Title: E.V.I.L. Heroes Trade Paperback Publisher: Zenescope
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artist: Eric J, Sean Hill, Gregbo Watson, Christian “Crizam” Zamora
Colours: Marco Lesko
Letterer: Matt Krotzer
Cover Artist: Edgar Salazar & Edgar Delgado
Price: $19.99
Rating: 4 out 5 stars
Website: Zenescope.com
The superpowers belong to the bad guys in this fun twist on familiar superheroes
The world of E.V.I.L. Heroes is one where supervillains take over the planet. On a seemingly random day, a group of costumed super-powered beings appear. Instead of becoming super friends they begin to conquer the human race. Humanity’s last hope is to create a super team of their own to hopefully kill off these marvels. That team is, ironically enough, called E.V.I.L. and even though they are severely outmatched, they set off to save the world.
Joe Brusha’s writing of E.V.I.L. Heroes is fast-paced. Once you are buckled in, this roller coaster is at full throttle. I liked that the Brusha went all in on these characters. There are no “sacred lambs” and anyone can die. That leads to moments you don’t see too often and a real sense of danger, on both sides. The finale gave a nice explanation of the events and why they took place. I thought it was pretty unique.
While I liked the rapid pacing of the book, if I were to pick a fault with E.V.I.L. Heroes it would be that I wanted it to be longer. This title could have stretched easily to 10 or 12 issues and provided us more backstory on these bad guys. I would have like to have seen more of these characters, get a better sense of their personality, delve into their evil ways. The ending doesn’t really lend itself to a sequel or expansion, which is disappointing as I really dug this book and would have liked to have seen more of this universe.
Several artists contributed to this book but it all flowed. All those that contributed kept the story’s momentum going. The action sequences are exciting and aggressive. There is a lot of power at play and it really looks good. It was all seamlessly brought together.
I liked E.V.I.L. Heroes. I am a huge fan of taking established themes or characters and twisting them. Like Squadron Supreme or The Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 took the basic familiarities of the Justice League and switched things up. While this is by no means groundbreaking, it’s a fun ride to go on. Check out this trade and enjoy the experience.
E.V.I.L. Heroes is an exciting book and has a great time exploring recognizable superheroes as villains. You’ll have a tough time deciding to either root for the good guys or bad guys, but you’ll enjoy doing it.
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