The League of Regrettable Superheroes: Half-Baked Heroes from Comic Book History Hardcover – June 2, 2015

Morris's "League of Regrettable Superheroes" is exploration of the flukes of the superhero genre, and this breaks things down into the nice explorations of vices and would-bes of the various comic book ages. Since the book focuses primarily on the super-heros with brief shelf-lives, you don't need to dig down into massive mythologies or character inconsistencies or revisions of character history or alternate universes. Or, not as much as in more standard and long-running superhero fair.Each character has, at least, a two page spread. A cover or panel is given as well as brief bio. Morris is not laugh at loud funny, but he is humorous without being snarky or pedantic. In the spirit of early comic books, there are few cute puns. The current break down is the Golden Age with 44 heroes; The Silver Age with 26 heroes; and The Modern Age with 30 heroes. The Golden Age has similar themes from comics publishers run amok, and the discussion actually gives you a insight into the early history of comics. The collapse of the "Bronze Age" and the "1980s-early 2000s" is probably a thematic mistake: the "Edgy" "adult" (teen vision of adult prurience and violence) and the bronze age attempt at more psychologically realistic and socially conscious heroes are actually quite different in their vices.One of the interesting things discussed in subtext of Morris' book is that not only are some of the more interesting superheroes more or less flops, but that superhero comics often go out of favor. For example, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Morris mentions that superheroes were often in serial movies in theaters, but that superhero comics declined in popularity very quickly thereafter. Conversely, the early 1990s were an unusual prolix and profitable time for comics, but it collapsed out from under the industry and basically only related properties keep the current industry afloat. Indeed, we live in an age where superhero comic properties dominate the movies and popular culture, but superhero comic books are on the wane. This is something Morris does not discuss directly but hints at in his erudition about the medium.The book is beautiful and well-laid out, the heroes range from hilarious to the vices of their age, and Morris shows his power as a subtle writer of pop culture and an academic of comics. In age of Geek and nerd dominance, this a refreshing reminder of its silliness.

A beautifully produced book filled with vintage material about superheroes who were destined to fail. After reading it I checked out the author's blog, and I must admit - Jon Morris is a pretty funny guy. However, this book is only 90% humor. There's a lot of relevance here as well, and every article on each of the poor unfortunate characters Jon showcases has been meticulously researched. Hence, the end result is a product filled with useful facts that can be read either encyclopedia style by selecting individual entries, or by adopting a more story-centric approach by starting from the Golden Age and working upwards through The Silver Age and into the Modern. Each hero's biography paints a complete picture of his/her history and a short analysis of why he/she may be deemed regrettable. The main character art of each entry is stunning, but the real highlight for me was the short one-page strips accompanying each superheroes' well-written history. The overall look and feel of the book exudes charm and is a true pleasure to read. Most of the weirdest and zaniest creations spotlighted came from The Golden Age, but there are a fair number of entries from other eras too. My favorite Golden Age mishaps featured within are, among others, Stardust the Super Wizard, Speed Centaur, Kangaroo Man, The Puppeteer, Fantomah, Bozo the Robot and Doctor Hormone. Oh, and how could I forget Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, the very first invisible superheroine? The Silver Age is also ripe for the picking, with entries like B'Wana Beast (Love him!) and the classic Legion of Super-Pets. For the Modern Age I need only utter a single name: Thunderbunny! But the list goes on and on, and each page is as entertaining as the next. A worthy read, and a bang-for-your-buck purchase indeed.

The League of Regrettable Superheroes by long-time comic blogger Jon Morris (Gone and Forgotten) is a guide to dozens of obscure and failed superhero concepts from the 30s to today.Even for a life-long fan like me there were many Golden and Silver Age characters I'd never heard of and some commentary on the characters' creators and backgrounds. For a lot of them I'd love to see them updated and brought back.Things got less interesting for me as they entered the modern age where I had at least some familiarity with most of the characters featured.The entries are short and keep to the point making this a good read for flights or commuting, you can basically pick it up anywhere without losing an overall plot.At times the book betrays its origins in the world of blogging with some snarky comments. And I found some of the reprinted comic pages were hard to see on my Kindly Paperwhite but these were just minor problems.It's a great read for anyone who loves the mad world of comics and superheroes.