Review by Woodrow Phoenix
Since the fifth Dog Man book Dav Pilkey has titled each volume with puns based on literary classics, a bit of fun obviously more for Pilkey’s own entertainment than any of his targeted readership (although parents will appreciate the jokes too). Fetch-22 picks up from For Whom the Ball Rolls. While it’s explained in previous books that ‘creators’ George and Harold have been reading classic literature for a while now, it’s a small indicator that the meta-concept of these Dog Man books being made by pre-pubescent children is getting harder to maintain. Pilkey is layering the stories with more character and plot situations growing in complexity and nuance from one book to the next. The crossed out words and other ‘mistakes’, scribbles and visible corrections have been left behind, and if you compare this book to the first adventure you’ll be surprised to see how different this looks and how conventionally smooth and consistent in style and presentation Dog Man now is, visually and textually.
Fetch-22 introduces a formidable problem for Dog Man and his super buddies to deal with in the form of the Fair Fairy. She’s a middle-aged lady who presents a television show beloved by all children that’s about correcting unfairness by sharing (“Who’s that fairy in the air… who makes things completely fair? She’s the Fair Fairy! Oh yeah!”). Unfortunately, the pressures of her show become too much and she flips out. From sharing things equally, she decides to teach everyone a lesson by destroying everything equally (“You get NOTHING! Now it’s fair!”) and fired from the show, she becomes quite the menace. Especially when she suddenly has an army of floating tadpoles with psychokinetic brain powers who will do whatever she commands. It’s going to take the combined powers of The Bark Knight, Cat Kid, Lightning Dude, Sarah, Zuzu, Chief, Commander Cupcake, and the reluctant Petey to defeat this threat, and even they might not be strong enough.
This adventure also features the return of Flippy the bionic butterfly fish, thanks to the generosity of Li’l Petey drawing comics just for him when he was in Fish Jail. “Nobody had ever been so kind to me before…”, he recalls, “and as I read my comic with my new friend, something changed inside me, and all of my supa evil powers melted away. I might not be a tough guy anymore, but I am living proof that love and kindness are the greatest powers of all”. It’s the same thoughtfulness Cat Kid shows to the deadly tadpoles that turns enemies into friends, in a heartfelt message from Pilkey to his readers. Cat Kid’s comics are such a powerful tool for empathy and friendship that his Comic Club gains a lot of new members at the end of this book, and readers can join it too by going to the Scholastic website and downloading everything they need. Further comics can also be found in the first spin-off book featuring Li’l Petey’s encouragement and lessons, Cat Kid Comic Club. Next in the Dog Man series is Grime and Punishment.
