REX ROCKET

A spaceship captain successfully navigates his first real mission.

Rex is a curiously stretchy, blue-skinned dachshund who was ejected from S.T.A.R.R. Command ranger school, then stole his hot-dog-in-a-bun–shaped spaceship, the SS Sagan, from the Oppenheimlich Space Museum. This backstory is related by General Dill, Captain Rex’s pickle-shaped superior. Dill recruits Dr. B, a purple rabbit, to help him prove that Rex is “incompetent. A goofball! A nincompoop!” But Rex, who’s beloved by his crew, is amusingly oblivious. Dill sends Rex and the rest of his motley team (robot Spud, shark head Trog, terrier Argyle, and sentient banana Peele, plus a mysterious entity—a voice that speaks to them from an air vent) to Gratuvius 4, a planet in the Snarzon galaxy. Their mission: to protect the royal castle from “a scary, hairy giant monster.” But Rex and the gang discover that King Krog, an interloper from another planet contracted to supply Gratuvius 4’s essential Element X to S.T.A.R.R. Command, is using a hypno zapper to keep the inhabitants overworked and overmining the planet’s resources. Twenty short, humorous, action-packed chapters (that include a couple of flashbacks and concurrent storylines) introduce the characters and set the stage for subsequent entries in the series. Gallagher’s illustrations and framing match the story’s cheerful cartoon energy. The inclusion of a Random Astro Fact after each chapter nicely paces the action.

A lively inaugural adventure.