In "The Kings of Fiction: Stephen, Tabitha and Owen Offer A Family-Style Look at the Literary Life," by Bob Thompson (who's lately been at a few comics events including the Folger), Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, April 7, 2008; C01, we find the following quotes about Owen King's interest in comic books.
At some point in his childhood, the 31-year-old King explains to his young listeners -- gathered this day as part of the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program -- he was reading a Fantastic Four comic and the question of superhero sex occurred to him. "I was looking at Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman and I was thinking, well, how does this, you know, how do they do it?"
This draws a bit of nervous laughter.
"Dirty-minded as I am," he says the question never left him. And when the Fantastic Four movie came out, with Jessica Alba, "it was even more on my mind."
He goes on a bit after that to talk about how that idea became a short story about a superhero meerkat.