I am typically not a fan of graphic novels, but Dav Pilkey,of Captain Underpants fame, had me laughing out loud with his new series. The book opens with a behind-the-scenes introduction of George and Harold in kindergarten trying to come up with a new series that they describe as an "epic novella" called The Advenchers of Dog Man.
Dog Man is created when Officer Knight and Greg the Dog are injured trying to defuse a bomb set by the evil cat, Petey. Officer Knight's head is dying, while Greg's body is dying, so a resourceful physician and nurse lady decide to "sew Grey's head onto a cop's body" (19).
Petey isn't foiled by the new superhero, and he continues to work in his secret lab to create a giant vacuum that can "suck up almost anything," (29) and plot with the evil mayor to use invisible spray to escape from jail. When Petey discovers that Dog Man is so smart because he reads, he devises a plan to get rid of all the books in the world.
From beginning to end, Pilkey engages the reader with humorous cartoons and clever writing. There are hot dogs that come to life and an ornery police chief, along with occasional pages that feature "flip-o-ramas" which make the drawings come to life. The conclusion of the book even has instructions for how to draw Dog Man and Petey.
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