A well-crafted collection that will please longtime fans of the show.
Phineas and Ferb go on two new adventures in this comic collection based on the Disney animated series.
First, the book presents a tale set in 1952, featuring an alternate-universe version of the Phineas and Ferb cast (a recurring bit that will be familiar to longtime fans). The boys are still their inventive selves; Dr. Doofenshmirtz is “Doof of the Dark,” the local host of a schlocky monster-movie broadcast; and Candace is a cub reporter trying to get her big break. When toxic goo makes various creatures gigantic, the pair head to the studio to get help—only to find that Doof of the Dark isn’t the monster expert he plays on TV. He still teams up with them when a certain monotreme starts wrecking the city—and Candace is fired after missing out on reporting the story. In the second tale, set in the ordinary Phineas and Ferb fictional universe, the boys, left alone for the day, enlist the help of Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford to build a giant maze in their backyard. Doofenshmirtz invents an “elong-inate-inator,” hoping to finally become taller than his brother, Roger. This ray, of course, hits the backyard labyrinth, making it so enormous that even Candace sets aside her goal of getting her siblings in trouble. As the kids ride colossal grasshoppers through the maze, Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Platypus duke it out. Peterson, who penned several alternate-universe episodes of the show, and Pruett, another of the show’s writers, crafted these fine tales. As a result, they feature plenty of clever jokes, as when a man shouts, “Oh, no! My confetti!” while looking out his window at a tickertape parade. There are also appealing fourth-wall-busting hijinks, as when Doofenshmirtz hits the ground with a “KUH-KRUNCH” and exclaims, “That crunch was so hard, it was a ‘crunch’ with a ‘K!’” Artists Angelilli, Follini, and Papi ace the look of the show while conjuring some terrific action sequences; the fight between Perry and Doofenshmirtz, for instance, is both frenetic and funny.
A well-crafted collection that will please longtime fans of the show.Pub Date: Dec. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781545813225
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios/Papercutz
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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