Good, loony science-fiction fun.
Earth is again in danger from the galaxy’s most vile criminals. Can the team of STEM summer campers called the Extraordinary Terrestrials save all?
In series opener Galaxy’s Most Wanted (2014), Kevin, Tara, TJ, Warner, and their unfortunately shrunken friend, extraterrestrial cyborg cop Klyk, trounced outer-space criminal Mim, whom the kids inadvertently called to Earth with the galactoscope they invented. Now, Mim’s cronies, Zouric and Nuzz, have arrived. After freeze-bombing the camp, they set about taking over the planet with nanotech mind control. The kids escape but soon lose their new ally, Marcy, recruited from the girls’ soccer camp next door. Can they escape a brainwashed army of reptilian soldiers, find their comic-book–writer idol (who presciently creates comics detailing the dangers they face), and save the world? Kloepfer’s second humorous sci-fi adventure turns on the action on the first page and does a good job sustaining it all the way through. Edwards’ goggle-eyed, goofy line drawings extend the fun (final art not seen). Readers could actually skip the first book, which was slow to start, and begin here. The satisfying conclusion nicely sets up Volume 3, likely to be a less-terrestrial escapade. Fans of Kloepfer’s Zombie Chasers series will find this outing less gross but just as imaginative.
Good, loony science-fiction fun. (Science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 5, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-223104-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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
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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
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