Overview

"In this age of economic downturn and global strife, when all that seemed powerful in the past has balked in the face of challenge, what we really need are heroes possessing powers so FATHOMABLE, so UNEXCEPTIONAL, so MERELY ADEQUATE, that they could only be deemed ""SUPERUSELESS."" Behold! The world's WORST and MOST POINTLESS superpowers have come: IN-FLIGHT FLIGHT: The ability to fly, but only while inside an airplane that's already flying. 13TH BULLET BULLETPROOF: The ability to deflect the 13th bullet that hits you. THE POWERPOINTER: The ability to turn any situation into a graph. FLAWGIC: The ability to have flawless logic when arguing with your girlfriend."

Full Product Details

9781402243479

Table of Contents

Reviews

I've been waiting ever so patiently for this book. Superuseless Superpowers is a collection of superpowers that would be funny if they weren't so very sad. The book is based on a super blog and is illustrated by the super Mark Todd (who has his own super new website by the way). As I read through the book, it occurred to me that I actually do have a superuseless superpower: I can get along with anyone on the phone, but I really don't like talking on the phone. My best friend has a nearly useless one: He can find his friends at the mall. What about you? Do you have a superuseless superpower? - Illustration Friday Inevitably, sometime in your life (at least once) someone will ask, If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Common answers are x-ray vision, invisibility, and mind control (my fave). Adolfo Alcala, Patrick Conlon, Jason Nitti, and Neel Williams have compiled a book of Super Useless Superpowers, really powerful stuff like telekinnearsis, which is the power to move Greg Kinnear with [one's] mind. Only one person has this power and Unfortunately Kinnear is the only thing she can move. So, you know...bummer. Perhaps you are familiar with Super Useless Superpowers from its creators' extremely popular blog, Superuseless (there you can learn about even more Super Useless Superpowers, some ripped from today's headlines, like The Sheening ). The superpowers are explained with faux ads and newspaper articles, illustrations (Art provided by Mark Todd mightily illustrates the awfulness of each superpower), and micro-stories (way shorter than short stories ). Super Useless Superpowers finds its humor in the absurd. The power of flight is diminished by the fact that it can only be used inside a plane; the ability to deflect bullets applies only to the thirteenth bullet that strikes the super-powered. Having super-human speed loses its luster when it only applies to running in place, and being Powerpointer with the ability to turn any situation into a graph won't make you the life of the party, even if the party is 99% boring. One superpower that is often wished for but actually useless (or counterproductive) is not included in Super Useless Superpowers, the ability to change the past. While it's a noble desire to want to cause Hitler's mother to be infertile, the result would probably be that the person who had the power to go back in the past and change things would actually eliminate the circumstances that led to his or her birth, thereby negating that person and the superpower (example: if I could go back in history and prevent World War II, I would never be born. In fact, I'd probably unboom the whole baby boom thing). Despite this one omission, Super Useless Superpowers is an extremely amusing, although somewhat useless, collection that will have readers analyzing other superpowers for flaws and inventing a few useless powers of their own. - Technorati.com The Superuseless Superpowers blog documents heroic powers that are so underwhelming, so uninspiring, so undesirable, that they can only be described as superuseless. There's the amazing abilities exhibited by 1987 Man, who with just a touch, turns any pair of jeans to acid wash. And the power of TeleKinnearsis, which allows a hero to move actor Greg Kinnear using only their mind. Or in-flight flight, which grants its bearer the ability to fly like a bird, but only within the confines of an airplane. The blog, written by Patrick Conlon, Jason Nitti, Neel Williams and Adolfo Alcala, has now been released as a book, with illustrations by Mark Todd. It's clever and funny and at just $12.99 is well worth your cash. I know about this book because to advertise its release, the publishers sent out one of the greatest press kits I've ever seen. It included a copy of the book, of course, but also a few superuseless promotional items, including a black highlighter pen, and this version of the Superuseless Superpowers e-book. I have no idea if it actually works, because I can't find a computer with an operational 5 1/4 inch floppy drive. But still -best e-book ever. - Forbes Blog Our Take: This fun new oddly-sized paperback is quite a treat. We're HUGE superhero and comic book fans here at the Legion, so we found this parody to be quite enjoyable. It features a bunch of useless superpowers. I particularly enjoyed the Were-Woof..a guy that turns into a cuddly little dog during a full moon. Great to have on your desk or to keep around and flip through. - Book Legion There are many more examples of Superuseless Superpowers featured in the book, which is a clever, fun and quick read. Comic book and superhero fans will likely appreciate the hapless heroes featured here, who will likely remind them of some of their more fortunate counterparts. In addition, fans of offbeat humor will likely appreciate the effort put forth here. One of the fascinating theories presented in the book attempts to correlate the emergence of these Superuseless Superpowers with the rising popularity of reality television. Enough said. - Pop Culture Guy This book is a great compilation of truly superuseless superpowers. As a person who loves comics and as I grew up thought how cool it would be to have superpowers, I found this book to be a humorous look at some of the powers that I would never want to have. Some of the powers were definitely funny, while others were ones that left you saying, really? Saying this though I was happy to have found this, and I did find it to be a fun book that I have already shared with other superhero fans! So if you are a fan of comics and superheroes, then this book is a great one to read! - Dad of Divas' Reviews

Our Take: This fun new oddly-sized paperback is quite a treat. We're HUGE superhero and comic book fans here at the Legion, so we found this parody to be quite enjoyable. It features a bunch of useless superpowers. I particularly enjoyed the Were-Woof..a guy that turns into a cuddly little dog during a full moon. Great to have on your desk or to keep around and flip through. - Book Legion

Our Take: This fun new oddly-sized paperback is quite a treat. We're HUGE superhero and comic book fans here at the Legion, so we found this parody to be quite enjoyable. It features a bunch of useless superpowers. I particularly enjoyed the Were-Woof..a guy that turns into a cuddly little dog during a full moon. Great to have on your desk or to keep around and flip through. - <strong><em> Book Legion</em> </strong>

Author Information

Adolfo Alcala, Patrick Conlon, Jason Nitti, and Neel Williams became friends while working at the same Madison Avenue advertising agency. Their blog superuseless.blogspot.com has been featured in Buzzfeed, Gizmodo, Reddit, Metafilter, Neatorama, and Gawker i09.

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