THE EPIC ORIGIN OF SUPER POTATO

This graphic novel has “Gilligan’s Island Syndrome.”

Fans of the old TV show got frustrated because, over and over again, Gilligan and his friends tried to escape from their desert island, and over and over again, they failed. This comic book has the same sense of futility. On Page 10, Super Max, a very blond, very vain superhero, is turned into a potato by his archenemy, Dr. Malevolent, and he spends the rest of the book trying to reverse the process. Alert readers will figure out, just about around Page 10, that it’s never going to work, because the book is the first in a series, and because potatoes are funny. So the appeal of the story depends on the quality of the jokes, which varies widely. Some scenes are mordantly funny: The villain corrects an elegant waiter who refers to him as “Mr. Malevolent.” But there are far too many potato puns. (Arguably, one is too many.) Still, the visual design is appealingly simple. Even most of the human characters bear some resemblance to spuds in shape, except for Dr. Malevolent, who looks a lot like a string bean. (He even has green skin, making him just about the only character who isn’t white.)

The main storyline lacks any suspense, but fans of Waiting for Godot may enjoy the sense of fatalism, and fans of Gilligan will admire the hero’s persistence.