SUPER POTATO AND THE CASTLE OF ROBOTS

This graphic novel is a superhero epic for people with short attention spans.

In Marvel superhero movies, the plots often feature dozens of characters fighting battles that have been building for years. When Super Potato goes up against a giant robot, the battle lasts 17 ½ seconds. This seems fitting, because a skirmish fought by a potato lacks a certain gravitas. His story is tragic, in a way. Before he was transformed into a potato, he was brawny enough that he would have fit right in among the Justice League. Every major character is white, and most are blond. This is not always obvious: Super Potato’s love interest, Dr. Clementine Mandarin, has also been turned into a potato, and most of the humor comes from the absurdity of the situations, even in the artwork. Destructron the robot is ridiculously—and endearingly—oversized. The actual jokes are less successful, though some of the meta humor works, as in a scene when the villain talks about “twenty years of total dedication…” and “…twenty years of talking to myself….” As in the earlier volumes in this Spanish series, the narrator is constantly interrupting the story, sometimes to say, “Pun intended.” This will irritate some readers, but it’s over quickly. Even the climactic battle lasts only 17 pages.

The story moves at a speedy pace (but perhaps not quite speedy enough).