This action-packed launch title in a superhero series will make fluent readers of those just embarking on the world of books. With a hybrid combination of comic book–style illustrations and a chapter book format, Captain Awesome is sure to attract a following of fans.
Eight-year-old Eugene McGillicudy has just moved to Sunnyview for his father's new job at Cherry Computers. He will have to start at a new school and make new friends. But is he afraid? No he's not! Because he is also the superhero known as Captain Awesome! Author Stan Kirby (a pseudonym that pays homage to Marvel creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) takes seemingly insurmountable problems any child will recognize and shows how Captain Awesome tackles them one at a time. He protects his army of action figures and collection of Super Dude comic books from Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby (aka his baby sister, Molly: "After she stunk up his room, she was going to drool on everything he held most dear"). And on his first day of school, he narrowly escapes the principal and vice principal, "a duo of doom that would like to lock up a late student in their Dungeon of Detention." Just when Eugene suspects his teacher Ms. Beasley (aka Ms. Beastly) is a "brain-sucker" (how else could she know his name was Eugene McGillicudy?), she lets him take charge of Turbo, the class hamster. But that only invites the wrath of Meredith Mooney (whose mother, Eugene suspects, ties her pink ribbons too tight: "that would explain a lot about how she was acting").
George O'Connor opens each chapter with an illustration in Eugene's hand, featuring portraits of Queen Stinkypants and Meredith (for the chapter "Evil Wears Pink Ribbons in Its Hair!") among others, then peppers the pages with images of scenes from home and school. Eugene's superhero fantasies appear in comics-style graphics, often outlined in jagged frames with dots that emulate the work of Roy Lichtenstein and the Ben-Day dots of classic comics. One of the funniest images depicts Ms. Beastly and Meredith as evildoers in an angled image and a line that separates the boy into half Eugene and half Captain Awesome. Type treatments play up Captain Awesome's signature cry, "MI-TEE!," as well as standbys such as "Bam!" "Pow!" and "Whap!"
Luckily, Eugene discovers Charlie Thomas Jones, a fellow Super Dude comics collector in his class, and the two form the Fans of Super Dude Society. Together they solve the mystery of Turbo's whereabouts when he goes missing at school. Charlie, too, has a secret superpower identity, which is explored further in Captain Awesome vs. Nacho Cheese Man, a simultaneous release ($14.99 hardcover/$4.99 pb; 9781442440913/9781442435636). Just the ticket for fans of Captain Underpants. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: This action-packed hybrid of comics and early chapter books is sure to win fans of Captain Underpants over to eight-year-old Eugene and his secret superhero identity, Captain Awesome.