I wanted The League of Regrettable Superheroes as soon as I saw the cover. I recognized Fantomah (see lower right corner) from her entry in misterkitty.org's stupid comics. The only other cover character I'd seen before was Doll Man, seen punching the 'S' in 'Superheroes'. The book turned out to be as much fun as I'd hoped. Some of the characters sound interesting, but many fall into the 'WHAT were they thinking??' category.

The superheroes and heroines are listed alphabetically within the three parts: the golden age of comics (1938-1949), the silver age (1950-1969), and the modern age.(1970-present). We usually get one image (mostly from a comic cover) and a page of information. I bought some of those silver and modern age regrettable comics in my youth, have a reprint of some Doll Man adventures, Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill Them All (which reprints all of the Fantomah adventures, as well as those of other Fletcher Hanks' characters), and the Whitman Invisible Scarlet O'Neil book from the 1940s. I have no trouble believing in the rest of the entries.

Here's a list, arranged as it is in the table of contents:

GOLDEN AGE: 711, The Black Dwarf, The Bouncer, Doctor Hormone, Doctor Vampire, Doll Man, Dynamite Thor, The Eye (also known as 'Detective Eye'), Fantomah, The Ghost Patrol, Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, Just 'N' Right, Lady Satan, Madam Fatal, Moon Girl, Mother Hubbard, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Nightmare and Sleepy, Pat Parker, War Nurse; Rainbow Boy, Speed Centaur, Spider Queen, and Zippo.

SILVER AGE: Bee-Man, Brain Boy, Brother Power the Geek, Captain Marvel (M. F. Enterprises), Dracula (Dell), The Fab Four (El, Hy, Crispy, and Polymer Polly), Fatman the Human Flying Saucer, Gunmaster and Bullet Boy, Jigsaw, Miracle Man (Super Hombre included in entry), Mr. Muscles, Nature Boy, Nemesis, The Peacemaker, The Sentinels (Helio, Mentalia, and Brute), and Spyman.

MODERN AGE: Adam-X - the X-treme, Holo-Man, Morlock 2001, The Outsiders (Doc Scary, Amazing Ronnie, Lizard Johnny, Mighty Mary, Hairy Larry the Wheeler Dealer, and Billy), Phoenix the Protector, Prez, Rom, Spaceknight; Skateman, Superman Jr.and Batman Jr., Thunderbunny, and U.S. 1.

The Regrettable Superheroes and heroines on the front cover, starting at top left: (some jungle girl type not in the book, possibly because this is an abridged edition), Fatman, The Eye, Dollman (by the title), Dr. Hormone, Brute and Mentalia of the Sentinels, and Fantomah.

Back cover: The Bouncer, Moon Girl, Doctor Vampire, Nightmare and Sleepy, Pat Parker, War Nurse; and Nemesis.

Note: If you do read this book, which I recommend you do, the entry for Dracula contains a regrettable pun. Dracula's alias is Aloysius Ulysses Card, or 'Al U. Card' for short. 'Card' is an old-fashioned word for someone who is funny or eccentric/weird, making that 'Al, you card. Feel free to groan. (At least that way, people were likely to conclude that he had a warped sense of humor instead of noticing that he'd spelled 'Dracula' backwards.) ( )