Graphic novels with heist energy, dumb jokes, and just enough heart to sneak past a parent.
I had never heard of The Bad Guys until my daughter started flying through them a few months ago. We are no strangers to naughty characters (we have read all of the Junie B. Jones and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books) and my daughter has apparently identified her favorite genre of books (which is funny because she's like the complete opposite of these characters). If that is the reader in your house, good news: the funny graphic novel shelf is deep right now. Here are eight books that keep the same deal Aaron Blabey does. Real jokes, quick pages, and heroes who are usually one bad decision away from total disaster. None of them will slow your kid down. They will just keep the pages turning.
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A half-dog, half-cop superhero fights a villain cat who just cloned himself into a tiny menace. Dav Pilkey writes like he is trying to make a kid spit milk across the table, and the art has the same manic energy that makes The Bad Guys so easy to inhale. Panels that move fast and never apologize.
Pick this one if they love animal heroes who are also kind of disasters.
Two alligators named Mango and Brash work as secret agents, traveling by toilet and cracking cases that make no sense whatsoever. It is wall-to-wall puns and slapstick, exactly the register a Bad Guys fan is already tuned to, and it is impossible to read with a straight face.
Pick this one if they like their humor loud, fast, and stuffed with puns.
Two prankster kids hypnotize their principal into a cape-wearing superhero, and this time the villains are toilets with teeth. Pilkey again, so the humor is loud, gloriously dumb, and paced so fast a reluctant reader forgets to complain.
Pick this one if they came to The Bad Guys for the toilet humor.
From the creator of Dog Man, this one hands the mic to a group of baby frogs learning to make their own comics. It is goofy and quietly encouraging at the same time, and it tends to send kids straight to a blank notebook the second they finish.
Pick this one if they want a book that makes them want to draw their own comics.
A monster apocalypse hits town and a kid and his friends treat it like the best video game ever made. Big laughs, bigger creatures, and a hero who is far more enthusiastic than competent. It reads fast and ends with them begging for the next volume.
Pick this one if they want monsters and jokes in equal measure.
The school lunch lady is secretly a crime-fighting agent with gadgets stashed all over the cafeteria. It is a comic-book caper with a joke on every page, and there is deep satisfaction in the least suspicious adult in the building turning out to be the hero.
Pick this one if they love an unassuming hero with secret gadgets.
Two best friends, one a slice of pizza and one a taco, argue about everything and go adventuring anyway. Short chapters, fast jokes, and a gentle on-ramp for a slightly younger Bad Guys fan who wants the same silliness at a friendlier reading level.
Pick this one if they want the same energy but a slightly easier read.
The greatest comic strip ever drawn. A six-year-old and his maybe-real tiger cause chaos, argue philosophy, and build genuinely disturbing snowmen. The vocabulary is a step up from most graphic novels, which makes it a perfect next mountain for a kid who has conquered the funny shelf.
Pick this one if they're ready to level up to the all-time great.
Also on: The Best Books for Every Grade (K through 6+), Books for the Kid Who Can't Get Enough of Big Nate, Books for the Kid Who Can't Get Enough of Captain Underpants
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