The best superhero books not from Marvel or DC

Why am I passionate about this?

Hi, my name is CT Phipps, and I am a crazy nerd from Ashland, Ky. I'm married with two dogs and love superheroes. I mean love. I used to wallpaper my bedroom wall with Spider-Man comics in their polybags. I've been a lifelong superhero fan and just love all the melodrama, hilarity, and weird science as well as magic that are the undercurrents of the genre. I've never lost my love of the characters and their stories, so when the MCU first came out, I ended up writing this book as well as its sequels. I’ve also written a bunch of other humorous sci-fi/fantasy books but this is the series closest to my heart.


I wrote...

The Rules of Supervillainy

By C.T. Phipps,

Book cover of The Rules of Supervillainy

What is my book about?

“Why save the world when you can rule it?”

Ever since Gary Karkofsky was a child, all he’s ever wanted to be a supervillain. He finally gets his chance when he receives the magical cloak of Falconcrest City’s recently deceased hero: The Nightwalker. Gary isn’t cut out for villainy, though, and soon finds himself up against the city’s worst villains as his wife encourages him to follow his better nature. However, he’s getting coaching from his ex-girlfriend, who’s become a professional henchwench since they broke up, and a supervillain who once terrified the world with his demonic wrestling! Will Gary be a hero, villain, or both? Either way he will be Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM!

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Forging Hephaestus

C.T. Phipps Why did I love this book?

Forging Hephaestus is a fantastic book about a tenuous treaty between superheroes and villains in a four-color world.

Hephaestus AKA Tori Rivas is a new supervillain and is learning the ropes from the most powerful one of them all, Fornax. Fornax is a lot nicer guy than you'd expect from the most terrifying of all villains, which shows this world is a lot more complicated than it seems.

I love the complexity, deep characterization, and thickness of this book. It’s over six hundred pages and full of fantastic details about a complicated but believable superhero world. By the end, I wanted to read a dozen more giant-sized volumes.

By Drew Hayes,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Forging Hephaestus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Drew Hayes, author of Super Powereds and Fred, the Vampire Accountant, comes a series set in a new world of capes, cowls, and superheroes.

Gifted with metahuman powers in a world full of capes and villains, Tori Rivas kept away from the limelight, preferring to work as a thief in the shadows. But when she’s captured trying to rob a vault that belongs to a secret guild of villains, she’s offered a hard choice: prove she has what it takes to join them or be eliminated.

Apprenticed to one of the world’s most powerful (and supposedly dead) villains, she…


Book cover of Dreadnought

C.T. Phipps Why did I love this book?

Dreadnought is a fantastic story about a young trans girl who inherits the powers of the most powerful superhero in the world.

Like Captain Marvel, it bestows upon her the looks of her idealized form. Unfortunately, this goes over like a ton of bricks with her family that she hadn't revealed herself to. The coming-of-age drama doesn't take a back seat to the superheroics, though, and I absolutely love the characters created by the author. 

By April Daniels,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Dreadnought as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An action-packed series-starter perfect for fans of The Heroine Complex and Not Your Sidekick.

"I didn't know how much I needed this brave, thrilling book until it rocked my world. Dreadnought is the superhero adventure we all need right now."-Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world's greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she's transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to…


Book cover of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain

C.T. Phipps Why did I love this book?

Richard Roberts creates a fantastic YA world where villains and heroes, again, have a treaty in the city of Los Angeles.

It's a treaty about to be broken by a bunch of adorable middle schoolers who get wrongfully accused of being supervillains before deciding to roll with it. All of them possess powers from their superhero and supervillain parents, so they have better qualifications than a lot of adult villains.

It's cute, fun, and just plain enjoyable from start to end. All hail the Inscrutable Machine and its leader, Bad Penny!

By Richard Roberts,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She's got superhero parents. She's got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets even she doesn't understand. She has two super-powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear. In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero's sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She's good at it. Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shapeshifters and ghosts,…


Book cover of Andrea Vernon and the Superhero-Industrial Complex

C.T. Phipps Why did I love this book?

Sometimes you want your heroes to be serious and sometimes you want them to be wacky.

Andrea Vernon is a series that goes running toward wackiness then sails right past it. The story of a secretary at a private military contractor that specializes in goofy, ridiculous, and terrifying effective superheroes, this is one of the most fun novels I've enjoyed in years.

Andrea is a delightful Lois Lane figure who is stuck being the only normal person in the weirdest office in the world. It reminded me of the old Damage Control comics. 

By Alexander C. Kane,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Andrea Vernon and the Superhero-Industrial Complex as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Back by popular demand! The further, fearsome, and funny adventures of Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - written by Alexander C. Kane and performed by Bahni Turpin, 2018 Audie Award winner for Best Female Narrator.

More than a year after she helped save the world from the Sparnaxian invasion, Andrea Vernon is in a good place. Her boss is giving her greater responsibility and she's getting to travel a lot (although her fill-in is hopeless at making coffee); things could be getting even more serious with her 8' 4” superhero boyfriend, The Big Axe; and she has…


Book cover of Ex-Heroes

C.T. Phipps Why did I love this book?

Superheroes and zombies seem like a terrible combination, but Peter Clines makes a fascinating story of zombies destroying the Earth but for a collection of superhero guarded survivors.

It's a bit like The Walking Dead combined with the Justice League, though the power level of the people involved is closer to Marvel's street level. The first book has some crass jokes that get dropped from the sequels but not enough that I didn't enjoy it. I have to say my favorite characters are Saint George (a Superman analog) and Stealth (a female Batman).

By Peter Clines,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Ex-Heroes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book One in the EX Series

The Mighty Dragon. Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap.

They were superheroes fighting to make Los Angeles a better place.

Then the plague of living death spread. Billions died, civilization fell, and the City of Angels was left a desolate zombie wasteland.

But the ex-humans aren't the only threats the heroes face. Another group is amassing power . . . led by an enemy with the most terrifying ability of all.


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The Dreadwater Gate

By Lisa Cassidy,

Book cover of The Dreadwater Gate

Lisa Cassidy Author Of The Nameless Throne

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Book nerd Fantasy lover Coffee snob

Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Born Nameless. Raised in ice and snow. Destined to rule.

Arya Nameless has sidestepped her destiny in favour of joining House Ravenstrike and helping Thiara Ravenstrike become High Warlord of Dunidaen. First, Arya must ensure that Thiara’s only son, Rorin, succeeds in running the Dreadwater Gate into Khadini, a deadly rite of passage that none have survived for decades. If they triumph, Arya will be named general of Ravenstrike’s army and land a political blow against their powerful adversary, Warlord Mathas Crowtalon.

Yet Khadini holds challenges far beyond what they expected. And while Arya contends with wild jungles, fierce enemy warriors, and potential new allies, the Nightstalker continues to seek her with relentless intensity. The monsters hunting her wield a dark magic she has no way of countering. Survival relies on staying hidden, secret.

Yet, when Arya’s wyvern calls, the time for hiding is over. 

Because destiny cannot be ignored forever.

The Dreadwater Gate

By Lisa Cassidy,

What is this book about?

Born Nameless. Raised in ice and snow. Destined to rule.


Arya Nameless has sidestepped her destiny in favour of joining House Ravenstrike and helping Thiara Ravenstrike become High Warlord of Dunidaen. First, Arya must ensure that Thiara's only son, Rorin, succeeds in running the Dreadwater Gate into Khadini, a deadly rite of passage that none have survived for decades. If they triumph, Arya will be named general of Ravenstrike's army and land a political blow against their powerful adversary, Warlord Mathas Crowtalon.


Yet Khadini holds challenges far beyond what they expected. And while Arya contends with wild jungles, fierce enemy…


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