The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains: Oddball Criminals from Comic Book History

The League of Regrettable ...

by Jon Morris

Meet more than one hundred of the oddest supervillains in comics history, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary.

This collection affectionately spotlights the most ridiculous, bizarre, and cringe-worthy criminals ever published, from fandom favorites like MODOK and Egg Fu to forgotten weirdos like Brickbat (choice of weapon: poison bricks) and Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. Casual comics readers and diehard enthusiasts alike will relish the hilarious commentary and vintage art from obscure old comics.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, History, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Humor, Adult

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2016

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

UGH! Really? Some of the worst SV ever - would love to see them all in a coliseum fighting to the death - loser take all while we all laugh at their efforts! But a fantastic book! I so wish someone like Ed Wood would have done a movie on one of these SV: especially if it was meant to be a serious movie - it would be a cult classic for sure!

[Eva B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mostly-fun ride through the so-bad-they're-good, just-plain-bad, and wow-this-is-offensive of comic villain history that was a bit text-heavy, but overall a fun read!

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An overview of regrettable villains in comic books through the years. I feel like Morris has just scratched the surface here. If I thought about it, I could probably come up with a bunch more.

Pretty good. Funny in a snarky sort of way.

[Joe Davoust · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obscure superheroes can be regrettable but their opposing supervillains are forgettable. I liked the superhero version of this book much better than this one. Superheroes are much more complete characters than villains are. A superhero, even a regrettable one, often has a back story, a reason to keep going and an ongoing mission. Most superheroes have story lines that span years of comic book runs. In those run, they face hundreds of supervillains, and with the exception of some stand outs like the Joker, Dr Doom, Magneto and Lex Luthor, most last only an episode or two. Because of that comics churn through the bad guys like popcorn being gobbled up by moviegoers, just a means to further the superhero's legacy. With that in mind, anything is to be expected. With a few exceptions, there was little that made the villains stand out. Even in picking the best of the worst, the author admits that many are all the same. Most of the villains are the same character with just a new outfit, usually an animal themed one. There are maybe half a dozen that stood out, but in a book of hundreds of characters, those weren't enough to keep me interested.

[Brian Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains is a fun romp through decades of bizarre, questionable, loopy and downright confounding comic book creations.

Like its predecessor, The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History, Legion takes a chronological deep dive through the back bins and archive editions of numerous comic book publishers, large, microscopic and everything in between, to find and mock some of the more offbeat bad guys to bedevil a host of colorful heroes. Genre fans will marvel at just how many evil scientists, Nazi war criminals, ape-themed nogoodniks and otherwise “normal” citizens driven to villainy by the merest pretext abounded on the comic racks over the years.

Jon Morris, author of the “Gone and Forgotten” blog, has as much fun with the bad guys as he did with the do-gooders a couple years back. He mixes the heart of a comic book diehard with an historian’s eye for interesting details and trends that developed in the industry over the years. In the Golden Age section, fans might be surprised to note how many bad guys didn’t survive their inaugural appearance. And any number of super-crooks attempted to reflect “hip” cultural trends (at least as interpreted by often-stodgy creative teams).

Comic book fans will find some well-known characters in these pages, including Black Talon, Batroc the Leaper, The Top, Magpie, Giganta, the Mandrill and Angar the Screamer. Some of these characters have recurred in a variety of books for decades, many filling out the ranks in the inevitable scenes of a villain army taking to the streets during one of the frequent Big Two “event” series. Demonstrating that just because a concept is goofy doesn’t mean it can’t be enduring. Prize for the most bizarre? Clearly Swarm, the villain composed of Nazi bees.

As with the heroes, the creators responsible for these freaksome creations aren’t entirely unknown hacks. Famous and respected talent involved in their genesis include Otto Binder, C.C. Beck, Bob Oksner, Frank Frazetta, Will Eisner, Kurt Schaffenberger, Reed Crandall, Jack Cole, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Gardner Fox, Gil Kane, Jim Steranko, Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, Jerry Siegel, Ramona Fradon, Carmine Infantino, William Moulton Marston, Wayne Boring, Steve Ditko, Joe Simon, Wally Wood, Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, Len Wein, Neal Adams, Mark Guenwald and Steve Engelhart, among many others.

As with the prior volume, Morris isn’t going for intentional cruelty. The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains is a fan’s celebration of the oddities that abound in the industry. For long-time diehards or those interested in some of the less explored corners of comic book history, it’s a fun and breezy read.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever hero needs someone to contest with. A great villain makes for a great struggle but sometimes you get a real 3rd tier or lower villain that the hero has to deal with. Great listing of these less that stellar villains. Fun read. Recommended

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book in the “regrettable” series was maybe the most fun as there are a lot of just hilarious and sad villains created over the years. A solid coffee table book for sure!

[Rob Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like its predecessor, The League of Regrettable Superheroes, Legion takes a chronological peep into the comic book archives. These offbeat bad guys to bedevil a host of colorful heroes. Genre fans will marvel at how many evil scientists, Nazi war criminals, ape-themed villains exist.

The book covers every publishing house and sorts them by their age in comics history. In the Golden Age, you can learn about the Horrible Hand, the Balloon Maker, and Mother Goose. The Silver Age has Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, Egg Fu (this character is as racist as it sounds) and Tino the Terrible Teen. And in the Modern Age comics gave us the Roach Wrangler, Doctor Bong, and Uzzi the Clown. Yes, they are all as mad as they sound.

Jon Morris takes a funny, passionate (but not cruel) look as the facts. Morris delights with every entry and chosen image.

I recommend this book if you love oddball pop-culture history.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the bizarre to the ridiculous, "The Legion Of Regrettable Supervillains" chronicles some of the strangest criminals to grace the comics from the golden age to the present.
This companion volume to "The League Of Regrettable Superheroes" is just as hilarious as it's predecessor, showcasing such baddies as Bloor, Dictator of Uranus; and a giant disembodied hand, aptly called The Horrible Hand. These and many more grace the pages in this catalog of the absurd.

[Amanda Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining read like its predecessor League of Regrettable Heroes, it was interesting the facts about some of the villains like Veda, Ghetto Blaster, and many more. I wonder is some of the characters can be retooled for today’s comics.

[Andretta Schellinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd look at the super villains that weren't super/

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding, and a great follow-up to 2015's League of Regrettable Superheroes. More, please!

[Einar Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a series of vignettes: The Legion of Regrettable Super Villains. I hoped for more criticism and historical context from author Jon Morris. He adds some context, such as the switch from German and Japanese caricatures to Soviet and Chinese ones after World War II, but I wanted more. To be fair, this topic could probably be several PhD dissertations. Morris seems to write from a comic book insider perspective that appreciates almost all these goofball villains. Thankfully he shares my disappointment/disgust for Egg Fu, The Piper, and He-She… they were cultural products of their time, but no less inexcusable. Better representations from social eras were Reefer King and Snowflame who were consumers and distributors of marijuana (1940s) and cocaine (1980s), respectively. I can’t imagine the creativity needed to craft unique and attractive super heroes and super villains for the crowded shelves of comics stores. This book speaks to many of the misfires that found their way into four colors.

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.25/5

I've owned this book for half a decade and decided that now was a good time to read it as I needed something quick and easy. The supervillains in this book are odd, often with nazi or ape elements, and the writing was KIND OF funny at times... I like comics, but not enough to find this book very good. The small print didn't help either. If you like comics more than I do, maybe this book would be for you.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd previously read the Regrettable Superhero book by Morris so I figured I'd check this one out. It was pretty funny. There were a bit few too many from the "Golden" age of comics but I suppose that makes sense. Comics were a little sillier and looser back then. I was just hoping for more from the "Silver" and "Modern" age of comics when I read them.

[Francine Chu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aptly published by Quirk books, this wonderful and bizarre compilation with the witty accompanying text will have you mwahaha-ing all the way.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat disappointing follow-up to Morris' better The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History, although still amusing. There are certainly enough "regrettable villains," but aside from their dumb names and goofy powers…well, that's pretty much it. The descriptions are, well, descriptive, but not necessarily funny. And the sarcastic sidebar comments that were much of the previous book's charm are here reduced largely to lame "dad joke" puns, to the point where I wonder if Morris was as bored writing it as I was reading.

That said, there are those dumb names and goofy powers (which can often be inferred from the names): Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, Generalissimo Brainstorm, Mod Gorilla Boss, The Roach Wrangler, The Human Flying Fish, Mr. Fish and Praying Mantis Man, to name just a few - as well as the wildly un-PC Egg Fu and He-She. So worth at least a quick look, if only to read the table of contents.

I am still looking forward to the final book in Morris' bizarre trilogy - The League of Regrettable Sidekicks: Heroic Helpers from Comic Book History!. The whole concept of grown men (and women) spending so much time with underage boys (and girls), "grooming" them in their superhero careers and leading them into all sorts of dangerous situations is so ripe for a good skewering, my hopes are pretty high. Even this book hints at some of the odd hero/sidekick pairings to come: The Fighting American & Speedboy, Airmail & Stampy, Mister Scarlet & Pinky (described as "essentially a red guy and his slightly less red partner"), and Black Owl and his two sidekicks, Yank & Doodle (who are at least his sons).

SEPARATELY - what is it about "captains" (a middling rank at best) that makes them more virtuous than "doctors" (who in the real world, are usually pretty helpful)? These books give us the heroic Captains America, Triumph, Battle, Marvel, Flag, Flash, Therapy and more, battling such evil professionals as Doctors Doom, Cesspoole, Bong, Mechman, Dracula and Voodoo. Thank goodness for Doctor Strange - but maybe it's exactly this unexpected altruism (more than his name) that accounts for his true "Strange-"ness. :)

[Gordon Mcghie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Factual books talking about fictional stories are brilliant distractions. I have shelves of books which break down all 36 seasons of Doctor Who. Star Trek is also well represented as are volumes on Spider-man characters, every hero ever to be an Avenger, Batman through the years and even a Thunderbirds anthology. So when Quirk Books kindly let me review The Legion of Regrettable Super Villains I was like a kid in a sweet shop (or a reader locked in a bookshop).

Jon Morris has trawled the archives of comic book history to find us some of the more obscure villains to grace the pages of comic books. Spanning tales from the Golden Age (where there were a plethora of characters I confess I had never heard of). To modern times where there were signs some creative teams were rushing toward deadline and the inspiration-fairy had left them in the lurch. There are some weird and wonderful characters to read about and you can decide for yourself if you feel that some may be due a revival.

As with any of these collections I was instinctively drawn to the characters and stories that I recognised (and there were several). By comparing my own opinion on some of the Regrettable Villains against that of the author I could benchmark how fairly, or not, they are being treated. Overall I was very pleased with the outcome of that experiment as I seemed to be quite aligned to the author’s way of thinking for the most part.

Each Villain gets introduced, some of their history explained or the reason for their appearance outlined and we hear who they were pitted against. There are some dark and twisted creative minds at work in the comic book world, some of these crooks are seriously disturbed and I am not sure some of the stories would be agreed by editors these days.

Regrettable Super Villains isn’t the type of book I can sit and pour through in a single sitting or two. It was enjoyed over a few weeks as I dipped in and out of it and jumped from section to section. For a comic book fan it was sheer browsing pleasure, we need more books like this…these oddball weirdos must never be forgotten.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful. I laughed out loud several times. For every Joker or Doctor Octopus, there are hundreds of comic-book supervillains (and some superheroes) who never caught on. These include . . .

* The Crane, enemy of the Boy King and pilot of a robot Nazi Tyrannosaurus rex

* Captain Murder

* Robbing Hood, enemy of "painfully impoverished crime fighters Airmale and his kid sidekick, Stampy, [who] are rich in nothing but the most absurd names in the annals of superherodom."

* The Vaquero, behatted nemesis of The Black Owl, whose sidekicks (the Owl's twin sons) are named Yank and Doodle

* Generalissimo Brainstorm

* The Human Anchor

* Mod Gorilla Boss (that's Mod, not Mad--he wore a Carnaby Street suit)

* The Iniquitous Bee-Man

* The League of the Handsome Devils

* Communist spy Hotsky Trotsky

* The Scarlet Beetle

* Sinistro, Boy Fiend, also known as Jack Biceps

* Irish Hymie Schulz

* Lady Stilt-Man

* Tino the Terrible Teen, the Richest Teenager in the World

* Uglyman

* Angar the Screamer, an enraged hippie

* Black Talon, a chicken-headed Haitian with an inverted cross on his torso

* Sunstroke

* Butte, a woman made of stone

* Pro Rata the Mad Financial Wizard

* Doctor Bong, a bell-headed baddie who unleashes his powers by punching himself in the face

* Toyboy

* John Doe, the Generic Man

* Ghetto Blaster, an African-American superhero who destroys slums with sonic weapons

* Golden Führer

* Ruby Thursday

* "a living mass of nasal mucus calling itself Boogieman"

* Lord of the Fleas

* The Diseased Squirrel ("his power: 'I unnerve people'")

* Big Mean Monkey Head

* The Roach Wrangler, Chicago-based villain who fights Wisconsin-based hero the Badger

* The Asthma Monster

* Swarm, "the man made of Nazi bees!"

* Gentrification fighter Turner D. Century

This book had a much better copyeditor than the first volume.

[TammyJo Eckhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had my husband and I laughing out loud while we read it together. Neither of us read Jon Morris' previous book "The League of Regrettable Superheroes" but we're betting that a lot of them appeared in this book, too, as the foil for these villains. Each entry has at least one page from the comic book they appeared in so you can see them clearly. A few villains appeared in more than two pages and we were perplexed as to why these had multiple pages versus others; it didn't seem connected to how long they appeared as a villain. Morris' accompany sidebar text was as funny as the villains themselves in many cases.

The bulk of information in each entry covers the basic backstory for the villain as well as a brief history of their time in the comics. The entries also tackle politics, race, gender, religion, economic, etc, and this made the list feel very well-rounded but I don't know the genre well enough to say that it truly is well-rounded. I do want to know that female villains are rare though nearly all of the villain teams include a woman or girl. Is that a sign of the female villain missing from comics or a sign that when they appeared they were better throughout out?

The book is divided into three sections of unequal sized. "The Golden Age" (1938-149) has 51 entries, "The Silver Age" (1950-1969) has 31 entries, and "The Modern Age" (1970-Present) has only 25 entries. This was a bit odd because the number of years covered is the inverse of the number of entries. Have villains just got less regrettable over the decades? It is hard to answer are questions because Morris does not give us definitive criteria he used to pick the villains. Regardless it a ton of fun to read.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read on some unique comic book super villains from days gone by! I enjoyed reading the history behind these lesser known comic book villains and which heroes they were connected to, the artists that created them, and seeing the original comic book covers. The artwork is very interesting and helps to describe what was popular during that particular time period! This would be a GREAT read for anyone who is a fan of comic books, or enjoys reading the history behind the early days of the comic book industry. Really Interesting read! I think I enjoyed this one on villains more than the heroes one! Both are good & would make a nice addition to any book/comic book collection!

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and interesting read. The book examines a laundry list of villains that have mostly fallen through the cracks over the years. These mostly one hit blunders are grouped together by chronological period. Each villain is accompanied with a brief blurb about origin and the story(ies) they were in. Readers of Squirrel Girl will recognize several of the villains from Deadpool's Guide to Super Villain cards. From minor chuckles through insights into the concerns and values of different decades the book is worth a read.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

More crazy characters and fun facts from the golden age of comics up until the 1990's. The Legion of Regrettable Super Villains is the counterpart to Jon Morris' The League of Regrettable Super Heroes. Every feature showcases full page artwork from the original comics, and a commentary which delves into the background of the villains and the heroes they fight; often he details a specific fight. Morris writes in a conversational and sensationally cheesy manner that befits these stories, which makes for an entertaining and easy read.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a special, limited edition of this title, available through LootCrate monthly subscription service. It is an abbreviated edition with 124 pages. This collection describes villains from a variety of comic book eras who were weird, comical, incompetent and some are even dangerous. This collection affectionately showcases oddball criminals.

[Matevž · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of villains, some know some completely unknown.
The good thing about this book is that it nicely collects them together, and provides some of their bios.

I would however like to see some more information about each villain - last appearance, number of victories etc., since some of the descriptions feel a tad empty.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edit: I now have the full version!

I was given the LootCrate version of this book, which is condensed, but I'll keep the full version on my shelf just in case I get an opportunity to read it in the future.

[Mhorg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as fun as the preceding volume!

A companion to the legion of regrettable superheroes, this book is just as fun and nutty. They only thing that could make either volume better, would be more illustrations. Read this and have fun!

[Matthew Sciarrino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very creative. Loads of fun.

Lots of great, beyond forgotten villains. Book is put together well. The villain. The super-hero nemesis. The story. And then a few panels or a page from a comic. Very fun book.

[Vi · Rating 4 out of 5]

odd supervillians from the Golden Age. What's odder for me is that the word "supervillains" read like surveillance from a quick glance.