When We Were Heroes

Written by one half of Expanse author James S.A. Corey, this short story is set in the downtime between the more obvious action pieces of George R.R. Martin's superhero world. It's a reflection on the price of fame and failure for those who have powers - in this case, Curveball and Bugsy, both former members of this world's equivalent of the Avengers or the Justice League. (Although the nature of the world is such that that's rather a strained analogy).

It's not a jumping-on point for the wider series, relying as it does on knowing the characters and their backgrounds, but it's a well-written emotional piece about the sort of strains that having superpowers can't help you with.