cover image Vordak the Incomprehensible: How to Grow Up and Rule the World

Vordak the Incomprehensible: How to Grow Up and Rule the World

Scott Seegert, illus. by John Martin, Egmont USA, $13.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-60684-013-9

Writing as the ultra-evil Vordak the Incomprehensible, Seegert offers a comical step-by-step guide to world domination. With a hyperbolically inflated self-image and no shortage of bathroom humor, Vordak guides readers through such topics as how to choose a costume (“the more flamboyant the better”), build a lair, and acquire enough minions to build a top-notch evil organization (“At times they can be difficult to control, but at their best they can be a relentless plague upon civilization”), all of which are paired with Martin’s appropriately cartoonish artwork. Seegert gives Vordak a voice so magnetic and absurd that readers, especially young male ones, are going to soak up his warped wisdom like a sponge and circulate it at recess, even as Vordak insults them with admonishments like, “You are just a sniveling, whiny little goober, after all.” No one is going to rule the world after reading Vordak’s farcical directives, but readers will have a grand time turning pages to see what outlandish thing he’ll say or suggest next, while perfecting their own villainous laughs. Muahahahaha! Ages 8–up. (Aug.)