7 Super Books for Comics Lovers

What happens when a long-time villain decides he wants to switch sides? Well, besides doing hero stuff, he needs a rebrand. So, Rolland decides to hire Vanessa to give him a heroic makeover. Part of that package? Vanessa pretends to be Rolland’s public love interest. But as another supervillain tries Rolland’s last villainous nerve, Vanessa finds herself both in the crosshairs and actually falling for Rolland.

This book is so good that it won the Pulitzer Prize. Kavalier and Clay focuses on the titular Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay. As Hitler begins his invasion of Europe, these Jewish cousins find refuge in America and in creating comic books, all while trying to save enough money to bring their families over from Europe. Despite the success of their comics, though, life is much harder, particularly with their Jewish families brutalized across the ocean.

When you have a family to take care of, you gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills. For Evie, that means working as an assistant after an encounter with a notorious villain. While she’s getting used to severed heads and other villainous horrors, she’s also falling for her evil and hot boss. But something is amiss. Someone in the organization is a betrayer, and Evie is determined to root it out.

Anna’s job is pretty boring. All spreadsheets and data, even if it’s as a temp for villains. But after an encounter with a hero leaves her terribly injured, she gets laid off. She also starts to do what she does best with data. She soon discovers that the only real difference between heroes and villains is marketing. So she puts her boring talents to work, soon becoming the most in-demand villainous lieutenant in the business.

Charlie is a divorced substitute teacher. He lives alone with just a cat. His siblings want to sell the house he lives in. When Charlie’s uncle dies and leaves him the family business, it seems like a boon. Except the family business is supervillainy, complete with a volcano island lair. Oh, and Charlie’s uncle had enemies. Big, bad, super-rich supervillain enemies. Maybe if Charlie wants to survive, he needs to become the ultimate villain himself?

Jamie and Zoe both have gaps in their memories, but they also have powers. Jamie can read and erase memories. Handy for robbing banks to buy cat food. Zoe has super speed and strength, useful skills for delivering food and occasionally beating up bad guys. When they both attend a support group for memory loss, they find common ground despite their rivalry. They also realize that to find the secrets of their pasts, they might actually need each other.

Not strictly about superheroes, this series starter really captures the feel of so many great superhero team comics. Adelina has been cast out of her family after a blood plague. After all, the powers of those survivors are feared. Adelina finally finds a home with a group of other survivors, dubbed the Young Elites. But they’re more than just a group of survivors, they fight monsters together.