It’s hard to be a hero when you're thrust into the world of villainy. Following the death of his estranged uncle, Charlie is left with what he believes to be a million-dollar parking garage company. To his shock, it is in fact a front for his Uncle's supervillain business. Following an attempt on his life, Charlie takes up the mantle. Through the help of his Uncle’s assistant, talking cats who happen to be in upper management, and sentient dolphins with a colorful vocabulary, he manages to stay afloat. All at once, Charlie needs to learn how to run a multi-billion dollar corporation, keep a strike from dismantling the company, and survive amongst the other supervillain leaders who are out for revenge. A sarcastic yet heartfelt story, I was engrossed from page one. Though a part of a criminal underworld, this group of characters is surprisingly down to earth and maybe not the villains one would expect. A story that touches upon grief, loneliness, and insecurity, Starter Villain will leave you laughing on one page and clutching your heartstrings on the next.
— KelsInheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place.
Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.
Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.
But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.
It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.
In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.