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The Deli Counter of Justice
For decades, Carl Cook fought crime in the city of New Caliburn as the superhero Piecemaker. With the power to disassemble most everything around him, Carl was very good at taking things apart; less so at putting them back together. One divorce and an alienated daughter later, he realized the toll heroing had taken. In an attempt to move on and take charge of his life, Carl hung up the cape and opened Cook's Deli.
But things are never that simple in the superhero capital of the world. Cook's Deli has a front-row seat to the city's superpowered exploits, from the exciting to the bizarre. A former sidekick discovers just how hard life is without a hero, a psychic rat goes on the warpath for another slice of rye, a D-list villain plots his revenge...these are just some of the adventures going on right in front of the deli counter. Carl may change the world, even more than he did in costume. Only now he does it one cold cut at a time.
In THE DELI COUNTER OF JUSTICE, you'll explore the world in and around Cook's Deli with nine stories and poems written by Kitty Chandler, Thomas Dorton, Rahne Ehtar, Alyssa Herron, Amorak Huey, C. Gayle Seaman, Eric Sipple, Paul Smith, and Arlo J. Wiley. Featuring an introduction by Mere Smith (Angel, Rome).
But things are never that simple in the superhero capital of the world. Cook's Deli has a front-row seat to the city's superpowered exploits, from the exciting to the bizarre. A former sidekick discovers just how hard life is without a hero, a psychic rat goes on the warpath for another slice of rye, a D-list villain plots his revenge...these are just some of the adventures going on right in front of the deli counter. Carl may change the world, even more than he did in costume. Only now he does it one cold cut at a time.
In THE DELI COUNTER OF JUSTICE, you'll explore the world in and around Cook's Deli with nine stories and poems written by Kitty Chandler, Thomas Dorton, Rahne Ehtar, Alyssa Herron, Amorak Huey, C. Gayle Seaman, Eric Sipple, Paul Smith, and Arlo J. Wiley. Featuring an introduction by Mere Smith (Angel, Rome).
376 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 5, 2014
(In the interests of full disclosure I received an advanced electronic copy of The Deli Counter of Justice in exchange for this review).
Ever since the explosion of Krypton in 1938, superheroes have been enshrined in a very special place in the American imagination. Arguably, of course, superheroes go back a lot further, to a time when they had names like Gilgamesh. But it is the caped crusaders, overgrown Boy Scouts, and Wonder Women in their tight, bright costumes that have entranced generations of readers, adults and kids alike. I myself am just old enough to remember the magic of the spinner-rack at my local newsstand – an unfailing spring of myths and monsters for a boy who had but recently read his first book all by himself: an issue of The Pink Panther, printed by Gold Key Comics.
So yeah, I know comics, and I know the supers. They have fired my imagination for most of my life, and continue to do so. So I was both excited and skeptical when I heard that AJ Wiley was putting together a superhero anthology – in the form of prose short stories, without illustrations. Excited because AJ knows comics, and skeptical because all too often superhero stories told in mediums other than sequential art are unsatisfying exercises in frustration.
Not so with The Deli Counter of Justice. The stories and poems in this volume all take place within the shared universe of the city of New Caliburn, and are loosely connected by six to ten degrees of separation from Carl’s Deli, a sandwich shop owned and operated by Carl, formerly known as the costumed hero Piecemaker. Superheroes and their accompanying supervillains are facts of life in New Caliburn. In fact there is an entire cable-news hour devoted to their various battles and heroics. What really makes these stories work, however, is the uncanny ability of the assembled authors to ignore the flash in favor of the flesh.
The stories in The Deli Counter of Justice are all about people, and about ol’ Bill Faulkner’s “human heart in conflict with itself.” Metahuman abilities and the eternal problems of costume design are just two more things to deal with as these folks go about making enough money to pay the rent, or try to keep their heads above water in a world that all too often just doesn’t really care about them beyond that single news-hour. The characters are each and every one fully realize, and each story left me wanting to read more about the teenage genius who keeps the city safe from her parents’ basement, the down on his luck ex-con and C-list villain pushed into an entirely new level of rage and power by one final betrayal, the grieving asexual sex-store employee with the tattooed hearts on her arms and legs, the eternal sidekick who becomes a real hero at last, Carl’s daughter and her unsuspected talents, and Carl himself – not to mention the man-rat thing with a taste for weirdly-tainted meat. I want more of each and every one.
My one critique of the book is the two chapters presented in verse. While the poetry is accomplished, for me it interrupted the overall flow, and brought me out of the world of New Caliburn. Those two chapters aside, however, I loved this book. I suppose if I had to compare The Deli Counter of Justice with something I would go to Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross’ Astro City, but The Deli Counter of Justice is very much its own thing, and I don’t think you have to love comics, or superhero movies, to love this book. The people who have sprung from the prefrontal lobes of the contributors are wonderful, flawed, and very, very real. What you have here is a really good read by a bunch of really talented people. You should buy this book. You should read this book. You should give copies to your friends. Somewhere in the middle of the book, I suddenly realized that I felt like that little kid again, turning that squeaky spinner rack, revealing wonders.
Ever since the explosion of Krypton in 1938, superheroes have been enshrined in a very special place in the American imagination. Arguably, of course, superheroes go back a lot further, to a time when they had names like Gilgamesh. But it is the caped crusaders, overgrown Boy Scouts, and Wonder Women in their tight, bright costumes that have entranced generations of readers, adults and kids alike. I myself am just old enough to remember the magic of the spinner-rack at my local newsstand – an unfailing spring of myths and monsters for a boy who had but recently read his first book all by himself: an issue of The Pink Panther, printed by Gold Key Comics.
So yeah, I know comics, and I know the supers. They have fired my imagination for most of my life, and continue to do so. So I was both excited and skeptical when I heard that AJ Wiley was putting together a superhero anthology – in the form of prose short stories, without illustrations. Excited because AJ knows comics, and skeptical because all too often superhero stories told in mediums other than sequential art are unsatisfying exercises in frustration.
Not so with The Deli Counter of Justice. The stories and poems in this volume all take place within the shared universe of the city of New Caliburn, and are loosely connected by six to ten degrees of separation from Carl’s Deli, a sandwich shop owned and operated by Carl, formerly known as the costumed hero Piecemaker. Superheroes and their accompanying supervillains are facts of life in New Caliburn. In fact there is an entire cable-news hour devoted to their various battles and heroics. What really makes these stories work, however, is the uncanny ability of the assembled authors to ignore the flash in favor of the flesh.
The stories in The Deli Counter of Justice are all about people, and about ol’ Bill Faulkner’s “human heart in conflict with itself.” Metahuman abilities and the eternal problems of costume design are just two more things to deal with as these folks go about making enough money to pay the rent, or try to keep their heads above water in a world that all too often just doesn’t really care about them beyond that single news-hour. The characters are each and every one fully realize, and each story left me wanting to read more about the teenage genius who keeps the city safe from her parents’ basement, the down on his luck ex-con and C-list villain pushed into an entirely new level of rage and power by one final betrayal, the grieving asexual sex-store employee with the tattooed hearts on her arms and legs, the eternal sidekick who becomes a real hero at last, Carl’s daughter and her unsuspected talents, and Carl himself – not to mention the man-rat thing with a taste for weirdly-tainted meat. I want more of each and every one.
My one critique of the book is the two chapters presented in verse. While the poetry is accomplished, for me it interrupted the overall flow, and brought me out of the world of New Caliburn. Those two chapters aside, however, I loved this book. I suppose if I had to compare The Deli Counter of Justice with something I would go to Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross’ Astro City, but The Deli Counter of Justice is very much its own thing, and I don’t think you have to love comics, or superhero movies, to love this book. The people who have sprung from the prefrontal lobes of the contributors are wonderful, flawed, and very, very real. What you have here is a really good read by a bunch of really talented people. You should buy this book. You should read this book. You should give copies to your friends. Somewhere in the middle of the book, I suddenly realized that I felt like that little kid again, turning that squeaky spinner rack, revealing wonders.
May 23, 2015
To be honest, I only bought this book to support three of my favorite Twitter friends -- well, two of my favorites and one other dude. I mostly just wanted this book to not suck so that I didn't have to lie when the subject arose online. As the release date got nearer, I heard more about it and got a little more excited. I made sure to purchase it right away and promised myself I wouldn't let it languish too long on my virtual bookshelf.
I'm so glad I kept that promise. This book not only doesn't suck, it's really, really good. There was a great variety of tales in here, well written and engaging. There were very few places where I thought maybe this one section isn't for me and far more where I was fascinated by the characters and their stories.
There's superheroic action, complete with sly metaphor. An anti-hero style supervillain. Anti-superhero? There's supers with powers and without, PB&J, crazy pulp villains with fantastical machines, 2 percent milk with ice, teenage hackers and nanobots and daddy issues, mythological references -- the kind of variety that, put in the context of sliced meats and cheeses, you might find under the glass of a really good deli counter. For instance. There were a lot of really interesting characters, several of them easily compelling me to not set down the book until their stories were over. There's a good diversity of perspectives that superhero tales can sometimes (often) lack.
If you like classic comics, fantastical action, and interesting new fictional universes to insert yourself into; if you enjoy questions of destiny, self-actualization, and the morality of everything from family responsibilities to the responsibility that comes with powers; or if you're just really wishing your neighborhood had a great sandwich shop and your city had a few caped crusaders and kooky criminals duking it out in the streets, do yourself a favor and visit Cook's Deli in New Caliburn.
I'll be in the corner booth with my hot ham and cheese, waiting for the next installment.
I'm so glad I kept that promise. This book not only doesn't suck, it's really, really good. There was a great variety of tales in here, well written and engaging. There were very few places where I thought maybe this one section isn't for me and far more where I was fascinated by the characters and their stories.
There's superheroic action, complete with sly metaphor. An anti-hero style supervillain. Anti-superhero? There's supers with powers and without, PB&J, crazy pulp villains with fantastical machines, 2 percent milk with ice, teenage hackers and nanobots and daddy issues, mythological references -- the kind of variety that, put in the context of sliced meats and cheeses, you might find under the glass of a really good deli counter. For instance. There were a lot of really interesting characters, several of them easily compelling me to not set down the book until their stories were over. There's a good diversity of perspectives that superhero tales can sometimes (often) lack.
If you like classic comics, fantastical action, and interesting new fictional universes to insert yourself into; if you enjoy questions of destiny, self-actualization, and the morality of everything from family responsibilities to the responsibility that comes with powers; or if you're just really wishing your neighborhood had a great sandwich shop and your city had a few caped crusaders and kooky criminals duking it out in the streets, do yourself a favor and visit Cook's Deli in New Caliburn.
I'll be in the corner booth with my hot ham and cheese, waiting for the next installment.
November 6, 2014
Must. Sleep. Can’t. Stop. Reading.
The Deli Counter of Justice is well worth the loss of sleep. I had to resist the urge to start right back at the beginning after the finish.
In a world where we are saturated with superheroes and their antics, The Deli Counter of Justice is a refreshing break from the norm with its peek behind the masks.
Centered around, but not really about, retired “cape” Carl and the deli he now owns, each story plays a significant part in bringing to life the vital world that the editors have created. Even the introduction by television writer Mere Smith sets the perfect tone for the stories that follow, describing the volume’s subjects as showing “us that their frailties are our frailties, that weakness need not break us – that in fact, confronting (and not fighting, but making peace with) our own imperfections may be what saves us all in the end.”
Starting with Eric Sipple’s “Pixelated” was a brilliant move by editor Arlo J. Wiley. Not only is this story full of superhero action, but it’s also the story of Carl’s daughter, and why not start with the person closest to him biologically? Sipple’s story provides witty dialogue and insight into the thoughts of a newly developing hero.
Rahne Ehtar’s “Without Masks” is like dubstep for the written word. Ehtar builds mystery slowly and then when the story is at its perfect peak, she flips the script leaving the reader to question everything they thought they knew.
Probably the biggest standout in this volume is Alyssa Herron’s “Delilah by Proxy.” Far from the traditional superhero story, this tale is incredibly moving and truly shows the most human elements behind the superpowers.
In another stroke of editorial brilliance, Wiley concludes the volume with Paul Smith’s “… A Hero Only One” which is the story of Tommy, Carl’s sidekick, who is the person closest to him emotionally. This story is the grandest in scope and can easily spawn a dozen spin-off characters and storylines.
Every story in this volume blends together perfectly, and all I can say is “When’s the sequel?”
The Deli Counter of Justice is well worth the loss of sleep. I had to resist the urge to start right back at the beginning after the finish.
In a world where we are saturated with superheroes and their antics, The Deli Counter of Justice is a refreshing break from the norm with its peek behind the masks.
Centered around, but not really about, retired “cape” Carl and the deli he now owns, each story plays a significant part in bringing to life the vital world that the editors have created. Even the introduction by television writer Mere Smith sets the perfect tone for the stories that follow, describing the volume’s subjects as showing “us that their frailties are our frailties, that weakness need not break us – that in fact, confronting (and not fighting, but making peace with) our own imperfections may be what saves us all in the end.”
Starting with Eric Sipple’s “Pixelated” was a brilliant move by editor Arlo J. Wiley. Not only is this story full of superhero action, but it’s also the story of Carl’s daughter, and why not start with the person closest to him biologically? Sipple’s story provides witty dialogue and insight into the thoughts of a newly developing hero.
Rahne Ehtar’s “Without Masks” is like dubstep for the written word. Ehtar builds mystery slowly and then when the story is at its perfect peak, she flips the script leaving the reader to question everything they thought they knew.
Probably the biggest standout in this volume is Alyssa Herron’s “Delilah by Proxy.” Far from the traditional superhero story, this tale is incredibly moving and truly shows the most human elements behind the superpowers.
In another stroke of editorial brilliance, Wiley concludes the volume with Paul Smith’s “… A Hero Only One” which is the story of Tommy, Carl’s sidekick, who is the person closest to him emotionally. This story is the grandest in scope and can easily spawn a dozen spin-off characters and storylines.
Every story in this volume blends together perfectly, and all I can say is “When’s the sequel?”
April 9, 2015
I did greatly enjoy all the stories. (Which were still too short for me, but I can't have everything, and at least I knew what I was getting into by ... reading a collection of STORIES.)
I did get a little irked at a line in the foreword, but after that? It was pretty smooth sailing.
I was well impressed by the behind-the-scenes work that must have gone into the coordination among the writers. The Deli Counter of Justice is, indeed, a collection of stories, written by different people, with different strengths and weaknesses, with different kinds of stories to tell - but the coordination of the premise, of the world? The Big Players that any setting with superheroes would have? Those things are pretty consistent, in a subtle way. You get the world-building of a single world, done by different people.
And the result, for me, is amazing.
Yes, I'd like more stories with the characters I read about. Some of them because they have so much yet to become, others because I want to make sure they might be okay, and so on and so forth. But, mostly, I ended up happily satisfied with the collection.
Nicely done.
I did get a little irked at a line in the foreword, but after that? It was pretty smooth sailing.
I was well impressed by the behind-the-scenes work that must have gone into the coordination among the writers. The Deli Counter of Justice is, indeed, a collection of stories, written by different people, with different strengths and weaknesses, with different kinds of stories to tell - but the coordination of the premise, of the world? The Big Players that any setting with superheroes would have? Those things are pretty consistent, in a subtle way. You get the world-building of a single world, done by different people.
And the result, for me, is amazing.
Yes, I'd like more stories with the characters I read about. Some of them because they have so much yet to become, others because I want to make sure they might be okay, and so on and so forth. But, mostly, I ended up happily satisfied with the collection.
Nicely done.
April 28, 2015
Epic!!
I'm a fan of all things superhero and any chance to investigate a new angle is a must. These stories all seem to take the lead from Dr. Horrible's sing along blog by looking at the characters either on the other side of the equation to the superhero or those out there on the periphery. They deal with people who all live in the same city of 'capes' and 'tights', some super, others not, and how life just seems to happen.
There seems to be a real feel of Watchmen crossed with Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. These are superheroes in the real world rather than the often stylized worlds we tend to see. The powers here include all the classics, flight and super strength, but also deal with more unusual gifts, taking objects apart with the power of the mind, strength but with the head of one of the big cats. It makes all of the people feel like 'normal' people who happen to have a gift rather than than the square jawed classics.
All of the work in this book is great. It just lands all of this as out and out normal and all of the goings on are just another day for all of us.
I'm a fan of all things superhero and any chance to investigate a new angle is a must. These stories all seem to take the lead from Dr. Horrible's sing along blog by looking at the characters either on the other side of the equation to the superhero or those out there on the periphery. They deal with people who all live in the same city of 'capes' and 'tights', some super, others not, and how life just seems to happen.
There seems to be a real feel of Watchmen crossed with Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. These are superheroes in the real world rather than the often stylized worlds we tend to see. The powers here include all the classics, flight and super strength, but also deal with more unusual gifts, taking objects apart with the power of the mind, strength but with the head of one of the big cats. It makes all of the people feel like 'normal' people who happen to have a gift rather than than the square jawed classics.
All of the work in this book is great. It just lands all of this as out and out normal and all of the goings on are just another day for all of us.
April 28, 2015
Epic!!
I'm a fan of all things superhero and any chance to investigate a new angle is a must. These stories all seem to take the lead from Dr. Horrible's sing along blog by looking at the characters either on the other side of the equation to the superhero or those out there on the periphery. They deal with people who all live in the same city of 'capes' and 'tights', some super, others not, and how life just seems to happen.
There seems to be a real feel of Watchmen crossed with Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. These are superheroes in the real world rather than the often stylized worlds we tend to see. The powers here include all the classics, flight and super strength, but also deal with more unusual gifts, taking objects apart with the power of the mind, strength but with the head of one of the big cats. It makes all of the people feel like 'normal' people who happen to have a gift rather than than the square jawed classics.
All of the work in this book is great. It just lands all of this as out and out normal and all of the goings on are just another day for all of us.
I'm a fan of all things superhero and any chance to investigate a new angle is a must. These stories all seem to take the lead from Dr. Horrible's sing along blog by looking at the characters either on the other side of the equation to the superhero or those out there on the periphery. They deal with people who all live in the same city of 'capes' and 'tights', some super, others not, and how life just seems to happen.
There seems to be a real feel of Watchmen crossed with Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. These are superheroes in the real world rather than the often stylized worlds we tend to see. The powers here include all the classics, flight and super strength, but also deal with more unusual gifts, taking objects apart with the power of the mind, strength but with the head of one of the big cats. It makes all of the people feel like 'normal' people who happen to have a gift rather than than the square jawed classics.
All of the work in this book is great. It just lands all of this as out and out normal and all of the goings on are just another day for all of us.
November 5, 2014
Full disclosure: I'm one of the authors in this anthology. Having said that, I fully enjoyed every other story and poem in this book. The world of the retired superhero named Piecemaker is a fascinating, colourful and diverse world as seen through the eyes of nine different authors.
It is available in e-book or paperback today!
It is available in e-book or paperback today!
April 9, 2021
Engaging selection of short stories based around the idea of a retired superhero running a deli in New Orleans - these stories run the gamut from depressing and pooignant to action-packed, and all are thought-provoking. The poems are excellent also.
February 8, 2020
An utter delight - was totally disappointed that I reached the end!
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March 3, 2017Fiction D3525 2014
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews