Raised as a villain...but determined to be a hero!
Donut the Destroyer is a young readers graphic novel by British author and writer duo, Sarah Graley and Stef Purenins (Kim Reaper, Our Super Adventure, some graphic novels for Minecraft and the Rick and Morty comic mini-series Lil Poopy Superstar among other works). Released in 2020 by Scholastic under their Graphix line.
In a world where superheroes and villains are commonplace, we meet our young heroine, Donut Destroyer (her middle literally being "the") who's excited to attend the superhero school, Lionheart School for Heroes. But likewise a little nervous because... well, her mother and father are former notorious villains who were hoping she'd follow in their footsteps. Luckily they're not opposed to her going to a superhero school (thinking it's a "phase" she going through) and allow her to. But her friend, Ivy, on the other hand doesn't know she doing so, thinking she would go to the villain school, Skullfire Academy, with her.
Thus Donut makes her way through the academy hoping most won't judge her because her family's villainous legacy, making two new friend in Arthur and Martha, and trying to prove she can be a superhero. But once Ivy finds out what's going on, trouble soon follows and friendship and resolve are put to the test.
Tropes
- Academy of Evil: Skullfire Academy, the school for villains though we never really see it in the book. Donut was supposed to go there but declined to Ivy's anger.
- Ambiguously Human: It's not really said out loud if the Destroyers are human or not. But with the way Donut's parents act and dress, the comic seems to imply her father is a vampire while her mother is a witch. Donut proclaiming they sleep in coffins contributing to this notion.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Mr. and Mrs Destroyer who tend to be eccentric to any guests that come over to see Donut to her embarrassment.
- And the Adventure Continues: The story ends with Ivy defeated. Donut, Arthur and Martha becoming friends with Simone the popular kid in school who just made superhero prefect. While Donut is sadden she wasn't picked as a prefect, she's more then happy to still be going to Lionheart and looks forward to the remainder of the school year.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Essentially how a lot of villains in the comic act. Pretty much anything from lying to playing hooky is considered honorable by villain standards to Donut's chagrin.
- Big "NEVER!": Donut shouts this to Ivy when she tries to once more force Donut into villainy in the climax of the story.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Zig-zagged, while they rather she be a villain like them. Donut's parents still likewise want her to be a good kid.
- Eye Scream: One of the Ivy brings to life from a villain book is a three headed being named the Mindtwist Sisters who can control anyone who makes eye contact with her. Martha defeats her by going invisible and poking out their eyes.
- Fangs Are Evil: Villains in the book sport them. Curiously Donut's father has two on each side like a vampire while her mother has a row of fangs.
- For Your Own Good: Ivy feels she's doing Donut a favor in trying to get her kicked out of Lionheart and go to Skullfire to become a villain. Like Donut's parents, Ivy thinks Donut is just going through a phase and needs to be steered in the right direction. However whereas Donut's parents aren't willing to force Donut to do something she doesn't want to. Ivy is the opposite and starts taking increasingly drastic measures to change Donut's mind. To the point she almost resorts to summoning a being called the World Destroyer from a villain tome if that's what it takes.
- Funny Background Event:: Quite a few here and there when some characters are talking with others.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Used by Donut against Ivy in the climax, seeming to accept her offer to be a villain, but only as a way to get in close and tear up the Villain History tome to prevent Ivy from using her powers further.
- Invisibility: Martha's main power is to turn invisible, but she has a bit of trouble controlling it.
- Ironic Name: Despite her name, Donut rather not destroy things if she can help it.
- It's All About Me: Ivy states that she doing Donut a favor in trying to get her to comes to Skullfire. But on their second encounter at Lionheart, she reveals she saw Donut as more a sidekick then partners in evil, claiming her as the weaker of the two of them and essentially is trying to kowtow Donut into taking the role. This revelation only strengthens Donut's resolve to become a hero, regardless if she gets kicked out of Lionheart or not.
- The Medic: Arthur power allows him to heal things. Not just injuries but broken objects like statues.
- Nightmare Face: A few, though mostly from Ivy and Mr and Mrs. Destroyer. Sarah has a bit of a knack drawing characters with these.
- Open-Minded Parent: Despite being villains, Donut's parents just want what's best for their daughter and while they think her going hero "is a phase" initially, they ultimately accept her decision to be a superhero.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Mr and Mrs Destroyer idea of getting around Lionheart's villain barrier and sneaking into Prefect ceremony...is to just wear gag glasses and nose. It seems to work as Dr. Throne doesn't recognize them when they pass him by.
- The Power of Creation: Ivy's power in which she can bring any image from a book to life and work under her command, of which she mostly uses monsters. However the time they can stay corporal is limited and will disappear after a set of time or if properly dispatched.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Zig-zagged a bit with Dr. Beckett Throne, Donut's homeroom teacher. He's a bit judgmental and a bit of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold but does recognize Donut isn't showing any villain traits and lets her off the hook when it seems to the contrary but obvious for the sake of doing good. The only time he nearly does expel Donut is when he see her holding the torn Villain History book which Donut had to destroy to stop Ivy thinking she did it deliberately. Luckily Simone, Arthur and Martha vouch for her.
- Retired Monster: Mr. and Mrs. Destroyer were big names in the villain community but admit to Donut they gave up supervillainy once they had her.
- Squishy Wizard: Clawdia Sharp has the power to talk to animals... and nothing else, only having her pet tiger, Claws, do the attacking for her. So when Arthur gently subdues Claws, she's left defenseless against Donut.
- Superhero School: Lionheart School For Heroes where most of the action takes place and trains heroes in working with their powers, saving people, making costumes, etc.
- Super-Strength: Donut's main power is that she's pretty super strong. Able to lift things with ease and smash it as well.
- We Can Rule Together: Ivy constantly keeps trying to get Donut to go the villain route by trying to talk her in creating chaos together but Donut isn't having any of it.
- We Used to Be Friends: Donut and Ivy, the two grew up together and promised to go to Skullfire once they were older. But Donut had a change of heart and wanted to be a hero but had a hard time trying to tell her since Ivy wouldn't hear of it. But once Donut makes it clear, Ivy...didn't take this news well to say the least and schemes to force Donut to change her mind. Forcing the two into conflict. Though this eventually spills into False Friend territory when Ivy reveals she saw Donut as nothing but a sidekick. After that, Donut proclaims even if she was kicked out of the school, she would never stop being a hero. And it's a friendship that sadly isn't mended by the end of the story with Ivy thinking Donut is making a huge mistake when Donut proves once and for all she isn't going to be a villain.
- White Sheep: Two in the Destroyer family who normally are all villains. Donut herself, who wishes to be a hero and her uncle Eric, who is in accounting.
