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Old School Evil
"Very great blend of cartoon references and great original characters. Calling it Ready Player One for cartoons would be selling it short." - A. C. Merkel, Author of Her Name is Murder
"I ... recommend that you read this book as it takes you to a world of good vs evil, heroes vs villains, origin stories combined with present-day adventure, and fathers and children as you ponder if villains ever make good…" - Realweegiemidget Reviews
"This book probably has my favorite ending of any book this year." - SagaofInsanity.com
After accidentally killing his foster parents, Jayce believes he is Earth's lone werewolf, living on the streets to hide his monstrous side. Jayce survives a deadly invitation to meet his real father and goes to HIDDEN BROOK, the world's only supervillain retirement home.
There he meets MAX MALICE and learns there are many stranger things in the world than himself - In Max's prime, robots, ghosts, and dinosaur clones used to threaten mankind on a weekly basis. Jayce needs to find their children to stop his father's one last attempt at world domination.
Old School Evil celebrates the cartoons of the 80s and their over-the-top villains - Megatron, Miles Mayhem, Skeletor, and the others that used to hold our weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings hostage.
"I ... recommend that you read this book as it takes you to a world of good vs evil, heroes vs villains, origin stories combined with present-day adventure, and fathers and children as you ponder if villains ever make good…" - Realweegiemidget Reviews
"This book probably has my favorite ending of any book this year." - SagaofInsanity.com
After accidentally killing his foster parents, Jayce believes he is Earth's lone werewolf, living on the streets to hide his monstrous side. Jayce survives a deadly invitation to meet his real father and goes to HIDDEN BROOK, the world's only supervillain retirement home.
There he meets MAX MALICE and learns there are many stranger things in the world than himself - In Max's prime, robots, ghosts, and dinosaur clones used to threaten mankind on a weekly basis. Jayce needs to find their children to stop his father's one last attempt at world domination.
Old School Evil celebrates the cartoons of the 80s and their over-the-top villains - Megatron, Miles Mayhem, Skeletor, and the others that used to hold our weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings hostage.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 28, 2022
10 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Brian Cave
3 books14 followersBrian Cave was born in the '70s, but is an '80s kid through and through. Growing up glued to the television, watching cartoons every morning and afternoon gave him an appreciation for colorful heroes, hair-brained schemes, and hopeless villains. A fan of all types of animation, he earned a degree in visual art while writing fan fiction of his favorite cartoons, until creating a slew of his own while building the world of Old School Evil. He lives with his geeky wife, their son, and a collection of over 100 Megatrons.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 9, 2018
Received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I was a little confused at the beginning of the book. I didn’t understand that there were two first person narrators. That’s on me, though.
Once I understood the structure, I loved this book! The mixture of realistic action adventure and cartoon-like protagonists hit the sweet spot for a animation fan kid like me.
Hopefully the beginning of a series!!! Thanks again for the book!!
I was a little confused at the beginning of the book. I didn’t understand that there were two first person narrators. That’s on me, though.
Once I understood the structure, I loved this book! The mixture of realistic action adventure and cartoon-like protagonists hit the sweet spot for a animation fan kid like me.
Hopefully the beginning of a series!!! Thanks again for the book!!
July 8, 2018
Old School Evil is an exciting adventure, similar to the Runaways in the way that a group of young people discover that they are the children of supervillains. Unlike the Runaways, however, the younger half of the Old School Evil cast are older, more jaded by the world, and more morally grey than their teen counterparts. Also, Old School Evil shows us that even villains grow old, and they get along about as well as a group of teenagers as well. Overall, Old School Evil’s events are a lot messier and badly put together than what you would usually see in a comic book or Saturday Morning Cartoon, but this adds to the charm of it, as it shows what it would probably actually look like if villains and heroes had battled it out in the 80’s, and their kids only uncovered the fact years later.
OSE follows two interconnected storylines of father and son. Living out the end of his life confined to a special retirement home for former villains, Max Malice is not content. He refuses to give up his schemes and villainy as his fellow villains and “friends” had done, and he believes getting his son in on the old family business is the perfect way to break himself out. Meanwhile, Jayce has pretty much hit rock bottom. After the death of his foster parents, he’s been living on the street, consisting on what he could get from the local soup kitchen, buy with begged money, or steal when truly desperate, all while trying to hide the fact that he can turn into a wolf when provoked. So when the biological father he didn’t know was still around suddenly re-enters his life, filling him in on the history of real like villains that the government tried to hide and then offering him a loaded bank account, he’s more than willing to perform the small mission of finding the daughter of another villain and bringing her back to the home. As Jayce begins to collect not only Nicky, but also the genetically modified son of a dinosaur scientist villain and the suicidal offspring of a glorified bank robber, descended from two of the other old men Max reluctantly allows into his social circle, he also learns more about his father, and begins to question whether he can really trust him, or if it might be better to take the money and run, for the sake of all four of them and the world. Because Max may have tried to portray himself as a visionary who happened to run counter to the law, but even in his old age, he’s not afraid to betray or kill anyone who gets in his way.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I found all the characters to be interesting and unique, and all their motivations checked out as believable in my mind. I grew up loving to watch cartoons when I could convince my mom to turn the channel off of PBS, and even now as an adult, I still love to look up a good anime or watch my favorite shows on Cartoon Network when I have the chance. What is rarely discussed however, is how these heroes are able to readjust to civilian life when the fighting is over, and even less often do we see what becomes of the surviving members of the evil side, and how defeat effects their future lives and the lives of their families. As mentioned above, Marvel attempted something like this with their Runaways series, but as much as I love it, it still has that optimistic tinge of the comic book universe that rarely trickles into real life, as those plucky teens seemed so ready to suddenly jump into superhero life in an attempt to foil their parents almost immediately after discovering their organization. But OSE took a different path, giving us imprisoned geezers and down-on-their-luck young adults, confusion and mayhem, and lots of in-fighting among both old evil acquaintances and their newly thrown together kids. It took all the magic of a hero story and injected it into a world that is darker and realer than any of us would like to admit. It is a great read for anyone who grew up watching cartoons as a kid, and wants a little nostalgia without all the sugar coating. It will definitely leave you wondering what your old favorite bad guys might be up to, assuming they survived this long already.
OSE follows two interconnected storylines of father and son. Living out the end of his life confined to a special retirement home for former villains, Max Malice is not content. He refuses to give up his schemes and villainy as his fellow villains and “friends” had done, and he believes getting his son in on the old family business is the perfect way to break himself out. Meanwhile, Jayce has pretty much hit rock bottom. After the death of his foster parents, he’s been living on the street, consisting on what he could get from the local soup kitchen, buy with begged money, or steal when truly desperate, all while trying to hide the fact that he can turn into a wolf when provoked. So when the biological father he didn’t know was still around suddenly re-enters his life, filling him in on the history of real like villains that the government tried to hide and then offering him a loaded bank account, he’s more than willing to perform the small mission of finding the daughter of another villain and bringing her back to the home. As Jayce begins to collect not only Nicky, but also the genetically modified son of a dinosaur scientist villain and the suicidal offspring of a glorified bank robber, descended from two of the other old men Max reluctantly allows into his social circle, he also learns more about his father, and begins to question whether he can really trust him, or if it might be better to take the money and run, for the sake of all four of them and the world. Because Max may have tried to portray himself as a visionary who happened to run counter to the law, but even in his old age, he’s not afraid to betray or kill anyone who gets in his way.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I found all the characters to be interesting and unique, and all their motivations checked out as believable in my mind. I grew up loving to watch cartoons when I could convince my mom to turn the channel off of PBS, and even now as an adult, I still love to look up a good anime or watch my favorite shows on Cartoon Network when I have the chance. What is rarely discussed however, is how these heroes are able to readjust to civilian life when the fighting is over, and even less often do we see what becomes of the surviving members of the evil side, and how defeat effects their future lives and the lives of their families. As mentioned above, Marvel attempted something like this with their Runaways series, but as much as I love it, it still has that optimistic tinge of the comic book universe that rarely trickles into real life, as those plucky teens seemed so ready to suddenly jump into superhero life in an attempt to foil their parents almost immediately after discovering their organization. But OSE took a different path, giving us imprisoned geezers and down-on-their-luck young adults, confusion and mayhem, and lots of in-fighting among both old evil acquaintances and their newly thrown together kids. It took all the magic of a hero story and injected it into a world that is darker and realer than any of us would like to admit. It is a great read for anyone who grew up watching cartoons as a kid, and wants a little nostalgia without all the sugar coating. It will definitely leave you wondering what your old favorite bad guys might be up to, assuming they survived this long already.
March 31, 2025
OLD SCHOOL EVIL by Brian Cave is the first novel of a series of dark comedy superhero novels. It is a simultaneous homage to Eighties Saturday Morning cartoon, a lamentation about the downsides to aging, and also a goofy coming of age story for a ragtag band of misfits. As a man who reads almost exclusively indie books these days, it’s definitely a labor of love that zigs when a lot of other books zag.
The premise is that the majority of supervillains from the Eighties have been captured and forcibly reparated to a retirement home. For some of them, it is a pleasant enough home that is far nicer than any normal prison. Others find it hellish as they still delude themselves into believing that they could have brought the world to its knees. There’s homages to GI Joe, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and several other famous properties but very little 1:1 correlation. I was actually pleased with the amount of originality from the author while still invoking the kind of things that I remember from my childhood.
The primary characters are Jayce, a genetically created werewolf, who has the horrifying (but typical) origin story of killing his foster parents when his powers manifested. He is introduced to Max Malice, one of those aforementioned supervillains that have been forced into involuntary retirement. Jayce is someone desperate for approval while Max is someone that can’t stand living in a world without robots, dinosaurs, or other peculiar methods of world domination. A bit like the WANTED comic, humanity has had its memories erased of the world where these things were a weekly occurrence.
Jayce soon finds himself recruiting a number of the villains’ children. They’re a decidedly ragged bunch of losers that have been hurt by both the fact that they grew up in crummy circumstances and whatever legacies that their parents imparted on them are usually pretty life-destroying. One of them has a magic gun possessed by an evil ghost from the Wild West. That’s not the kind of thing that really inspires you to become a better person.
Weirdly enough, I would say this book reminds me most of an adult cartoon like Archer or Venture Brothers. It’s utterly ridiculous but that is part of its charm. The pathetic nature of the villains and their egos contrasts to the very real life problems of money, aging, poor relationships with your kids, and the fact the government is so byzantine that even they have no idea why they’re running a retirement home for mad scientists/terrorists.
Is there room for improvement? Perhaps. I think it’s a fun book by itself but I kind of wish he’d gone a little more direct with his EXPYs. Maybe include some more overt correlations like a wizard from a fantasy world or the commander of an international terrorist organization. It’s close enough to function but I would have gone all out.
In conclusion, I really liked Old School Evil. It’s an acquired taste and you have to be willing to go with the absurdities of the whole thing like dog men, dinosaurs, and an excessive love of cartoons that you recognize what Dinosaucers was. People who know Uncle Phil voiced the one true Shredder. Still, if you are in that late thirties, early forties demographic or just enjoy old school evil then you’ll probably enjoy this.
The premise is that the majority of supervillains from the Eighties have been captured and forcibly reparated to a retirement home. For some of them, it is a pleasant enough home that is far nicer than any normal prison. Others find it hellish as they still delude themselves into believing that they could have brought the world to its knees. There’s homages to GI Joe, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and several other famous properties but very little 1:1 correlation. I was actually pleased with the amount of originality from the author while still invoking the kind of things that I remember from my childhood.
The primary characters are Jayce, a genetically created werewolf, who has the horrifying (but typical) origin story of killing his foster parents when his powers manifested. He is introduced to Max Malice, one of those aforementioned supervillains that have been forced into involuntary retirement. Jayce is someone desperate for approval while Max is someone that can’t stand living in a world without robots, dinosaurs, or other peculiar methods of world domination. A bit like the WANTED comic, humanity has had its memories erased of the world where these things were a weekly occurrence.
Jayce soon finds himself recruiting a number of the villains’ children. They’re a decidedly ragged bunch of losers that have been hurt by both the fact that they grew up in crummy circumstances and whatever legacies that their parents imparted on them are usually pretty life-destroying. One of them has a magic gun possessed by an evil ghost from the Wild West. That’s not the kind of thing that really inspires you to become a better person.
Weirdly enough, I would say this book reminds me most of an adult cartoon like Archer or Venture Brothers. It’s utterly ridiculous but that is part of its charm. The pathetic nature of the villains and their egos contrasts to the very real life problems of money, aging, poor relationships with your kids, and the fact the government is so byzantine that even they have no idea why they’re running a retirement home for mad scientists/terrorists.
Is there room for improvement? Perhaps. I think it’s a fun book by itself but I kind of wish he’d gone a little more direct with his EXPYs. Maybe include some more overt correlations like a wizard from a fantasy world or the commander of an international terrorist organization. It’s close enough to function but I would have gone all out.
In conclusion, I really liked Old School Evil. It’s an acquired taste and you have to be willing to go with the absurdities of the whole thing like dog men, dinosaurs, and an excessive love of cartoons that you recognize what Dinosaucers was. People who know Uncle Phil voiced the one true Shredder. Still, if you are in that late thirties, early forties demographic or just enjoy old school evil then you’ll probably enjoy this.
July 6, 2018
Old School Evils earns a 3.5 rating from this nostalgic fan of the '80s.
Jaycee is homeless with only an action figure and deep secret to his name. But his life changes dramatically when his father ends someone to find/fight him. Jaycee frees the beast inside and then given a task from his estranged father: find a girl robbing banks. To say Jaycee knows nothing is an understatement. He quickly learns that all those cartoons he watched a child are basically real.
I loved all the '80s trhow back and the integration of the cartoons as part of real life. I enjoyed the various goings on but it's incrfedibly violent and gross. In this way, it is not like the cartoions at all. Because of this I am hesitant to read any further books in the series though I would love to read about Jaycee's further adventures.
The writing is fast passed pushing the action forward. The only issue on a techincal side, is there are are trhee or four instrances when wording gets out of order. While chaging up and moving parts around makes for enagging reading, these instances made confused about what was going on because they didn't flow and I had to reread.
Rather enjoyable, Old School Evil was a nostalgic rush with too much gory violence.
I received a copy through Goodreads; all opinions are my own.
Jaycee is homeless with only an action figure and deep secret to his name. But his life changes dramatically when his father ends someone to find/fight him. Jaycee frees the beast inside and then given a task from his estranged father: find a girl robbing banks. To say Jaycee knows nothing is an understatement. He quickly learns that all those cartoons he watched a child are basically real.
I loved all the '80s trhow back and the integration of the cartoons as part of real life. I enjoyed the various goings on but it's incrfedibly violent and gross. In this way, it is not like the cartoions at all. Because of this I am hesitant to read any further books in the series though I would love to read about Jaycee's further adventures.
The writing is fast passed pushing the action forward. The only issue on a techincal side, is there are are trhee or four instrances when wording gets out of order. While chaging up and moving parts around makes for enagging reading, these instances made confused about what was going on because they didn't flow and I had to reread.
Rather enjoyable, Old School Evil was a nostalgic rush with too much gory violence.
I received a copy through Goodreads; all opinions are my own.
June 16, 2018
Entertaining read
June 10, 2018
This was a pretty intense read. I loved it.
April 11, 2019
This was just plain fun. I do hope there will be more.
August 23, 2018
I really enjoyed this. Being a child of the 80s it was loaded with references to things I loved as a kid. The premise really hooked me in. I can't wait to see where Brian takes us from here. I can only hope that he works in all the He-Man alike shows somehow. Also, more giant robots ;)
June 19, 2020
The wacky 80’s Saturday Morning cartoon villains you knew and loved didn’t go away, they just got old.
Tucked away in the Hidden Brook retirement home Max Malice, former head of an army of mutated dog-people, the Muttants, is forming a plan to escape. But to do that he will need his long-lost son, Jayce who, himself, is clinging to the edge of society. Homeless and living from one day to the next his life changes when one of his father’s henchmen makes an attempt on his life.
Malice sends his son on a mission to find the other proteges from his fellow retired supervillains. But in the process, Jayce discovers a world that he only thought existed in cartoons.
The only real downside I see to this book is that there is a cultural experience required to fully enjoy this book. And that is being a kid in the ’80s sitting cross-legged on the living room floor in your pajamas on a Saturday morning with a bowl of sugar cereal watching those action-adventure cartoons. The ones where bad guys are thwarted week after week by a team of heroes who constantly remind us about the Power of Friendship (awww)
Luckily, being a child during that time and place, I really dug this. And, frankly, anyone with even a tangential idea of the genre will be able to appreciate this story. But the subtle themes, references, and over-all style might be lost on someone who didn’t grow up with those glorified toy commercials. The author clearly has a deep love for them and it shows.
There are a couple of points where I feel like the plot gets away from the characters and their motivation becomes a little muddy. Especially in the middle, I found myself trying to remember what exactly they were trying to accomplish and why.
But, overall, I really enjoyed this. The over-the-top characters, the ludicrous technology, the inexplicable plot twists, the brooding villians, and the inept henchmen, all of it is captured wonderfully in this story about a young man coming to grips with who he is. And, not to give anything away, the big reveal at the end was really, really well done. Why did an entire generation grow up with heroes like G.I. Joe, Thundercats, He-Man, She-Ra, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc. The answer lies in Old School Evil.
Tucked away in the Hidden Brook retirement home Max Malice, former head of an army of mutated dog-people, the Muttants, is forming a plan to escape. But to do that he will need his long-lost son, Jayce who, himself, is clinging to the edge of society. Homeless and living from one day to the next his life changes when one of his father’s henchmen makes an attempt on his life.
Malice sends his son on a mission to find the other proteges from his fellow retired supervillains. But in the process, Jayce discovers a world that he only thought existed in cartoons.
The only real downside I see to this book is that there is a cultural experience required to fully enjoy this book. And that is being a kid in the ’80s sitting cross-legged on the living room floor in your pajamas on a Saturday morning with a bowl of sugar cereal watching those action-adventure cartoons. The ones where bad guys are thwarted week after week by a team of heroes who constantly remind us about the Power of Friendship (awww)
Luckily, being a child during that time and place, I really dug this. And, frankly, anyone with even a tangential idea of the genre will be able to appreciate this story. But the subtle themes, references, and over-all style might be lost on someone who didn’t grow up with those glorified toy commercials. The author clearly has a deep love for them and it shows.
There are a couple of points where I feel like the plot gets away from the characters and their motivation becomes a little muddy. Especially in the middle, I found myself trying to remember what exactly they were trying to accomplish and why.
But, overall, I really enjoyed this. The over-the-top characters, the ludicrous technology, the inexplicable plot twists, the brooding villians, and the inept henchmen, all of it is captured wonderfully in this story about a young man coming to grips with who he is. And, not to give anything away, the big reveal at the end was really, really well done. Why did an entire generation grow up with heroes like G.I. Joe, Thundercats, He-Man, She-Ra, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc. The answer lies in Old School Evil.
July 10, 2019
Interesting
The story was intriguing, and weird. It took me a few chapters to understand the story but once I did it turned out pretty good.
The story was intriguing, and weird. It took me a few chapters to understand the story but once I did it turned out pretty good.
July 11, 2018
I received an ebook copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.
Pretty cool story! I enjoyed the arc overall and it definitely sets up an ongoing storyline. I was a little thrown at the beginning of the book as the plot is relayed in first person from both the protagonist and antagonist. It definitely made me connect more with both of the characters but it was confusing to not have any introduction there (maybe a location blurb between the sections would help?).
After the first third of the book, things really pick up and get moving. The ending of the book has some awesome fight scenes that get surprisingly gory! It definitely makes things feel more realistic and consequential. It was a little shocking but that played into the protagonists' POV more as he is definitely naive and views everything like a cartoon.
I did subtract a star for the spelling and grammatical errors that were sprinkled throughout. They became more frequent towards the end of the book also. I think I might notice those things more than most but they really take me out of the story.
Pretty cool story! I enjoyed the arc overall and it definitely sets up an ongoing storyline. I was a little thrown at the beginning of the book as the plot is relayed in first person from both the protagonist and antagonist. It definitely made me connect more with both of the characters but it was confusing to not have any introduction there (maybe a location blurb between the sections would help?).
After the first third of the book, things really pick up and get moving. The ending of the book has some awesome fight scenes that get surprisingly gory! It definitely makes things feel more realistic and consequential. It was a little shocking but that played into the protagonists' POV more as he is definitely naive and views everything like a cartoon.
I did subtract a star for the spelling and grammatical errors that were sprinkled throughout. They became more frequent towards the end of the book also. I think I might notice those things more than most but they really take me out of the story.
June 11, 2019
Wonderful Homage To My Childhood
As a middle-aged man who still watches cartoons, I loved the concept of this book! As I read and got to know the different characters, I could easily picture myself, sitting in the floor as a kid, eating my Cap’n Crunch and watching these on a Saturday morning. The names and backstories of all of the characters were very convincing, given the genre and story matter, and the ending is exactly what I would expect to segue into a sequel. I really hope Brian Cave has a follow up book ready to go. I want to know more of the further adventures of the Legacies.
As a middle-aged man who still watches cartoons, I loved the concept of this book! As I read and got to know the different characters, I could easily picture myself, sitting in the floor as a kid, eating my Cap’n Crunch and watching these on a Saturday morning. The names and backstories of all of the characters were very convincing, given the genre and story matter, and the ending is exactly what I would expect to segue into a sequel. I really hope Brian Cave has a follow up book ready to go. I want to know more of the further adventures of the Legacies.
October 20, 2019
Very fun book.
Exciting action/adventure that is intelligent without trying to be purposefully hard to read.
If you like superheroes, cartoons, or horror this is the one for you!
Exciting action/adventure that is intelligent without trying to be purposefully hard to read.
If you like superheroes, cartoons, or horror this is the one for you!
January 19, 2025
Readers who grew up during the 80s watching cartoons on Saturday mornings and weekdays after school will surely enjoy this action-packed good-guys-versus-bad-guys story full of thrills, spills, and chills. Lots of derring-do, lots of suspense, lots of monsters, lots of fun. The throwbacks and references are added bonus, together with an ever-increasing body count. Blending all these with more contemporary tropes such as "found family" and "friendship is magic" make this an eminently entertaining and satisfying read. Including an ending all queued up for a sequel, which this reader is decidedly looking forward to reading soon.
October 30, 2021
I won this from a Goodreads giveaway. I tried, I really did try to finish it, but, I had to quit this one. I made it to 18% on this kindle edition and finally gave up. I just could not get into this story. I was not interested in the characters or their struggles, despite the idea of this story being very one with potential. Life is too short to waste on books that are a struggle to read, even when waiting in a line or waiting room, when the only other option is to stare at strangers or the wall. I'd rather stare at the wall than read anymore of this.
February 11, 2022
when campy fun and gritty realism collide
Hard to pin down anything quite like it. It’s an homage to schlocky cartoon villainy, but tries to reconcile absurdity with realism, while not loosing the sense of fun. Aimed for an adult audience nostalgic for childhood heroes.
Hard to pin down anything quite like it. It’s an homage to schlocky cartoon villainy, but tries to reconcile absurdity with realism, while not loosing the sense of fun. Aimed for an adult audience nostalgic for childhood heroes.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews