The story of Cockroach began when my son was in preschool. He was a real grouch in the morning, and it fell upon me to feed him breakfast and get him ready for school. I soon found that telling him stories improved his mood. He loved superhero stories, so at fires, I told him stories I remembered from the many comic books I had read as a kid. My favorites were Batman, Spiderman, and Daredevil. And, of course, there were the superhero TV shows like Batman with Adam West, the Superman show with Steve Reeves, Mr. Terrific, Captain Nice, and the Marvel Superhero show with the very weird name, “The Merry Marvel Marching Society,” featuring The Hulk, Thor, Submariner, Ironman, and Captain America.

I started to make up stories when my memory couldn’t keep up with his demand. One of the characters I came up with was based on him. Not surprisingly, that one was his favorite. That character was a kid who was only five years old and, not coincidentally, had the same name as my son.

While he was in kindergarten, I attended the first of many “Readers Are Leaders” days the school district holds once a year. On this day, parents are invited to bring a book to read to the kids. I decided to write down one of the stories and read it to his class. My son made me change the character’s name, so the character became Kyle Alexander. The kids loved the story and the teacher said she was impressed with how it held the kids’ attention, even without pictures. With that encouragement, I continued writing, and continued going to Readers Are Leaders days. I was amused to hear some of the kids refer to me as “The Superhero Dad.” I had dreamed of becoming a superhero when I was a kid, so I was happy to realize my dream—at long last.

Getting from that first story to publication of the first book, Breakfast of Superheroes, was a long process. I originally wrote it as a picture book, but it soon became too big. I kept expanding the book and the characters kept changing. I blame my son for much of my difficulties. I was using him as a model for my character, but he wouldn’t stand still. He kept getting older and changing, so the character changed too — until I decided to keep him at eleven years old.

As I wrote, I became intrigued with the thought of what it would REALLY be like for a kid to have super powers. How would a kid find criminals; what would be the mechanics of catching crooks who are big, strong, and mean; and how would he find his way around? I then wondered, what would it be like if the superhero was a kid who is scared and clumsy. In the first book, our hero cowers when faced with superhero tasks like saving a burning plane and grabbing a man who robbed a store. He has difficulty finding people he is supposed to rescue and ends up getting lost on the way home. Fortunately, there are superheroes who take him under their wings and show him how to be super. Unfortunately, there are also superheroes who aren’t so nice—most notably, Captain Nightmare. Welcome to the world of work. There are jerks wherever you go.

At one point, I sent a draft to a fourth grade teacher who read the book to her class. The feedback was that the kids were wildly enthusiastic. So, I kept working on the draft and after a few months, I sent a “new and improved” draft to that same teacher, expecting that the kids would love this one even more. But the teacher said that after a couple of chapters, the class didn’t seem to be into it. She asked the kids to give the book a thumbs up, thumbs down, or thumbs sideways. Most of the kids gave it a thumbs sideways, and there were more thumbs down than thumbs up.

I was horrified and worked frantically on improving it even more. Finally, a woman in my writers’ group recommended sending it to an editor named Pamela Dell for guidance. I happened to mention the different reactions from the two classes. She asked me to send both the latest version and the first one I’d sent. After reading them both, she said my “improvements” had ruined the story and advised me to go back to the first version. She also gave me pointers to improve it, most notably giving Kyle’s friend, Carlos, a much stronger role in the story.

The second story took a long time to write. Months went by when I could think of nothing to write. But I found my inspiration again and “The Secrets of the Superhero’s Ring” is ready—at long last!

I hope you enjoy them both. While these stories are superhero spoofs, they also have a serious side to them. They are everyman and everywoman’s story: how to overcome our fears to use the powers that we have. Kyle, like most of us, has to overcome his fears and feelings that he’s just not good enough.

Steve Frederick