-deadly Meerkat and dozens more.

“The idea was that superheroes mean really different things to different people,” King said. “And what we hoped, and we’re very happy with the way it turned out, is that would be reflected in the narratives.”

King’s character in the anthology is the Meerkat, a television producer who gains the powers and abilities of a meerkat.

“I was on the treadmill one day, trying to think about anything other than running,” King said. The show ‘Meerkat Manor,’ which he had been watching regularly, popped into his head.

“All of a sudden I had this idea that it would be funny, and it would also present an interesting conflict, to give a character the powers of a meerkat,” he said. “Because they’re cute and cuddly looking, but if you watch the show, they’re really brutal cold-blooded killers.”

He imagined a character with meerkat abilities who would be associated with a cute animal, and wondered what that would do to the hero’s self-esteem.

“I thought it would be interesting to put a character with self-esteem issues into a city that I thought had some self-esteem issues, which was Cleveland,” he said.