All spoilers for Dog Man are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Comic club is in session! Story, art, action!
Li'l Petey, the clone/"son" of Petey, has an obsession with drawing comics. In fact, he loves comics so much that he starts a comic club with his best friend, a tadpole named Molly. The members are comprised of her 21 siblings, all of which are baby frogs.
Each frog has a different interest and a unique style: Poppy likes drawing dead stuff, Melvin is extremely greedy and fakes having won numerous prizes even if his comics are made without effort, and Summer and Starla make haikais. Meanwhile, their adoptive father Flippy is seriously concerned about some of his children's innapropriate works.
The books to date are:
- Cat Kid Comic Club (2020)
- Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives (2021)
- Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose (2022)
- Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations (2022)
- Cat Kid Comic Club: Influencers (2023)
The main Cat Kid Comic Club books contain examples of:
- Fun with Acronyms: "H.A.C.K.E.R." in "The H.A.C.K.E.R. Bros" stands for "Heroic Alpha Commando Kids: Elite Regiment".
- Goofy Print Underwear: In-Universe. In the comic "The Under-Werewolves", Vampire Joe's underwear is filled with blue polka dots, Mr Hyde's have baby elephants, Frankenstein's have roses (...don't ask), and the Mummy's have dinosaurs.
- Girlboss Feminist: Naomi is, as noted by her siblings, very bossy and demanding. But after she proves to a male frog about his sexist views, she later goes on a rant to Melvin about how girls have less opportunities.
- Hard Truth Aesop: In ‘Influencers’, Flippy points out to the baby frogs that even though everyone promised to help, no one is actually doing anything
- Older Than They Look: Molly looks younger than her siblings. This may be due to her telekinetic powers somehow blocking her from aging.
- Parents as People: Flippy has the tendency to yell at or scold his kids a lot, even if it is justified as most of them misbehave. However, after Poppy runs away crying when Flippy tells her off, he realises that they’re ‘really good kids’.
- Sequel Hook: All books end with the narrator/a character asking to itself two questions that make sense ("will everyone be able to work together?") and a joke question related to whatever happens in the final chapter ("will the baby frogs ever stay in bed?").
- Show Within a Show: In-Universe. The entire series is involved around this trope.
- Spoofs "R" Us: The police academy in "Baby Frog Squad" is called Cops R Us.
- Tempting Fate: In chapters 5-6 of Book 3:
- Flippy (to Sarah Hatoff): They're [...] always on their best behavior! (Chapter 6 is called “Our Worst Behavior”)
- Younger Than They Look: Even though the characters are frogs/froglets (the equivalent of human adults and teenagers), they actually are kids.
