It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous.

Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.ĭespite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure.

The scarecrow and his servant