Every volume seems to ratchet up the wackiness; readers can only guess—but most likely without success—where subsequent...
In this third offering, the three-eyed titular hero and his Super Backpack team with a gang of young aliens to fulfill the prophecy of one unusual dream.
The intensely pink and untiringly goofy Glorkian Warrior awakens after a doozy of a dream in which he's bedeviled by clingy children, headpieces he can’t get off, and a giant flapping mustache. Of course, after such an experience he needs coffee, which is so welcome that he deems his coffee his new talking friend (it’s really Backpack conversing behind him). The warrior, his backpack, and his coffee are then joined by a group of candy-colored child creatures who aspire to be warriors and who will help him defeat—with sheer silliness as their only weapon—his next enemy: the lime-green, headpiece-adorned, self-described Space God, Quackaboodle. After working together, the children are transformed by a visit from the Glorkian SuperGrandma, and the Warrior's long-standing sidekick, Gonk, finds himself changed and mustachioed. Bright and very busy panels take readers through a roller-coaster ride of guffaws, gaffes, and giggles; silliness reigns supreme, and sense is conspicuously absent. Kochalka’s oddly wonderful—and very offbeat—bubble-gum–psychedelic, madcap adventures may not be for everyone, but they certainly are creatively unparalleled.
Every volume seems to ratchet up the wackiness; readers can only guess—but most likely without success—where subsequent volumes will take them. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: March 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62672-372-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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