Shannon Wheeler, the person behind the much beloved Too Much Coffee Man comics, is back with a collection of stories in the one shot entitled Astounding Villain House. A collection of short stories from Dark Horse Presents based on bizarre, loser, and crazy criminals and their misadventures. But is it really worth the time and money?

Official Description from DARK HORSE:
From the mind of Best Humor Publication Eisner winner Shannon Wheeler come four hysterical tales of failed bank robberies, bad dates, doomed team-ups, and ruined empires! Introducing a new cast of lovable loser super villains, Wheeler reveals what evil-and laugh-out-loud pathos-lurks within the walls of the Villain House! Collecting all four hilarious stories from Dark Horse Presents!

Is it worth it? If you enjoy Wheeler sense of humor with Too Much Coffee Man, then this is probably right up your ally. For me, I could personally take it or leave it and in my case mostly leave it. Even with all the bizarre characters like, Squid, Dr. Gloom, Fat Joe, Volcano and Flamer it falls short of what I enjoy from a comedic comic. While I’m sure many find this hilarious, I found it more tedious than anything and honestly was just trying to make it through to the end. Which for me was the best part.

Wheeler has comedic chops but this collection is uneven, short of witty humor and deals more with bumbling idiots for the majority of humor and that just didn’t get it for me. Maybe I just don’t get it and I’m sure fans of Wheeler will let me know, after all Wheeler is an Eisner winner but I couldn’t get through this book fast enough. The stories end abruptly and on weird beats which made each ending fall flat and hardly amusing.

Again, I may be the minority and I just don’t get it, and you’re probably right, but unless you are familiar with Wheeler’s work and understand where it’s humor is derived I highly suggest moving on to something else. For fans of Too Much Coffee Man it’ll get high marks from me not so much. What I find “astounding” is that anyone finds Astounding Villain House remotely amusing. Pass.

1/5