An uninspired installment in an equally uninteresting graphic-fantasy series.
A kid and his purple friend reunite for another trip to the Land of the Trolls.
Felix, a redheaded White boy, has a portal to a world of trolls in his bedroom toy box. As he searches his messy room for Robocan, his remote-controlled dog, he falls into the other world. But we’ve been here before. In this sequel, Felix is soon paired back up with Calcite the troll on a quest to find the robot. They meet Tourmaline, the great troll witch; ride a flying Rockadactyl (a pterodactyl made of stone), and escape the laser eye beams of Garganto, a giant guardian blocking the way through a gorge. Unsurprisingly, Robocan shows up to help, and Felix ends up back home with another this-happened-then-this-happened story under his belt. In its attempt to widen the world of Felix and Calcite from the first volume, this book instead repeats most of the beats and tries to make up for its thin story with fantasy elements that never feel particularly clever, original, or visually interesting. Felix has no personality, and in this book, at least, Calcite doesn’t do much but tag along on Felix’s quest. Games such as an invitation to search the cartoon artwork for a hidden spider begin and end the book.
An uninspired installment in an equally uninteresting graphic-fantasy series. (Graphic early reader. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72846-291-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Taking a seat in first class aboard the graphic-novels-for-preteens train, this import features a carrot-topped lass who travels the starways with her piratical uncle Yellow Shoulders, foiling the plots of Supermuscleman, nefarious Chief Executive Dictator of the Universe. Presented in small sequential panels of brightly hued cartoon art and spacious dialogue balloons, Sardine’s adventures take her from the space prison Azkatraz to Planet Discoball (for a dance contest presided over by Empress Laser Diskette and her offspring, Prince Beejeez), from encounters with deadly, as well as thoroughly nerve-wracking, Honkfish to a deliciously violent round of “No-Child-Left-Behind-School II,” a virtual game. With nonstop action, humor geared to multiple levels of cultural awareness and the promise of more episodes to come, even readers stubbornly resisting the trendy format’s lure will find that, as Supermuscleman sneers shortly before gorily blasting his own foot, “Resistance is futile.” (Graphic novel. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-59643-126-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: First Second/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2006
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