THE RISE AND FALL OF EL SOLO LIBRE

The three squabbling young time travelers introduced in Herbert’s Wormhole (2009) again save their future hometown from alien invaders. Real ones, this time.

A selective memory wipe has convinced Alex that the video-game monsters he and his buddies Herbert and Sammi had “killed” in the previous episode were real, and he's bored by the subsequent lack of AlienSlayer action. Accordingly, he rashly makes a jeering interstellar phone call to the hostile Klapthorians to schedule an annihilation of Earth. Suffused with satiric line drawings as well as direct and indirect homages to Captain Underpants, the ensuing antics zigzag happily. They take readers from this time to the next century, from Merwinsville to the Moon on the way to a suitably titanic battle with not one but TWO giant Klapthorian Death Slugs. (OK, one’s a parade balloon, but still.) Ultimately Alex comes to realize that even with a Mexican wrestling mask and a new moniker (see title) he’s not going to get by without a little help from his friends. A fine supporting cast consisting largely of squidlike, Aussie-accented “G’Daliens” and a supercomputer aptly dubbed the SarcasmaTron provide additional yuks. More lightweight farce, with a good chance of further sequels. (Science fiction. 7-11)