In ‘Tournament of Supervillainy’ we return to the life of villain / hero / anti-hero Gary. Here he, and several others he knows, are recruited by Death to fight in a multiverse spanning battle to the death – the winner of which could save or destroy the multiverse. It’s basically a tried and true comic book event – the multiverse crisis that DC Comics loves so much – combined with the platform fighting games like Mortal Combat or street Fighter.
The multiverse aspect allows C T Phipps to get in a whole lot of pop culture jokes. There are worlds similar enough to many pop culture universes that he uses as fodder and fuel for his riffing on pop culture. There are characters (almost) straight out of all your favourite universes, allowing for characters to discuss the absurdities and eccentricities of each of those worlds.
And while the concept is a vehicle for violence and poking fun at the ‘multiverse ending event’, it is also a vehicle for getting Gary and associates to discuss their relationships and issues and work through their problems. It mixes the character moments and the pop culture and the action very effectively, making for a fun and exciting read.
This is a book highly linked into continuity. It’s very much about the fallout and relationship issues from the previous books. so while things wrapped in book 4, and in theory you could start fresh here, it’s probably not advisable.
Narration by Jeffrey Kafer is good. He provides voices, and action and emotion. He is clear, well paced and well produced. A good piece of narration.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.