DC's Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Super-Villains (Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains

by Bill Finger, France Herron, John Broome

One mission. One goal. To take down all the superheroes we know. Take a journey into the dark minds of DC's most dangerous super-villains!

DC's Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Supervillains spotlights not so much the heroes of the DCU, but rather their most notorious foes. Featuring villains such as Signalman, the Puppeteer , Clock King, the Joker, the Mist, Captain Cold and Mr. Who. Follow each one of these super-villians as they plot to destroy the superhero in their path.

Collects Wanted #1-9; Action Comics #57 and #69; Adventures Comics #72 and #77; All-American Comics #77; Batman #25, #84, and #112; Doll Man Quarterly #15; Flash Comics #86, #90, and #100; Green Lantern #1 and #33; Kid Eternity #15; More Fun Comics #65, #73, and #76; Sensation Comics #66 and #71; The Flash #114 and #121; Wonder Woman #36; and World's Finest #6 and #111.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 17, 2020

About the author

William "Bill" Finger was an American comic strip and comic book writer best known as the uncredited co-creator, with Bob Kane, of the DC Comics character Batman, as well as the co-architect of the series' development. In later years, Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger", and a DC Comics press release in 2007 about colleague Jerry Robinson states that in 1939, "Kane, along with writer Bill Finger, had just created Batman for [DC predecessor] National Comics".

Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Martin Maenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up in the 70’s, I loved the cover design for this series even though many of the reprints came from the golden age rather than the silver age. Any book the spotlighted villains also grabbed my attention.

[Julian]

A very strange choice by DC to publish a collection of a title that was all reprints. Mostly golden age reprints rather than silver age reprints too! Stories with Vigilante, Doll Man, 2 Dr. Fate stories (both masks!), Hourman, Carter Hall Hawkman, Alan Scott Hawkman, Wildcat, and so on. The stories are nothing special generally, though some perhaps a cut above the regular Golden Age fare-- (the Hawkman Gentleman Ghost story and the GL Solomon Grundy story are the best two in my opionin.) For a selection of super villain centered stories, they weren't especially great villains generally. All in all, I'd rate it as just a curiosity, but still enjoyable if you like to dive into that obscure stuff.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting collection in that DC doesn't usually publish a collection of a title that was a reprint title to begin with. Most of the stories are from the golden age of comics (1938-1955), with a few silver age stories thrown in.

When I first began reading comics in the '70s, DC (and Marvel, too, I believe) had several reprint titles. WANTED: THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS VILLAINS was one of those titles. I never had a complete run, though, and reading this collection allowed me to read several stories I've never had the chance to read. The Doll Man and Kid Eternity stories, in particular, were fun reads, since in the 1940s and '50s those features were published by Quality Comics, a competitor of DC at the time. DC bought those characters -- and others, including Plastic Man, Blackhawk, et al. -- in 1956.

Recommended.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of appearances of many of DC comics greatest rogues.

[Billy Martel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For “The Signal Man” story: one of the most subversive stories of its era. A bad guy realizes that to make it as a crime boss in Gotham, he has to develop some sort of gimmick. So he becomes a semiotics themed villain, almost mocking the whole concept of needing a gimmick in the first place. 5/5

For “The Clock King” Story: extremely standard Batman story for the time. Even though, due to typos and art mistakes, the characters are misnamed “Green Arrow” and “Speedy”. 3/5

For “The Puppet Master” Story: I can’t stand silver age Green Lantern. I hate the characters and the storyline. But the art and villain in this is legit really fun. So I give it an average rating. 3/5

For the “Joker/Penguin” story: absolute perfection. Perfect combination of action, thrills, and comedy, that makes Golden Age Batman great. 5/5

For “The Trickster Strikes Back”: Wonderful, the relationship between the title character and the Flash is so well written. Barry is a sweetheart of a character, and James Jesse is a lonely weirdo who clearly thinks he’s found a forever friend in The Flash. 5/5

For “The Dummy” story: wut? 2.5/5

For the “Nyarl-Amen” story: a pretty cool Lovecraft pastiche with some great unintentional comedy from the design of the fish people. Dr Fate comes off as a real jingoistic jerk. 3/5

For “The Human Fly” story: decent I guess. But Hawkwoman really gets the shit end of the stick. Also this is my least favorite Hawkman outfit. 2/5

For the “Solomon Grundy” story: the story I bought this collection for. Absolutely kick ass introduction to one of DC’s gnarliest long lasting characters. It only makes it better that it features Alan Scott, the best Green Lantern. 5/5