A weak volume focused more on life lessons than action or logic.
In this third episode, the Junior Dungeoneers plunge into the unmapped Abyss in a desperate bid to save their teachers, their renowned role model, and (supposedly) their world.
With seemingly little agenda beyond making sure that earnest points about the virtues of leadership, teamwork, kindness, trust, and forgiveness continue to be thoroughly hammered home, the authors follow 2023’s Dungeoneer Adventures: Wrath of the Exiles with a story arc involving a flurry of clashes with the Exiles (formerly met foes and academy dropouts) and random encounters with subterranean monsters. All of the above is related in a hybrid mix of uninspired text and humorous grayscale visuals. Driven by the disappearances of both idolized adventurer Shane Shandar and most of the Dungeon Academy’s faculty, human Coop Cooperson leads his multispecies Green Team to the rescue (with reformed bully Zeek Ghoulihan invited to tag along so he can prove his sincerity). They arrive just in time to destroy a dangerous Wishing Stone (which is supposed to destroy all the magic in the Land of Eem). In a scene that will take fans of The Lord of the Rings directly back to the Mines of Moria, the Green Team battle a monstrous villain on a crumbling stone bridge. The tale ends with a party back at the academy, and the young heroes’ parents arrive by train for joyous reunions.
A weak volume focused more on life lessons than action or logic. (Illustrated fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781665910736
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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