The Bad Guys 8 – Superbad

Aaron Blabey's Superbad is the eighth Bad Guys book, a very silly superhero comic for 7 year olds.

What happens

Mr Wolf, Mr Snake, Mr Shark and Mr Piranha have superpowers now. Piranha has super speed, Shark can turn into all sorts of things, Snake has mind powers and Wolf is super strong. The problem? None of them can control it.

So when they take on an alien army in the opening pages, Piranha runs smack into a robot. Shark turns into a toaster. Wolf's muscles burst right out of his suit (Snake is quick to tell him he's SO naked right now).

That's when the International League of Heroes steps in. They're secret agents, they're not very impressed, and it's off to their headquarters for some serious training.

The training is the best bit. Agent Kitty Kat tells Shark to be a teacup, and he manages a tractor, a moose and a grandfather clock first. Agent Hogwild teaches Piranha to turn corners in a little room lined with spikes. The final exam is getting one very small, very cross agent into a cardboard box. How hard can that be?

Meanwhile Legs the tarantula is in a HUGE sulk, because he's the only one of the gang without powers. Climbing walls and swinging on webs doesn't count (Snake points out that's just called being a spider).

There's real heart in it too. When Snake snaps that the agents think the gang are nothing, Agent Fox tells him how her team began. Each of them was told they were bad, or picked on, or left out, and they decided to protect others instead.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Fox's own story is a sad one. Where she grew up foxes are hunted for fun, and she says she lost everything when she was young. The pictures show riders on horses and a little fox crying behind a tree. Nothing more is shown and it's over in two pages, but a sensitive reader might want a cuddle.

Nearly every page is a picture with speech bubbles and huge sound effects. FAAAAZOOOOM! FOOOOF! The words are short and often in big capitals, and lots of the jokes are in the faces. A child reading alone can get through the whole thing in a sitting and feel like they've finished a proper chapter book. It ends on a TO BE CONTINUED, at the most exciting moment of all.

What to read next

The gang picked up their powers before this book begins, so it's not the place to start. For a child who's new to the gang, the first Bad Guys book is where Wolf, Snake, Shark and Piranha first turn up.