Merciless returns to earth after a month on the moon to discover that the zombie apocalypse has overrun his home city. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, his beloved wife has been kidnapped by a rival supervillain who is challenging him to a showdown to decide which of them gets to be top dog in their town. And that’s just the opening chapter. A sorceress cult is looking to bring about the end of the world (and the zombie apocalypse suggests they are succeeding) and death (yes, the grim reaper herself) wants Merciless to come be her henchmen. And that’s still not everything that’s happening.
Whereas the first book was very much a supervillain versus superhero novel, this one is all about the black magic. There are zombies, sorcerers, death, a Cthulhu-like being, vampires, and need I go on? The series takes a dark turn in this novel, but it never loses its peculiar sense of humor. The only real question is how a bright guy like Merciless can still argue with a straight face that he’s a villain, not a hero.
C.T. Phipps’ knowledge of the superhero genre was quite impressive in the first book of this series. Now he dives in deep to the magical side of the genre, managing to both parody the medium while still producing an exciting plot with characters you love.