So You Want to Be a Super-Villain?

    (Epoch, 2001)
™ and © Epoch

If there’s a hoarier cliché than the mad scientist, it’s the mad super-villain. Rick Lundeen manages to make it work, though, with the tale of a mad super-villain of the inept kind in Peter Willis, aka The Tornado King.

Lundeen’s stylistic art involves exaggerated action, wild-eyed close-ups, and insane expressions, all to accentuate the idea that this guy is really crazy — and really bad at being a super-villain. He makes a to-do list that involves such items as shaving his eyebrows into menacing points and recording a cute answering machine message to throw people off the trail. His tornado power’s ineffectiveness indoors causes someone’s papers to go flying, making for the comic book’s funniest scene.

Suffice to say Willis doesn’t win the day, and The Tornado King mantle passes. It’s a shame, because it wouldn’t be so bad to see this guy fail spectacularly a few more times. Here’s hoping the original Tornado King returns sometime soon.

— Steve Horton
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist
#1


Cover Price: $1.95
1 copy available for $1.75 		Rick LundeenRick Lundeen