Dog Man

''Dog Man'' is a comedic graphic novel series created by American author and cartoonist Dav Pilkey and published by Scholastic Corporation. The series is about a dog-headed cop protecting the city he resides in with his friends. The book series includes ten books, the first released in 2016 and the latest in 2021. The latest book is called ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights'' and it was released on March 23, 2021.

An in-universe comic series in the Captain Underpants fictional universe, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the two protagonists of the ''Captain Underpants'' series, created Dog Man in kindergarten. At the end of the last Captain Underpants book, George and Harold find their old Dog Man comics. After reading them, they become inspired to rewrite them and make Dog Man comics again.

In 2020, ten ''Dog Man'' books (including one '' Cat Kid Comic Club'', a spin-off) sold a total of over 3.8 million copies, 13% of the total comics book sales, as charted by BookScan. This does not include digital copies or any copy sold by Scholastic through school book fairs.

On December 9, 2020, it was announced that a Dog Man feature film is in development at DreamWorks Animation with Peter Hastings directing in the helm after his experience with Dav Pilkey's works from ''The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants''.

Graphic novels

''Dog Man''

''Dog Man'' is the first book in the series, released on August 30, 2016. The book is about how Petey, the "World's Most Evilest Cat", accidentally creates Dog Man. Unlike the other books, the chapters are independent stories.

''Dog Man: Unleashed''

''Dog Man: Unleashed'' is the second book in the series, released on December 27, 2016. It revolves around Dog Man facing off against Petey, his flat counterpart, and a mysterious stranger with telekinetic powers after a pet store robbery occurs on the chief's birthday.

''Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties''

''Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties'' is the third book in the series, released on August 29, 2017. It revolves around Petey and his clone Lil’ Petey, who is pure-hearted compared to the self-proclaimed "world's most evilest cat". The title begins the trend of Dog Man graphic novels referencing classic literature in their titles and themes, in this case, ''A Tale of Two Cities''.

''Dog Man and Cat Kid''

''Dog Man and Cat Kid'' is the fourth book in the series, released on December 26, 2017. It revolves around Dog Man and Li'l Petey becoming super-heroes. Dog Man is the Bark Knight (referencing Batman), and Lil' Petey is Cat Kid. Some aspects of the book are a play on '' East of Eden''.

''Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas''

''Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas'' is the fifth book in the series, released on August 28, 2018. It revolves around Dog Man and his new SUPA BUDDIES superhero team facing Piggy the evil pig, Crunky the dim-witted gorilla, and Bub the goofy dwarf crocodile, known as the F.L.E.A.S: the Fuzzy Little Evil Animal Squad.

''Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild''

''Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild'' is the sixth book in the series, released on December 24, 2018. It revolves around Dog Man being framed by the Fleas for a bank robbery he did not commit, and his friends working together to prove his innocence. It was released with positive reviews. The name and some aspects of the book are a play on ''The Call of the Wild''.

''Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls''

''Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls'' is the seventh book in the series, released on August 13, 2019. The name and some aspects of the book are a play on ''For Whom the Bell Tolls''.

''Dog Man: Fetch-22''

''Dog Man: Fetch-22'' is the eighth book in the series, released on December 10, 2019. It revolves around Dog Man facing the Fair Fairy, their tree, Barky McTreeface, and 22 "supa-angry" psychokinetic tadpoles (the Fair Fairy's children who controlled Barky with their minds), not to mention Li'l Petey's greedy grampa.

''Dog Man: Grime and Punishment''

''Dog Man: Grime and Punishment'' is the ninth book in the series, released on September 1, 2020. It revolves around Dog Man getting fired by Mayor for digging up his roses, ripping his hat, destroying the city hall, and having to go undercover as Cat Man to get his job back. Since Chief cannot hire dogs per the mayor's orders, Dog Man disguises as a cat to continue his duties. Meanwhile, Grampa builds an invention called The Mighty Motor Brain and it made Grampa look tough. At the ending, Petey forgives Grampa with the latter demanding him to return for a fight.

''Dog Man: Mothering Heights''

Dog Man: Mothering Heights is the tenth book in the series, released on March 23, 2021. It involves Dog Man being down on his luck, Petey confronting his not-so-purr-fect past, and Grampa being up to no good. The world is spinning out of control as new villains spill into town. Everything seems dark and full of despair. But hope is not lost. Love can win.

''Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea''

This book will be released on March 28, 2023.
It was announced on August 4, 2022, and the cover was revealed November 17, 2022.

Characters

Main series

*Dog Man - The main character who is part dog, part man, and of course all hero. He retains his dog senses, but not his body. He tends to jump onto Chief or make a huge mess. Being part-canine, Dog Man cannot speak English but can write and understand it. From ''Dog Man and Cat Kid'' onward, he assumes the superhero moniker "The Bark Knight," which is a play on words of Batman's nickname "The Dark Knight." "The Bark Knight" is absent in ''Dog Man: Grime and Punishment'' and ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights''.
**Officer Knight - A former cop who was seriously injured from a bomb explosion by Petey. After his head "was dying", his body from the neck down was used to create the half of Dog Man that is human.
**Greg - The dog partner of Officer Knight, whose body was rendered useless by a bomb explosion. His head was used to create the half of Dog Man that is canine.
*Petey - The former main antagonist of the series. He was originally an evil cat that tried to take over the world, but ended up failing every time. He reforms after he is released from Cat Jail, and cares for his kitten clone, Li'l Petey, but still is quite short-tempered.
**Flat Petey - The paper version of Petey, who is the main villain of the second book. He was created by Petey in a plot to escape Cat Jail, but the warden ended up bringing Flat Petey to a witch doctor, as he thought Petey had actually become flat. After Flat Petey was brought to life, he escapes and manages to “use” Obey Spray on the witch doctor, and used him for his plot. In the end, he ends up getting chased into the sunset by a sentient pair of scissors, created by the witch doctor not long after the Obey Spray wore off.
*Lil' Petey - The kitten clone of Petey, created when Petey inserted a DNA sample to make a doppelganger of himself for a butler. He was cloned as a kitten, as the cloning machine was unable to automatically age the clones it created. Gullible, yet friendly and brave, he is Dog Man's best friend. He lives with Petey on weekdays and Dog Man and 80-HD on weekends. They are a family sometimes but then they turn into "Super Heroes".
*Grampa - The greedy father of Petey, and one of the core antagonists of the series. In ''For Whom The Ball Rolls,'' he was first introduced into the series when Lil’ Petey tracks him down after Petey talks about how his father abandoned him. He insults Petey and steals all of his belongings after the group fights Dr. Scum, but is arrested by the end of the book. He makes another appearance in ''Fetch-22'' where he puts both Petey and Lil’ Petey to sleep when they visited via sleeping gas. He then disguises himself as Petey and takes Lil’ Petey. Later, he teams up with the Fair Fairy in her plots but gets arrested in the end. He is the main antagonist in Grime and Punishment, where he uses his invention, The Mighty Motor Brain, to transform into an amplified version of himself known as the Incorrigible Crud (a spoof of The Incredible Hulk). He also appeared in Dog Man: Mothering Heights where he disguises as Commander Cupcake's robot.
*Petey's Mother - The beloved ex-wife of Grampa and Petey's mother. She was a great mother to Petey, but some time after Grampa left, Petey's mother got ill and died. She was first mentioned in For Whom the Ball Rolls and again in Grime and Punishment where Petey and Lil' Petey visit her grave. She appeared in a flashback in Mothering Heights.
*Zuzu - A poodle owned by Sarah Hatoff, The World's Greatest News Reporter, who not just serves as the love interest of Dog Man in the second book, but also is one of his greatest allies. In ''Dog Man and Cat Kid'', she assumes the superhero moniker “Supa-Fang”.
*Sarah Hatoff - An Australian reporter who is Dog Man's biggest fan and helps him save the world on many occasions. She bears a resemblance to Savannah Guthrie. In ''Dog Man and Cat Kid,'' she assumes the superhero moniker "Purse Lady."
*Chief - The chief of the local police station, who, while being good, has a short temper, and hates it when Dog Man jumps on him playfully. In ''Dog Man and Cat Kid,'' he assumes the superhero moniker "Chief Man." For unknown reasons, Chief's real name happens to actually be "Chief".
*Nurse Lady - The nurse who treated Officer Knight and Greg the Dog. She came up with the idea to sew the dog's head onto the cop's body, thus creating Dog Man. Her full name is Genie S. Lady. She and Chief begin a romantic relationship in ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights''.
*80-HD - A robot built by Petey, which is then used by Lil' Petey as a friend. He used to be unable to make his own decisions and only obeyed Lil’ Petey, but was reprogrammed and given the ability of choice by Lil’ Petey in ''Dog Man: Cat Kid''. He lives in Dog Man's house, and has the superhero moniker “Lightning Dude”. 80-HD shares his name with a character in Star Wars called 80-HD and named after ADHD (the acronym for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), a neurodivergence Dav Pilkey has. 80-HD's full name given by Petey is 80-Hexotron-Droidformigon.
*Big Jim - A large, obese cat and former cellmate of Petey who (after being hypnotized by Crunky and Bub) takes on the guise of a superhero named Commander Cupcake, themed after his love for cupcakes, but he never does any real work, as his equipment, arsenal, and "Cupcakemobile" are all hastily cobbled together and composed of cheap supplies such as cardboard and paper plates. In Dog Man #9, he puts on Grampa's Mighty Motor Brain helmet which makes him muscular but still obese. In this form, he calls himself the Insuppressible Snug.
*Yolay Caprese - A famed actress from Italy; Dog Man is at one point assigned as her bodyguard, and she is always willing to assist the team. She appears in books 4 and 6 and bears a resemblance to Naomi Watts.
*Fair Fairy - The main antagonist of ''Dog Man: Fetch-22'', she is a short elderly woman who tries to help children get along in her eponymous TV show until she was fired due to ruining the episodes due to her rude temper. Since then, she became vengeful, evil, and bitter, using 22 tadpoles as part of an evil plan. She wears a sentient dog hand puppet named Downward Dog.
*Gary - One of the staff members of the Fair Fairy's show, he gave the children things for them to make them feel fair in some episodes. Not much is known about him.
*Piggy - A villain who shares a past with Petey as a fellow Critter Scout during childhood. After pinning an incident on Petey as a child, Petey is expelled from the scouting program, but after protests from animal rights groups close down the program, Piggy and his cohorts swore revenge for consequently being technically kicked out of the program as well. He is the leader of the FLEAS, an acronym for the Fuzzy Little Evil Animal Squad. He disappeared in ''Dog Man: Fetch-22'', ''Dog Man Grime and Punishment'', and ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights''. He will be returning in "''Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea''". He is also named after Piggy from Lord of the Flies.
*Crunky - One of Piggy's two dim-witted henchmen. He is an anthropomorphic gorilla and a childhood friend of Petey's, who was also in the Critter Scouts. He disappeared in ''Dog Man Fetch-22'', ''Dog Man Grime and Punishment'', and ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights''.
*Bub - Another one of Piggy's two henchmen. Another childhood friend of Petey's and another former member of the Critter Scouts. He is an anthropomorphic crocodile. He disappeared in ''Dog Man Fetch-22'', ''Dog Man Grime and Punishment'', and ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights''.
*Philly - A giant fiberglass statue of an anthropomorphic cheesesteak mascot (originally confused for a gyro), sprayed with Living Spray by a troop of sentient, evil hot dogs, to serve their army in the first book. Philly is blown to pieces when the can of Living Spray that spawned him is exposed to fire, causing the can's flammable contents to combust.
**Supa Mecha-Philly - This version of Philly is used as an animatronic prop for the Dog Man movie but is later turned into a powerful threat in "Dog Man and Cat Kid".
**Claymation Philly - This third version of Philly is used as a villain for a new stop motion Dog Man movie, but is brought to life when Piggy uses a can of Living Spray on the theatre screen.
*Sam Hamilton - An easily frustrated movie director who appears in two Dog Man books. In the second book where he appears, his wig is brown instead of black.
*Dog Jail Warden - Not much is known about this character, but he is relentlessly evil and cruel to the canine inmates and uses them and their feces in a money-making scheme. He bullied Dog Man when he was framed by the FLEAS and imprisoned.
*Cat Jail Warden - The warden of the local Cat Jail, where Petey and Grampa are frequently held. He is featured in many of the books serving as a side character.
*Fish Jail Warden - This warden is only featured in one of the books escorting Flippy to sign his prison contracts.
* Judge - The city judge who has Dog Man imprisoned in ''Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild''. He takes advantage of his position as a judge and is very unreasonable and stubborn, even refusing to overturn the conviction after Dog Man was proven innocent.
*Flippy - A former antagonist, Flippy was once a cruel butterflyfish who gains psychokinetic abilities from an overdose of a product known as Brain Dots. After Flippy died in the second book, he is reconstructed as a bionic cyborg fish in the third book, was accidentally revived in the Living Spray factory, and commanded an army of "Beasty Buildings", only to have a change of heart at the end of the book when Li'l Petey draws a comic book for him called "My Friend Flippy". After some time in Fish Jail, he completely reforms and begins caring for Molly the tadpole and her 21 frog siblings.
*Milly - A red-haired police officer. She appears as an unnamed side character at first. In "Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas," she is named as Chief's partner. She has been seen since in cameos but has not been mentioned by name.
*Barky McTreeface - The evil tree in ''Dog Man: Fetch 22''. Able to walk on his own and possessing brute strength capable of toppling buildings, he was given his name by the Fair Fairy's hand puppet, Downward Dog, much to her annoyance, although the 22 telekinetic tadpoles agreed on the name, and made up a song about him; the song's tune is the same as that of Frosty the Snowman.
*Molly - One of the 22 Tadpoles of ''Dog Man: Fetch 22''. She is the only one who remembered the events of the book, has not yet evolved into a frog, retained her telekinetic powers, and is also the first one to become good.
*Melvin the Frog - One of the 22 tadpoles that has grown into a frog. He is very smart, incompetent, and arrogant, and is probably based on Melvin Sneedly from the Captain Underpants series. Unlike the other frogs, he wears a bowtie.
*Mayor - The unnamed mayor of the city in which the heroes live. He is normally friendly, but is a former antagonist in "Grime and Punishment", as Dog Man tends to exasperate him. After Dog Man digs up his rose garden, the Mayor fires him, leading Dog Man to go undercover using the alias "Cat Man" and a helmet that makes him resemble a cat to get his job back, which he does by rescuing the Mayor's beloved teddy bear, Mr. Snookums, from a house fire.
*Evil Mayor - One of the villains in the first book. She plots to get Chief fired by sending Petey a can of Invisible Spray to escape Cat Jail and then pin it on Chief's apparent recent softness on crime. She initially succeeds, and Chief's position is filled by Robo-Chief, a robotic chief that she has complete control over, with which she plans to take over the city. Her victory ends up being short-lived, however, because moments after Robo-Chief is destroyed and Dog Man arrests Petey, Dog Man plays a recording he took of the mayor discussing her evil plans. As a result, she is arrested, sent to Mayor Jail, and replaced by the current mayor.
*Dr. Scum - A villain who was first seen in the first book as the creator of Robo-Chief, a robot that is the intended replacement of Chief. He returns in ''Dog Man: For Whom The Ball Rolls'' and much to his frustration he was constantly mistakenly referred to as a new villain, despite his constant claims that he appeared in the first book. In the events of ''For Whom The Ball Rolls'', he decides to create "Crime Crabs", but changes them to "Burgle Balls" when he finds out about Dog Man's new fear of balls. He also appeared in ''Dog Man: Mothering Heights'' in Chief's dream.
*Robo-Shark Duck - A robot which is half duck and half-shark. It was created by Dr. Scum in Chief's dream. It was deflated and defeated by buff Chief pulling out his skeleton.
*Hot Dogs - An army of evil hot dogs that served as antagonists in the fourth part of the first book. Petey brings the original one to life by using Living Spray, and this lone hot dog brings all of the hot dogs in the Cat Jail kitchen to life to form an army. These hot dogs attack the city with only flaming matches and keep this rampage up until the leader of the hot dog armada is eaten by Dog Man, followed by the rest of them being eaten by other liberated dogs that Petey had captured earlier.
**Robot Hot Dogs - These versions are used as animatronic props for the Dog Man movie, but are turned into threats after Petey begins controlling them in "Dog Man and Cat Kid".
*Dumb Employee - A woman dressed in pink clothes, who is seen as an employee for various establishments, including Dippy's Donuts (calling it "Drippy's Donuts") and the Cannery Grow store. Although she appears smart, she is quite dumb. She can get offended easily, although it is mainly because her stupidity drives Petey to anger, and never seems to do anything right.
*The Mean Officers (the female is named Maude, and the male's name is unknown) are cops who work alongside Milly, Dog Man, and Chief. In Grime and Punishment, they bully and shout at Dog Man when he gets fired from the police force. In Brawl of the Wild, they mistakenly sent Dog Man to jail when the FLEAS robbed a bank and disguised themselves as Dog Man. In Mothering Heights, they harassed Dog Man by calling him a "conehead".
*The World's Most Evil Terrifying Sippy Cups - The main villains of the tenth book that accidentally got sprayed to life by Grampa and destroyed Petey's lab using Cannery Grow.
*George Beard (creator) - One of the core protagonists of the ''Captain Underpants'' series, and writer of the Dog Man comics.
*Harold Hutchins (creator) - One of the core protagonists of the ''Captain Underpants'' series, and illustrator of the Dog Man comics. He helped write ''For Whom the Ball Rolls''.
*Downward Dog He is Fair Fairy's hand puppet and is the only "evil" dog in the series

''Cat Kid: Comic Club''

*Naomi - A yellow frog. She
constantly fights with Melvin, which she says in ''Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives'' is due to her gender. According to her, the hardships and lack of opportunities for females are an injustice, and that Melvin offers her "lots of practice" for those. At the end of the same book, after Melvin shows the others a "punishment comic" that "touched aomi'sheart", he and Naomi become best friends, which apparently is worse than them fighting, as they laugh evilly at the end of the book after vowing to destroy anyone in their way.

Spin-off series

''1. Cat Kid Comic Club''

Released on December 1, 2020, this is a new book series that follows Lil' Petey, along with flying tadpole Molly, and Flippy, a psychokinetic fish. Packed with more interactive activities and includes supporting roles from characters from the first nine ''Dog Man'' novels, Lil' Petey, Flippy, and Molly introduce twenty-one rambunctious, funny, and talented baby frogs to the art of comic-making. As the story unwinds with mishaps and hilarity, readers get to see the progress, mistakes, and improvements that come with practice and persistence.

''2. Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives''

A second book was announced and teased at the end of the first book. It was released on November 30, 2021, as revealed by Amazon and iBooks. It has been officially called ''CKCC: Perspectives'', as revealed in Woozles and Amazon.

''3. Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose''

Cat Kid Comic Club: On Purpose is the third book in the Cat Kid Comic Club series. It was released on April 12, 2022.

''4. Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations''

The fourth book in the Cat Kid Comic Club series. It was released on November 29, 2022.

References

{{DreamWorks Animation

Animal superheroes
Book series introduced in 2016
Scholastic Corporation books
Captain Underpants
2016 comics debuts
2016 graphic novels
Humor comics
Dogs in literature
Police dogs in fiction
DreamWorks Classics
American novels adapted into films