500 Comic Book Villains

Barron's
ISBN 0764129082

$18.95 U.S/ $27.50 Can.
http://www.barronseduc.com

There’s a lot of bad folks in the world. Gunslingers, mutants, world conquerors, psychotic madmen and plain old weirdo’s. And that is just on the 5 O’clock news. In the Comics they are almost as bad as the real thing.

From Lex Luthor to Pruneface, this little gem tries to list the best of the worst.  Most of us know why Lex Luthor originally hated Superman; but do you know how the Joker came to be? Or who he was modeled after? I do, cause I read the original stories (reprinted, courtesy of DC Comics in numerous editions) but now I have a bit more history from this little book, 500 Comic Book Villains.
Ming the Merciless, the  Green Goblin, over 400 more of the characters we love to hate, the ones that make Comics fun, the villains are looked at just an open eye, and tried to give respect to.

500 Comic Book Villains  was written for us, the comic book collector; the geeks and nerds of the world who actually care about this sort of stuff. But it is also done with a candor and open-mindedness that makes it an invaluable resource for editors, writers and trivia buffs.

Touching on King Arthur’s legends to old time radio shows and moves, this tome is a concise, easy to read and follow encyclopedia of villainy, a cornucopia of evil doer’s and deeds, that looks deeply at the most savage of being, the bully, the killer, the thief, the strong armed bandit, as well as the psycho  madman, mutant and world conqueror, and shows that despite their sometimes superior weapons, or perhaps greater mind, they are always beaten, and that it is the Hero who rises at the end, to prove again that Truth and Justice live.

With more then 300 color pictures, and reproductions of classic Comic book covers and pages, the reader will find this to be a handy reference volume, a treasury of fun and knowledge.