Letter from the Editors:

Dearest Readers,

Look up in the sky! There, above the shelves and moving through the clouds. Is it a bird? A plane? Or some sort of bird-plane hybrid? No, it’s the 16th issue of Deep Overstock: Superheroes!

Thank you for donning your capes, your masks, your tights, and saving us in this tumultuous time with your stories and poems on caped crusaders, vigilantism, and superpowers.

This issue is full of BAM! super men, WHAM! wonderous women, ZAP! a couple of babies, and it all adds up to a team-up of epic proportions. No villains could stop what you’ve created in these pages.

But now, put down that radioactive waste vat and continue looking up in the sky, for something’s a-buzzing: it’s bees! Beads? No, bees as in beekeeping, the theme for Issue 17. So call us your queen and feed us that royal jelly called your submissions. We cannot wait to read what you send us, honey.

Yours, until felled by our arch-nemeses,
Deep Overstock Editors



Cover art by Viviann Ruiz.

Listen to the pieces: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5


Gale AcuffSuperhero; Superman
Vincent A. AlasciaDamien Strong
Maev BarbaThe Neighborhood Watch
Audra BurwellLavender Dreams; Wrath of a Druidess
Avary ClemontThe Hooded Jackal
Mickey CollinsThe Book-Stellar and Cat-a-log concept art
Ben CrowleyThe Blood; The Man Made of Stone
DougVin
Patricia DuttSuperbaby
Lynette G. EspositoYou’re Almost a Super Hero, Dad
Anna Laura FalveyMother Flood; My Mother, a Bionic
Kate FalveyAnnie Rescues Herself; Hell is Empty and My Daughter Saves the Day; Nancy Drew Among the Amazons; Spinsters
Phyllis HemannMystique Exposed; On Loan from the Sky; Unbreakable
CJ HuntingtonRequiem for a Radicalized Superman
Lucy JayesVillanelle
Wit LeeA superhero’s contemplation
Aurora LewisThe Chocolate Drop
Lance Manionunrescuable
Karla Linn MerrifieldAmong the Heroic Super-Stars; Context is Everything; What would I change in the world if I could?
Jen MierischHow Joe “The Nose” Mulligan Survived 2020
Timothy Arliss OBrienI’m a superstar, and super high, but superhero?
Farnilf P.No One is Wise — Possible Magical Antidote #1
Michael SantiagoThe Invincible Bastard
Bob SelcrosseThe Golden Bureaucrat; I Can Be Your Hero Baby
Rob D. SmithDon’t Steal a Kiss from a Queen
E.T. StarmannThe Powers of Outer Space
Eric ThralbyThe Little Villain That Could (But Could Only Do Good)
Alex WernerEverything I learned in life I learned twice
Nicholas YandellA Public Service Announcement On Behalf of All Your Heroic Friends



Editorial

Editors-In-Chief: Mickey Collins & Robert Eversmann
Managing Editors: Michael Santiago & Z.B. Wagman
Poetry: Jihye Shin
Prose: Michael Santiago & Z.B. Wagman
Additional copyediting: Melissa Kermann