Mwhahahahahaha. The best arch-villains have really good laughs. All three of these middle grade series offer strong characters and enough action to please even the biggest superhero fan.
Archvillain, by Barry Lyga, has a know-it-all main character by the name of Kyle Camden, a boy who happens to be in the middle of a plasma storm when his arch-nemesis, Mighty Mike arrives. Is Mike a hero or villain? And does Kyle have any redeeming qualities? You may not find the answers in the first book of the series.
The
Joshua Dread series, by Lee Bacon, gets off to a rollicking start with this opener: "Our class got out of sixth period early the day my parents tried to flood the earth." As you can guess, Joshua has a slight problem: his parents are the Dread Duo intent on destroying the word. In addition, Joshua has just learned that he needs to learn how to control his power of spontaneous combustion. When you get introduced to the shallow Captain Justice character, you may find yourself rooting for Dread domination! Lee Bacon's web site is worth exploring, especially for his "
superherosupervillain-quiz".
In
The Dark Lord, by Jamie Thomson, a clever action story unfolds as a Dark Lord, trapped in the body of a human boy, mysteriously lands in a parking lot. When he is discovered by law enforcement, the Dark Lord tries to explain who he is, but is dismissed as a boy who is very confused, perhaps because of a concussion or amnesia. "Dirk" is then sent off to live with a foster family. He then needs to figure out a way to make it home to his planet.
Of the three books, Joshua Dread may develop the largest fan base (there are already two sequels available). However, any fan of superhero titles will have no problem devouring all three books!
Jan. 2017 update: I just visited Jamie Thomson's website and learned that there are now three
Dark Lord books!
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