I'm not sure how many people have contributed to the design of comic books over the years. Whatever their number, these talented men and women have spent countless hours wracking their brains to create new and interesting adversaries for our favorite intrepid heroes. When an idea sticks, the world gains an interesting and memorable badguy. When an idea fails, on the other hand, the results are often ridiculous (and sometimes hysterical).

When Villains Attack is a kind of tribute to the less inspiring super villains that have graced the pages of comic books through the years. There are seven super-powered bad guys presented here, and each is ridiculous in his or her own way. My favorite is probably Prawn the Destroyer. The text lavishes on mighty Prawn (who's real name is Lord Tyrant Alasander Prawn XXIII, High Psionicrat), going into some detail about the might of his space fleet and the incredible psionic powers he possesses. Prawn himself is a beefy PL 20, with an impressive list of mental abilities. The catch to all this is that Prawn, despite his towering mental statue...is a 6? shrimp, a tiny fish-man that lives in a floating glass bowl. I have images of Mr. Crab's nemesis Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants, except with terrible cosmic power.

Each character is given a lot of detail. In addition to game stats, the entries list the character's origin, personality, and fighting tactics. The book also gives advice for using the villains in your campaign. Finally, there is a single picture for each, which I think is very important in a game based on a visual medium like comic books. The art itself is only average as far as comic book art goes, but it serves its function.

In the past, I've been a little hard on The Le games for their often muddled writing. I'd be remiss, then, if I didn't mention that the author of When Villains attack does a great job. Typos (and just overall poor wording) are minimal, and the writer seems to know and appreciate his subject manner. When Villains Attack is an entertaining and interesting read.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: This is a fun little PDF, with a nice spread of villains who are all silly in different ways. From the unfortunately named Cleavland Steamer to the surprisingly powerful Flashlight, you're bound to find a C-list villain to your liking. The stats (though I didn't run much of the math) seem to jibe with the Mutants and Masterminds rules, and the character writeups contain enough detail and advice to easily drop any of these guys into your game. A pretty good mix of PLs means you're more likely to find someone you can use in your home campaign.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Obviously, if you aren't looking for goofy villains for your supers game, you aren't going to find this book to your liking. You could probably salvage a few of these guys without too much work, but doing so would require the removal of the traits that make them so much fun.

Also, I thought the PDF was rather short. There are 7 villains here, meaning you're paying about $0.50 per character. Not a bad deal, but it would have been nice to see more. As it is, the book seems to end kind of abruptly.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Le Games gives B-team villains their due in When Villians Attack?, the company's first foray into the Mutants and Mastermind setting.

When Villains Attack is a 29-page book detailing seven villains not good enough to be on the top tier of villainy, but more or less likely to appear as minor nuisances to the typical group. Despite their low ranking on the totem poll, Le Games manages to make each character somewhat attractive (and cheesy) enough as villains to maintain a weak B villain spot in your campaign.

For the Gamemaster:

Why is that a gamemaster can spend several days or weeks crafting the most treacherous villain, and then spend a few minutes to a hour throwing together henchmen and minions. When Villians Attack is for us???err??? I mean you. Each of the villains is flavorful enough to be easily introduced and role played in a light hearted campaign, though none of them can be used for anything more than comic relief between major encounters. Each villain also includes a comprehensive origin, tactics and information on how to use them. Though the book says that all the characters can be tailored to fit into any type of superhero campaign with little effort, I fail to see how in the world I can get Gunbunny into my New Gotham Campaign. Luckily, all of them are not on the heavier side of corny. The Cleveland Steamer and The Sloth are pretty interesting villains. The Cleveland Steamer can use his steam transformation abilities to wreck havoc inside of a heroes base of operations. The Sloth can be used as a traditional animal/human hybrid minion.

The Iron Word

When Villians Attack is a humorous take at old Silver Age C tier villains. Though small at only 7 villians, it is an adequate buy for a campaign set in a world pre-Crisis setting. You might even be able to fit some of these into a more modern setting, if you can bleach the characters of the corny names.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The concept is great and the flavor is typical early 4-color shenanigans. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The names are a bit too cheesy for my tastes. There also should be a couple more villians for the price<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br><BR>[THIS REVIEW WAS EDITED]<BR>