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The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains: Oddball Criminals from Comic Book History by Jon Morris
jmrprice's review against another edition
4.0
Fun and quirky, but what really resonates—the supervillains reflect the worries and concerns of their day. Rather interesting to see what Americans considered ‘bad’ over the last half of the 20th century.
breakfastgrey's review against another edition
3.0
The graphic design in this book is absolutely top notch. Morris is obviously a fan of comics and understands how to lay out a page. There are all sorts of little tricks he uses in the supplemental matter, making the very beginnings and end of the book my favorite parts. The actual content of the book is decent, but not necessarily outstanding. He's got a solid sense of humor, but the choice of villains is a bit odd. Some are fun, but others merely elicit a shrug. I also noticed a couple of oversights in the latter sections for characters I was familiar with. Still, it was fun to pick up and read a couple of entries or so every now and then until I made my way through it.
ivan_tw's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
hellocookie's review against another edition
4.0
Quirk Books has really been doing a lot within the geek realm for the last little while between Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy and Wonder Women both by Sam Maggs, Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen by Hope Nicholson, Geekerella and more, they’ve been making way as a publisher that will put out content for that awesome group of people who’ve been neglected for so long.
In the same realm of the books above, Jon Morris wrote a book that isn’t about superheroes, but rather he focuses on the supervillains. Even more specifically, he focuses on the worst supervillains… and not like the ULTIMATE baddies, like legitimately just the worst villains that have been around in the comic verse titled The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains.
The official synopsis is this: Every hero needs a villain. But not all villains are dangerous—some are incompetent, comical, or just . . . weird. In his follow-up to The League of Regrettable Superheroes, author Jon Morris presents over a hundred of the strangest, most stupefying supervillains to ever see print in comics. Meet D-list rogues like Brickbat (choice of weapon: poisonous bricks), Robbing Hood (steals from the poor to give to the rich), Swarm (a crook made of bees; Nazi bees), and many more. Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains affectionately and hilariously profiles oddball criminals from the history of comics.
Morris breaks down each of the villain and gives you a sort of Wikipedia style write up for each of them as he tells you their names, aliases, and what superhero they’re trying to thwart. There’s a snippet from a comic and some other stuff thrown in there, depending on the baddie.
This book is a LOT of fun and I laughed epic amounts going through it and reading about these so-called Regrettable Super Villains. Sure, there’s probably lists online and such that you could find but this is the perfect, fun coffee table book to keep your geeky guests amused while you run around and so host-like things or whatever.
Verdict:
Buy it! As I already said, this book is a lot of fun and is reaaaal silly but in the best possible way. Morris has researched and put together a wonderful project for Quirk Books and I’d love to see something similar done with superheroes, although that might already exist (I looked this up after the fact, and it does actually already exist: The League of Regrettable Superheroes). Focusing on ridiculous Super Villains definitely shines a light on some characters you’ve definitely never heard of before that’ll help up your geek cred and make you extra awesome at trivia nights. You know, if they happen to have an Obscure Super Villains category.
The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains will be out on March 28.
In the same realm of the books above, Jon Morris wrote a book that isn’t about superheroes, but rather he focuses on the supervillains. Even more specifically, he focuses on the worst supervillains… and not like the ULTIMATE baddies, like legitimately just the worst villains that have been around in the comic verse titled The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains.
The official synopsis is this: Every hero needs a villain. But not all villains are dangerous—some are incompetent, comical, or just . . . weird. In his follow-up to The League of Regrettable Superheroes, author Jon Morris presents over a hundred of the strangest, most stupefying supervillains to ever see print in comics. Meet D-list rogues like Brickbat (choice of weapon: poisonous bricks), Robbing Hood (steals from the poor to give to the rich), Swarm (a crook made of bees; Nazi bees), and many more. Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains affectionately and hilariously profiles oddball criminals from the history of comics.
Morris breaks down each of the villain and gives you a sort of Wikipedia style write up for each of them as he tells you their names, aliases, and what superhero they’re trying to thwart. There’s a snippet from a comic and some other stuff thrown in there, depending on the baddie.
This book is a LOT of fun and I laughed epic amounts going through it and reading about these so-called Regrettable Super Villains. Sure, there’s probably lists online and such that you could find but this is the perfect, fun coffee table book to keep your geeky guests amused while you run around and so host-like things or whatever.
Verdict:
Buy it! As I already said, this book is a lot of fun and is reaaaal silly but in the best possible way. Morris has researched and put together a wonderful project for Quirk Books and I’d love to see something similar done with superheroes, although that might already exist (I looked this up after the fact, and it does actually already exist: The League of Regrettable Superheroes). Focusing on ridiculous Super Villains definitely shines a light on some characters you’ve definitely never heard of before that’ll help up your geek cred and make you extra awesome at trivia nights. You know, if they happen to have an Obscure Super Villains category.
The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains will be out on March 28.
perilous1's review against another edition
3.0
This book would make an interesting conversation piece for the more hardcore comic book fans out there. (For me, it made for an above-average hospital waiting room diversion.)
Featuring 50 2-page spreads (one info and one imagery), it isn’t an exhaustive work. But it does span a wide range of comic sources, picking out highlights from The Golden Age (1938-1949), The Silver Age (1950-1969) and The Modern Age (1970-Present) of comics. Particularly ludicrous villains include:
*Brickbat
*Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man
*The Human Flying Fish
*SATAN
*The Generic Man
*The Roach Wrangler
My personal favorite: *The Jingler
An evil poet. (Weapons of choice include: Homicidal haiku; sinister sonnets; and *gasp* limericks.)
Pros: Niche historical quirkiness, frequent panel examples, an abundance of puns, and sarcastic footnotes.
Cons: Painfully small font, limited selection, an abundance of puns, and… What, no Condiment King?!
While this isn’t as pretty of a coffee table read as I might have liked, it was certainly good for a few chuckles. Here’s hoping they increase the size of the print in future editions.
Merged review:
This book would make an interesting conversation piece for the more hardcore comic book fans out there. (For me, it made for an above-average hospital waiting room diversion.)
Featuring 50 2-page spreads (one info and one imagery), it isn’t an exhaustive work. But it does span a wide range of comic sources, picking out highlights from The Golden Age (1938-1949), The Silver Age (1950-1969) and The Modern Age (1970-Present) of comics. Particularly ludicrous villains include:
*Brickbat
*Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man
*The Human Flying Fish
*SATAN
*The Generic Man
*The Roach Wrangler
My personal favorite: *The Jingler
An evil poet. (Weapons of choice include: Homicidal haiku; sinister sonnets; and *gasp* limericks.)
Pros: Niche historical quirkiness, frequent panel examples, an abundance of puns, and sarcastic footnotes.
Cons: Painfully small font, limited selection, an abundance of puns, and… What, no Condiment King?!
While this isn’t as pretty of a coffee table read as I might have liked, it was certainly good for a few chuckles. Here’s hoping they increase the size of the print in future editions.
Featuring 50 2-page spreads (one info and one imagery), it isn’t an exhaustive work. But it does span a wide range of comic sources, picking out highlights from The Golden Age (1938-1949), The Silver Age (1950-1969) and The Modern Age (1970-Present) of comics. Particularly ludicrous villains include:
*Brickbat
*Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man
*The Human Flying Fish
*SATAN
*The Generic Man
*The Roach Wrangler
My personal favorite: *The Jingler
An evil poet. (Weapons of choice include: Homicidal haiku; sinister sonnets; and *gasp* limericks.)
Pros: Niche historical quirkiness, frequent panel examples, an abundance of puns, and sarcastic footnotes.
Cons: Painfully small font, limited selection, an abundance of puns, and… What, no Condiment King?!
While this isn’t as pretty of a coffee table read as I might have liked, it was certainly good for a few chuckles. Here’s hoping they increase the size of the print in future editions.
Merged review:
This book would make an interesting conversation piece for the more hardcore comic book fans out there. (For me, it made for an above-average hospital waiting room diversion.)
Featuring 50 2-page spreads (one info and one imagery), it isn’t an exhaustive work. But it does span a wide range of comic sources, picking out highlights from The Golden Age (1938-1949), The Silver Age (1950-1969) and The Modern Age (1970-Present) of comics. Particularly ludicrous villains include:
*Brickbat
*Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man
*The Human Flying Fish
*SATAN
*The Generic Man
*The Roach Wrangler
My personal favorite: *The Jingler
An evil poet. (Weapons of choice include: Homicidal haiku; sinister sonnets; and *gasp* limericks.)
Pros: Niche historical quirkiness, frequent panel examples, an abundance of puns, and sarcastic footnotes.
Cons: Painfully small font, limited selection, an abundance of puns, and… What, no Condiment King?!
While this isn’t as pretty of a coffee table read as I might have liked, it was certainly good for a few chuckles. Here’s hoping they increase the size of the print in future editions.
happyglowlucky's review against another edition
5.0
This book is so much fun; I really enjoyed it, and laughed often while reading it. And the neat thing about it is that you don't have to be a huge, huge comic book type of person to enjoy it. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy comics, and read them, but, I'm not a super-duper into it the way some people are, and, yet, I still loved this book. I like how it appeals to everyone, from people mildly interested in comics, to the biggest, geekiest fan. Loved the illustrations, and the book is beautifully printed. The Oddball Criminals are...well, some are silly, some are hillarious! It made a great, and relaxing, and humorous read.
ashleylm's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it, but not to the heights of a 4 or 5 star book, I'm afraid. Mildly diverting, let's say. And not as interesting as the first one (regrettable superheroes). Apparently it's a lot more humorous having ridiculous superheroes than ridiculous bad guys (it's a ratio thing--so many more villains per hero, you expect a few of them to be scraping bottom).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).