112. Black Manta and the Octopus Army by Jane Mason

Black Manta and the Octopus Army by Jane Mason. Illustrated by Luciano Vecchio.  (Canada) - (US)
DC Super Villains

Pages: 54
Ages: 8+
Finished: Apr. 14, 2012
First Published: Jan. 1, 2012
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
Genre: children, early chapter book, superheroes
Rating: 4/5


First sentence: "Black Manta's red eyes glowed."

Publisher's Summary: "The deep-sea super-villain BLACK MANTA is out to destroy ATLANTIS once and for all! He’s engineered an army of evil octopi to crush the underwater city and destroy its heroic ruler, AQUAMAN. If the SEA KING can’t stop the underwater marauder and his squid soldiers, ATLANTIS could be lost again!"

Acquired: Received a review copy from Capstone Publishing.

Reason for Reading: We love the DC Super Heroes series and were excited to see this new companion series featuring the villains!

This is the third book in this series I've read now and my favourite.  I've also figured out that the main plot of these first six books in this series all centre around the villain finally coming up with a plan to get rid of their superhero arch-nemesis.  As we all know Black Manta has a very personal hatred for Aquaman which we actually get a glimpse of the backstory to in this volume.  A fun story with lots of villain self aggrandizing and gloating.  It's fun to watch this villain almost get away with his plan too, until the last minute when it backfires on him.  Plenty of action for those who love to hate the villains.