The creator of Nickelodeon's CatDog
sets his Super Goofballs series into super silly, sophomoric motion, starring characters with names that tell readers all they need to know. Amazing Techno Dude, whose TV helmet gives him "certain mysterious audio-visual-techno super powers," and Granny the Bodacious Backwards Woman, who speaks and moves backwards, must outwit Queen Smellina the Shrieking Stinkbug of Stench. Soon after this flying super villain lands in jail, calamity strikes the unlikely superheroes' house. To help finance the repairs, the backwards Granny says, "Roommate a get will we." They end up with not one but eight would-be superhero roommates, including a pair of underpants named Mighty Tighty Whitey, a caped block of granite called Wonder Boulder and the disaster-prone Blunder Mutt. When Queen Smellina's sidekick, Fabian the Fabulous Flatulent Fiend ("one fart smellow"), swipes the main course from an all-you-can-eat bean restaurant and threatens to "bomb the area with a series of gigantic you-know-whats coming from his you-know-where"—and Queen Smellina reappears—the roomies step in to help save the day. Hannan's copious cartoons chronicle these zany antics, which will appeal most to kids with a fondness for potty humor and broad puns. This wacky cast returns in Goofballs in Paradise
($15.99 ISBN 978-0-06-085214-6; $4.99 paper 978-0-06-085213-9), due out the same month. Ages 7-11. (Feb.)
