500 Comicbook Villains

by Mike Conroy, Roy Thomas (Foreword)

Here come the heels and hoodlums! It's an entertaining rogues' review, starring Batman's Joker, Dick Tracy's Flattop and Pruneface, Flash Gordon's Ming the Merciless, Spider-Man's Green Goblin, and hundreds more villains connoisseurs of comics have always loved to hate. Written especially for comic book collectors and nostalgia buffs, 500 Comic Book Villains is a chronicle of fictional wickedness that also touches on Arthurian legend and old-time radio and movies, in addition to the comics. It's an encyclopedia of evildoers that lists and profiles the major recurring villains who for generations have lurked in countless comic book illustrations, flaunting the iniquity that is always vanquished at story's end by heroes who represent truth, justice, law, order, and the American way. This terrific collection, compiled by comic book historian Mike Conroy, serves as a fine companion volume to his recently published 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes, also available from Barron's. More than 300 color illustrations include reproductions of comic book covers and pages. Readers will also find a handy index and a bibliography.

Genres: Nonfiction

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

A waste of paper, glue, ink, and money. Paging through, this seemed to be an encyclopedic approach to comic book villains, but the author made finding the information as difficult as possible. The organization, which divides male and female culprits, aliens, monsters, and such, is useless. Simple alphabetizing would make the book easier to use. Most entries are surprisingly uninformative. Because so many (most?) antagonists appear in comics multiple times, a bibliographical list with each entry would have been invaluable to researchers. Facts and appearances are left out, making the missing bibliographical listings even more necessary. These things alone make the book virtually useless for researchers. The prose is occasionally obscure, the illustrative choices inexplicable, and most of the spotlights and features (longer looks at villains or villain types) promise less than they deliver. There is an excellent reference book to be written on this subject. This is not it.

[Brian Callahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would have been better with even more illustrations especially of the lesser known villains (i.e. non-Marvel or DC).