I just read Gladstone's School for World Conquerors. It's a new series from Images written by Mark A. Smith with art by Armand Villavert.
It's a pretty clever series. At least it seems like it is, there's only been one issue. The title says it's all, it's about a school for wannabe supervillains.
Though it's about supervillains it's sort of lighthearted. We learn the supposed history of the school and meet the main characters. Throughout the first issue little hints are dropped that there may be more than it seems.
The students we are introduced to are: Kid Nefarious, the son of elite supervillains and the top of the class; Martian Jones, an alien telepath; Mummy Girl, the name says it all; Ghost girl, the name says it all; and the Skull Brother, two brothers who seem wise beyond their years.
This is one I'll probably keep following. Did anyone else give it a shot? I'd be happy to discuss it further.
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I ordered it but haven't gotten it yet. It did look good. There are other series that use a variation on that theme, notably PS 238, which my dealer has recommended (and to some extent, Tiny Titans).
I decided PS238 was so far along with so many characters that it would take a lot of TPBs to figure out what was going on. This one looked good enough that I figured I'd give it a shot from the beginning. You make it sound encouraging!
-- MSA
I enjoyed it. All the characters are pretty interesting and the back story of the school is a good one. Similiar to Teen Titans except these students really want to be villains. The little mysteries dropped about the school and the faculty make it appear that there's more going on in this universe when it comes to the battle between good and evil than we think.
Hopefully I haven't talked it up too much. Not the best comic in the world but certainly fun and a good set up for more stories to come.
Now I have read it. One thing I really dug was the character and costume design.I just had fun looking at all the intriguing costumes and wondering "what's that guy's powers?"
Some of it was brand new, some inspired by villians of the past. Sitting behind Mummy Girl, for example, was a dead-ringer for Triclops, one of Skeletor's henchmen. I really loved the look of the Skull Brothers.
The origin story of the school had a unique twist to it. In the Marvel Universe, it would have been the Stilt-Man School for World Conquerers, as run by Kang.
I wish there was a defined age on the characters. They're drawn like they're "adorable" 8-year-olds, but they don't act like it. Even just a mention of an age would have helped clarify it for me.
I'll definitely try it again.
Caught up with issue No. 2 now and it retains a nice sense of fun, but I was a little confused by the end. It's almost as if I am missing a page.And while it's fun and all, it does seem to be a bit of a retread of so many other school-based comics.
And why is the Red Octopus green?
I probably won't get issue No. 3. It's OK and all, but not adventurous enough for me. It really does just seem to be about some kids sitting on the sidelines and letting adults do things.
I read issue 3 last night. It was an improvement over issue 2. I think my problem is they are trying to create a whole universe of heroes and villains in one comic. From the title we think it's about the school but the last two issues have focused very little on the school itself. It seems to be more concerned with the overarching conspiracy of heroes and villains are actually in some sort of truce. We don't know why yet.
It seems like the creators are getting pretty ambitious with this title. There's a whole lot going on. This title could almost be broken into two where we see the students and another were we see the older villains. My guess though, is this will tie together eventually.
What seems to be the case is that years ago the Heroes and Villains arranged some sort of truce. However the villains children are in a school training to be villains and are totally unaware of this arrangement. The kids are all very enthusiastic about being villains, so this revelation will obviously be devistating to them. There is also a group of villains who are not happy with the truce and rebel against their own. They are thrown into a maximum security prison for villains, guarded by villains. The kids aren't supposed to know about the truce until they are 17 or 18.
My guess is the current students find out sooner than later. I've decided to follow through the first arc and decide if I want to keep with it.
Another issue I have with it is that there is a lot of heavy handed dialogue. I'm not being shallow here. The problem is there is a lot and it doesn't really tell us much. Reading the constant long winded dialogue gets annoying.
Read issue 5 earlier. This series has picked up and is firing on all cylinders for me right now. The first 3 issues were slow and a bit disjointed. We've now got a clear picture of the universe these characters dwell in and the focus is now clearly on the students.
I'm a little disapointed it took a few issues to pick up but now it's in the running to be one of my favorite comics. The first issue was good but 2 and 3 were just eh. So don't lose hope on this yet, it's actually good.
Geez, that's a heck of an investment on the readers part before it starts to pay off.
My initial surprise at how thick issue one was is an error. It s just printed on really thick
Pages, so it felt heavy. Page count was pretty average
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