Hi, Miss Julie

(Villain is a hard word to spell. I keep wanting to put the “i” somewhere else)

Anyway, in this post Barry talks a bit about favorite archvillains, in honor of his new project, Archvillain, a new series he’s writing for middle-grade readers.**

The question I posed was:

One of your upcoming projects is Archvillain, wherein a 12-year-old kid who gets superpowers ends up being a supervillain instead of a superhero, which I think is a great twist. Do you have any favorite super-villains or anti-heroes, either fictional or real?

Barry’s answer:

Well, in terms of supervillains, I would have to say that I always liked Lex Luthor, just because he was the one guy who tried to outthink Superman AND actually had a decent shot at doing it. I also liked the supervillain Darkseid, before he became so egregiously overused. Oh, and Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash. The Flash was my favorite super-hero as a kid, so I liked Professor Zoom, who was basically a villain with the same powers who hailed from the future and therefore always had all kinds of futuristic nastiness up his sleeve.

In case you weren’t aware, Barry is a comic book fan, and one of his future projects is actually a graphic novel (and comics and graphic novels are actually somewhat of a trope in his other works, especially the two Fanboy/Gothgirl books).

I’m very Alice-like in that I heartily approve of books with pictures. Not every book needs pictures, of course, but if they are done well they can really add something to the story without a lot of fuss and bother.

In our next installment, there will a discussion of sports fandom and the giving and getting of AWESOME STUFF.

*Which I did in my email to Barry. How embarrassing.

**Since this new character is going to be somewhat of an anti-hero***, I am obligated to suggest that everyone, including Barry, consider reading my favorite anti-hero novel of all time, Arslan by MJ Engh. Imagine if Darth Vader were 100 times more cruel, and took over a small town in Illinois, with a high school as his base for his military exploits. It’s seriously good, and you should read it now, because once you’re done inhabiting its dark, depressing world, the spring will seem twice as sweet to you.

***As an English major (which is a state of mind as much as it is a course of college study), I am obligated to trot out such literary terms on every possible occasion. I can’t wait until I get a reason to use the term LIMINAL SPACE which is my favorite, OMG.