Supa satisfying.
When Dog Man accompanies Chief and Nurse Lady on a date, it kicks off a series of events that find the doughty hero deep in the evil Piggy’s sweat gland facing off against a microscopic parasitic mite.
The plot of Pilkey’s latest adventure featuring his canine-human hybrid cop is characteristically Rube Goldberg–ian, with such cheerfully bizarre twists as the rupturing of the mini-jail containing Piggy when a dog named Mister Stinkles picks it up and drops it. That Mister Stinkles is being walked by the dog-hostile restaurateur who tried to refuse service to Dog Man a few pages earlier is just one of this outing’s many delights. The fleas of the title are actually the Fuzzy Little Evil Animal Squad, but only one of them—the aforementioned Piggy—can be called evil. Indeed, his henchcreatures are so amiable that they’ve joined the Friendly Friends with Daryl the moth, much to Piggy’s disgust. Threading through the silliness are some serious themes, and readers who peer past the madcap antics will find critiques of the carceral system and the social media feedback loop of fear and anger. Fueled by loud, frenetic colors (courtesy of Garibaldi and Dzioba), this adventure’s got something for just about everyone, including a heartwarming conclusion. Chief presents Black; most other human characters present White.
Supa satisfying. (cast of characters, drawing tips, notes & fun facts) (Graphic adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-338-80191-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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
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