Supervillainous!: Confessions of a Costumed Evil-doer

by Mike Leon

You ever meet a supervillain whose superpower is that he makes people racist? I have. It was a less than stellar experience... My name is Mike Leon and I am responsible for this book. It started as a simple magazine interview with Hammerspace, you know, the guy who can keep an infinite amount of matter hidden in his trench coat. It turned into a large scale catastrophe, but you already know that if you read the papers. Here you can read about all the events that led up to that mess in detail. You can finally find out where that giant robot came from. You can hear where Hammerspace gets all those cool toys. You can experience action, adventure, excitement, but most of all, soul crushing disappointment--the kind of disappointment you have when you realize all of your heroes are jerks, and you're a forty-year-old man living alone with two metric tons of useless magazines and collectibles that someone will probably throw in a dumpster after they bury you. Who doesn't want that?

Genres: Superheroes, Fiction, Science Fiction

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 19, 2011

About the author

Mike Leon writes fiction that is totally metal.

You can follow him on Twitter @TheMikeLeon.

Questions, comments, and death threats should go to: professional.mike.leon@gmail.com

Reviews

[DivaDiane SM · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining enough and had some clever ideas, but it was pretty pointless in the end. Except as something entertaining to occupy yourself with. I’m not sure I actually needed to finish it though. I pretty much just skimmed that last 5 or 6 chapters.

[Adam Oster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superheroes get all the glory, don't they? I mean, how often do the villains really get the time to shine. They don't have their names listed on all the comic books out there. Heck, even when they do get to be at the forefront, they're generally being forced to do things that they wouldn't normally do...you know, like save the world and stuff.


So, when I say that Baron Hammerspace, the main character of Supervillainous, gets his opportunity to really shine as a supervillain, you can rest assured that this is one of those rare moments where we get a true glimpse at the glory that is a real supervillain.


This book is written from the perspective of a fictionalized version of the author. He's taken on a journalistic position to see what life is like as a supervillain. And the villain he chooses to follow, well, he might have just figured out how to bypass the whole "good always wins" thing.


What follows is an amusing ride through the adventures of a villain who is constantly being bugged by those pesky do-gooders in bright and shiny spandex. But this villain doesn't let anything get in the way, not even other villains. No, in fact, he's got only one thing in mind...villainy.


Honestly, this was quite the fresh task on the supervillain genre (a much smaller subset of the superhero genre). Too often do we see villains in stories like this where they have an ulterior motive which is much more redeemable. Not here. Nope. Not a chance. Baron Hammerspace is here to chew bubblegum and take over the world. And he's all out of gum. Or something like that...


The book is filled with quite the creative takes on superheroes and supervillains as well. These aren't heroes with simple powers to be invisible or be really strong, or fast, or whatever. No, these are people like The Tether, who can fly, as long as some part of him is touching the ground.


The story itself seems to take something of a backseat from time to time in the event of trying to make a joke out of the tropes of superheroes, but that doesn't really detract from the book itself, as it really is a fun ride getting a chance to see things from the opposite side of the food chain.


And even though he's really really bad, you'll still find yourself rooting for the bad guy.

[Marc Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laughed so hard that I choked, several times. The banter between super villains and super heroes and amongst themselves was pure comedy gold. Definitely re-reading this whenever I badly need a laugh.

[Stacy Stange · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Easy funny read! More than one time I wanted to call the author and poke fun at him, which I think makes it all the more better!!

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very funny novel, but be warned that sometimes it uses "no-no" words that may have you running to your safe space. In other words, please do not read and review if you are a pussy.

[Tarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of a weird one for me. The book overall sits between 3-4 stars for me for a couple of reasons.

Leon has crafted an interesting superhero story. I have to admit, this reads a lot more like a manic romp through chaos rather than your run of the mill superhero story. While this stands out for its uniqueness, it also has a cartoony feel to it, which I admit will appeal to a certain group of readers.

For me, though I found aspects of this story to be very entertaining, there were a lot that tore me from the story with their sheer... wackiness. Hammerspace is an interesting character who really believes in the evilness he is doing. The fact that he stands out among other villains because of this evil nature was quite interesting and helped make his character feel unique. He achieves things because he takes it seriously where it's almost a game for all the other characters. (something I think would possibly actually happen if the world had superheroes)

As for the wacky parts... they were very over the top, and for a story that seemed to be mostly grounded in real life (shotguns kill superheroes), there were some parts that seemed to ignore the physics set up early on in the story, which just created a bunch of paradoxes. I know, I know, this is a superhero story, so there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief one needs, but the wacky parts of this novel just kept making it harder and harder.

Still, this is a good book. I enjoyed it when I didn't take it too seriously, which all in all is the point of this novel. There's a lot of homages to other works, and that made it more fun. I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a fun superhero book. Just don't take it too seriously.

[Deanna Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so hard to like this. And at first I did. The story is well written, but other than the style, it could have been written by a 13 year old boy. All the humor is low-brow and broad. I got more and more irritated as I went along until I realized I didn't care any more and stopped reading. I hope you get more out of this than I did, I love the idea and the first half was fun.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for a laugh

This is an easy read with plenty of humor, even if there are quite a few spelling errors. Great for those who love comic books.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is written as if the author, Mike Leon, is an embedded reporter with the supervillians in order to write a magazine article - in this case specifically with Hammerspace as he attempts to rise in the world of the supervillan and achieve world domination. At first Hammerspace seems like a parody of himself but Mike finds there's strand of ruthless violence underneath the cheesy costume that really does make him a villain with a superpower.

I enjoyed this rather short novel of life from the bad guy's point of view. The superheroes of this world reminded me of those in Other People's Heroeswith their hero tower and marketing but the bad guys here seem to source their world domination plots from either comics or Austin Powers which means they aren't nearly as gritty or nasty as those in Subject 12but this is still a fun read with a few laughs along the way.

[Whitney Zink · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think if I were a man, I would have given this book 5 stars. There is constant action. The female characters were stereotypical and definitely created from a heterosexual male's point of view. But the villains and heroes are hilarious. The personas were creative. The dialogue was witty and satirical. I would definitely recommend this book.

[Bart Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving it so far! Quirky and irreverent, I love this satirical take on a super hero story. Waiting for a friend to finish it so I can!

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty funny but not great.

[jamie l. norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

best book on supers I have read doesn't go for serious just fun good read
realistic supers with real world problems

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solidly entertaining, with a lot of funny parts. But the jokes do occasionally get a little overworked.

[Dawn Paris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whole lot of fun.

[Christo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mike Leon is a master of his craft!

The very best superhero/villain story ever, period. There is no one who writes them like Mike Leon. If the comics and movies (excluding Deadpool, of course) were like this I'd actually read/watch them.