Who Can Save Us Now? is a collection of short stories about superheroes, and it was about what one would expect -- satires and parodies of characters like Batman and Superman, stories that show the darker, more prosaic side of superpowers such as broken relationships and inconvenient consequences, and riffs on issues like heroism, sacrifice, and idolization. The stories were, for the most part, enjoyable and clever, but they don't add much to the genre.
There were a few exceptions. I preferred the stories that addressed the human impulse to make things better, and recognized the inherent dignity of the characters no matter how dorky or pathetic they were. The (adorable) standout for me was "Nate Pinckney-Alderson, Superhero" by Elizabeth Crane. It pits a child's idealism against adult cynicism, but I was left with the distinct impression that Nate would not be outgrowing his idealism. Owen King's "The Meerkat" was both odd and touching. Jennifer Weiner's "League of Justice (Philadelphia Division)" was probably the most conventional, and incorporated many non-superhero elements from her other fiction, but the actual plot was surprisingly compelling. And the last story, "The Lives of Ordinary Superheroes" by David Haynes, was quite moving and at times profound. These stories alone are worth the price of the collection.
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