As the author of the Supervillainy Saga, I absolutely love prose superhero novels. It’s a market that I managed to get in on the ground floor before the MCU managed to make it explode. There’s a benefit to superhero novels that aren’t often brought up and it’s the fact that the stories can have a beginning, middle, and end in a way that larger named franchised ones don’t. The rules of each supervillain world can also be dictated by the author as well, emphasizing or changing the rules so it may be a magical or technology-based world.
Here are my favorite superhero novels that I’ve enjoyed and things that have served as inspirations to my own work. I’ve tried to keep a balance of traditional and indie published works.
10] Villains Don’t Date Heroes by Mia Archer 
Blurb: Night Terror. The greatest villain Starlight City has ever known. The greatest supervillain the world has ever seen. She rules her city with an iron fist, and there are no new worlds to conquer.
Needless to say life is pretty damn boring.
All that changes when she decides to shake things up by robbing a bank the old fashioned way and runs into the city’s newest hero: Fialux. Flying Fialux. Invulnerable Fialux. Super strong Fialux. Beautiful Fialux?
Night Terror has a new archenemy who might just be able to defeat her, but even more terrifying are the confusing feelings this upstart heroine has ignited. She doesn’t like heroes like that. She definitely doesn’t like girls like that. Right? Only she can’t deny the flutter she feels whenever she thinks of Starlight City’s newest heroine!
Review: This is a novel that was on and off this list multiple times. Basically, I couldn’t decide if I liked it or really, really liked it. Finally, I decided on the latter but it’s an acquired taste. It’s a lesbian superhero romance about the local Lex Luthor equivalent Night Terror falling for the Super Girl-esque new hero in town. It has a very Megamind-esque feel and I haven’t checked out any of the sequels but I had a lot of fun with this.
9] The Roach by Rhett C. Bruno
Blurb: A dark journey into the mind of a disabled vigilante, clawing his way out of despair to stop a killer and protect his legacy.
Being a hero isn’t about saving people… It’s about surviving yourself…
Reese Roberts was the guardian of Iron City. Its fearless protector. The only one willing to do whatever it takes… until he was shot on the streets and left paralyzed from the waist down.
Now, the vigilante known as the Roach has disappeared. Faded into legend.
It’s been years since Reese could take on crime and clean up the streets. He’s a shriveled old drunk, living like a hermit and waiting for his life to end. All that’s left to do is wallow in the mistakes that led him here. To wonder, if he went too far.
But when a copycat steals his suit and takes justice into his own hands, a new killer emerges, leaving brutal messages behind. He wants to eliminate the Roach for good this time.
It’s time for Reese to reemerge from his shell and fight back. Who else can stop the flurry of killings? Definitely not the corrupt police department. Iron City needs the Roach again. Only, this time, he’ll need to save it without his legs.
Review: On the opposite end of the spectrum from Villains Don’t Date Heroes is The Roach. Reese Roberts was once the Batman-esque protector of Iron City. Except he was a lot meaner and nastier than Batman, barring the Tim Burton and Frank Miller ones. Still, he protected the innocent up until he was paralyzed from the waist down. It’s a fascinating story of disability, struggle, and old fashioned superheroism with an edge. Very dark but very enjoyable.
8] Broken Nights by Matthew Davenport
Blurb: How do you defend your city from itself?
How do you fight an enemy that knows your secrets and can predict your moves?
In the wake of their mother’s death, Jason and Amy Night tried to get on with their lives. While Amy buried herself in her work and taking care of their ailing father, Jason took another path.
He donned a mask and became the protector of Darden Valley. He became The Guardian.
When Darden Valley comes under attack from more than just crooks and thugs, the siblings will have to lean on each other to protect their family and defend their city.
Does the Darden Valley Guardian have what it takes to protect his city while his family is under attack?
Review: What if Batman didn’t have any money? That’s the easy way to describe the adventures of the Darden Valley Guardian. As a hobby shop owner with his computer whiz sister, he opens the story trying to catch some thieves in his crime-ridden hometown only to fall off a building. He gets better but the story has a nice “Heroes meets Batman” feel that I think makes it one of the most enjoyable stories on this list. I think people looking for an easy and entertaining read should pick this one up.
7] Confessions of a D-List Supervillain by Jim Bernheimer
Blurb: “Being a supervillain means never having to say you’re sorry … Unless it’s to the judge or the parole board. Even then, you don’t really have to. It’s not like it’s going to change the outcome or anything.”
Those are the words of Calvin Matthew Stringel, better known as Mechani-Cal. He’s a sarcastic, down on his luck armored villain. Follow his exploits as he gets swept up in a world domination scheme gone wrong and ends up working for this weak willed, mercy loving heroes. Immerse yourself in his epic battles and see what it’s like to be an outsider looking in at a world that few have ever experienced.
Climb into Cal’s battlesuit and join him on his journey. Will he avoid selling out his principles for a paycheck and a pardon? Can he resist the camaraderie of being on a super team? Does he fall prey to the ample charms of the beautiful Olympian Aphrodite? How will he survive the jealous schemes of Ultraweapon, who wears armor so powerful it makes Cal’s look like a museum piece?
Review: I actually belonged to the same writing group as Jim Bernheimer at Permuted Press’ old website. The two of us wrote our supervillain novels simultaneously and he helped give me a leg up to release The Rules of Supervillainy. Confessions of a D-List Supervillainy is the story of Cal Stringel a.k.a Mechani-Cal. He’s basically the kind of guy Spiderman beats up in the opening of a comic before going to fight his real enemies. Cal ends up unwittingly saving the world in the first book but has a flashback in the second (and superior) Origins of a D-List Supervillain. So far, I’ve enjoyed all four of the novels, though.
6] The Sidekicks Initiative by Barry Hutchinson
Blurb: Mostly powerless. Completely clueless.
Once, they stood next to justice. Now they’re standing up for it…
When sworn protectors of Earth, the Justice Platoon, are all horribly killed, their former arch-enemies come crawling out of the woodwork. Outnumbered, outgunned, and out of options, the US Government has no choice but to activate the Sidekicks Initiative, dragging the Platoon’s middle-aged ex-sidekicks out of retirement.
Now these three reluctant, out of shape former child-wonders must work together to stop the rising tide of supervillainy, avenge their former mentors’ deaths, and bring the world back from the brink of destruction.
Assuming they don’t kill each other first.
Featuring anaphylactic shockwaves, unexpected hippos, and an aggressive man shouting at butterflies, The Sidekicks Initiative is the first book in the action-packed new series from internationally bestselling Space Team author, Barry J. Hutchison.
Review: The greatest heroes in the world have all been killed, ala Invincible, and that leaves these guys. It’s a hilarious comedy by a guy who isn’t afraid to make his characters look ridiculous but doesn’t lose the heart of the story despite it. I have been a big fan of Barry Hutchison’s other works but this is something much closer to my typical reading habits. Besides, who doesn’t love a plucky band of misfits rising to the occasion?
5] The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente
Blurb: From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a ferocious riff on the women in superhero comics.
The Refrigerator Monologues is a collection of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress.
In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales and these six women have their own stories to share.
Review: The Refrigerator Monologues is a book that makes a controversial opinion: women are not always treated great in comic books. Shocking, I know. It’s a reference to Gail Simone and her “Women in Refrigerators” work based on Alex DeWitt, the poor Mary Jane-esque girlfriend of Kyle Rayner. It is a collection of short stories that each talk about a version of a famous superheroine or villain as well as how poorly they were treated by their narratives. This book isn’t for everyone but it is fascinating to me.
4] Red and Gold by Nancy O’Toole
Blurb: From super fangirl to superhero.
3] Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne
Blurb: A superhero space opera for grownups.
For fans of Invincible and Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
If Thor and Harry Dresden combined in a transporter accident.
The il’Drach have conquered half a galaxy behind the civilization-ending Powers of their mixed-species children.
Half-human Rohan, exhausted by a decade fighting for their Empire, has paid a secret and terrible price for his freedom.
Now retired, he strives to live a quiet life towing starships for the space station Wistful.
His most pressing problems are finding the perfect cup of coffee and talking to a gorgeous shuttle tech without tripping over his own tongue.
A nearby, long-dormant wormhole is opened by a shipful of scared, angry refugees, and the many eyes of the Empire focus uncomfortably on Wistful.
As scientists, spies, and assassins converge, reverting to the monster the Empire created is the surest way to protect his friends. And the surest way to lose them.
Review: Wistful Ascending is an interesting take on superhero space opera ala the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Green Lantern Corps. Rohan is a South Asian half-Asian human-hybrid that is from a future where an alien empire seeded Earth with them. Many of them became superheroes and others became soldiers for the Empire. Now he’s a starship tower. The book swerves from superhero to “life in space” many times but this makes it an interesting hybrid. It also has a bunch of talking bears and that’s always good.
2] Andrew Vernon and the Corporation for Ultrahuman Protection by Alexander C. Kane
Blurb: Andrea Vernon always thought she would spend her life living in Paris writing thought-provoking historical novels all day and sipping wine on the Seine all night. But the reality is she’s drowning in debt, has no prospects, and is forced to move back to Queens, where her parents remind her daily that they are very interested in grandchildren.
Then, one morning, she is kidnapped, interviewed, and hired as an administrative assistant by the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection. Superheroes for hire, using their powers for good. What could possibly go wrong?
Lots.
Her coworkers may be able to shoot lightning out of their hands or have skin made of diamonds, but they refuse to learn how to use the company’s database. She has a swell hook-up buddy relationship with The Big Axe, but he’s pushing to go exclusive. Then there’s the small matter of a giant alien space egg hovering over Yankee Stadium, threatening civilization as we know it.
Will Andrea find contentment in office drudgery? Can she make a life together with a guy who’s eight feet tall and never puts down his axe? And will she ever figure out how her boss likes her coffee?
Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection marks the debut of a super-funny new voice in fiction.
Review: Andrea Vernon is a Haitian American with a love of travel and an inability to keep a job. So, it comes as a great shock when she ends up semi-voluntarily recruited to be a secretary for the world’s largest private superhero corporation. Developing a relationship with one of the superheroes, Andrea soon finds herself swept in a variety of insane and hilarious but no less life-threatening situations. I enjoyed all three of these books on audiobook format and recommend them that way for their fantastic narration.
1] Wild Cards by George R.R. Martin
Blurb: Back in print after a decade, expanded with new original material, this is the first volume of George R. R. Martin’s Wild cards shared-world series
There is a secret history of the world—a history in which an alien virus struck the Earth in the aftermath of World War II, endowing a handful of survivors with extraordinary powers. Some were called Aces—those with superhuman mental and physical abilities. Others were termed Jokers—cursed with bizarre mental or physical disabilities. Some turned their talents to the service of humanity. Others used their powers for evil. Wild Cards is their story.
Originally published in 1987, Wild Cards I includes powerful tales by Roger Zelazny, Walter Jon Williams, Howard Waldrop, Lewis Shiner, and George R. R. Martin himself. And this new, expanded edition contains further original tales set at the beginning of the Wild Cards universe, by eminent new writers like Hugo–winner David Levine, noted screenwriter and novelist Michael Cassutt, and New York Times bestseller Carrie Vaughn.
Review: It’s less that Wildcards is George R.R. Martin’s work and more it is his playground that he decided to open to other authors. It feels very heavily like a tabletop gaming setting and that’s because, no shit, it started as George R.R. Martin’s homegame where he served as the Gamemaster. It’s not quite a superhero story, even though superheroes certainly exist, and more like the X-men or Heroes. An alien virus has hit the Earth and transformed a small chunk of humanity into superhumans. It plays heavily into the LGBTA analogy, especially the late 1970s and early 1980s when it was far more underground as well as undergoing the collective horror of AIDS. Short version being most people who get the Wild Cards virus die (“Black Cards”), most people after that are deformed into Grant Morrison-looking mutants (“Jokers”), some get really crappy powers like My Hero Academia’s majority (“Deuces”), and a final group get actual superpowers with no downsides (“Aces”).
The original stories are the best but have a lot of sexism, edgy humor, cynicism, and “Oh, aren’t we edgy” ala the Boys. Which may be part of the appeal because of George R.R. Martin. They also are grandfathered in as being written when a lot of the ideas in Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns were new. Those wanting a softer read may prefer starting with Inside Straight, which isn’t as good IMHO but is less soul crushing.
Additional Recommendations: Almost Infamous by Matt Carter, Caped by Darius Brasher, The Chronicles of Fid by David H. Reiss, Full Metal Superhero by Jeffrey F. Haskell, Gray Widow’s Walk by Dan Jolley, Doctor Anarchy’s Rules for World Domination by Nelson Chereta, Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn, Superheroes Anonymous by Lexie Dunne, Super by Lindsey Ernie, The Vilification of Aqua Marine by Megan Mackie
This list is genuinely horrible. Not because anything in it is bad, but because it threatens to put more stuff on my “To Read” pile. Why do you do this to me???
Obviously, the “genuinely horrible” part is a joke. I’m surprised “Villains Don’t Date Heroes” is calling to me given that I generally don’t go for romance stories. “Broken Nights” and “Red and Black” look really good. I prefer my superhero novels to be played straight, and I like teen heroes (Dawn is 20, which is close enough) that are in over their heads.
Thanks for this list. I’ll have to keep some of these books in mind.
–TienSwitch