Fart Boy and Reeky Dog

“Our story begins deep in the bowels of the evil institoot in Professor Groovypants’s secret laboratory,” intones the omniscient narrator of this goofy graphic novel, as Groovypants and sidekick Egor stand before the Phart-Maker-5000—a bean-fueled, green-smoke-spewing mechanical behemoth. The machine creates a prodigiously farting baby named Phartolomew, whose Superman-like origin story unfolds via uproarious clear-line drawings from Holub (The Eye of Cyclops) and Rosado (Call Me Iggy). In this spoof of classic superhero comics, Phartolomew is adopted by loving, bean-farming human couple Nancy and Newt Normal, who try to help their son fit in by living a legume-free life. But destiny is inexorable and, in fourth grade, Phartolomew eats a bean taco. With the help of Reeky Dog—a transmogrified Egor—Phartolomew embraces the identity of Fart Boy and aims to defeat evil Professor Groovypants by emitting “A NUCLEAR AIR BAGEL OF EPIC PROPORTIONS.” An “Are You Evil?” quiz and a banjo-backed lesson on fart science add more gas to a story that approaches bottom-shelf derrière jokes with the gravity of the finest and fanciest of odors. Fart Boy and Professor Groovypants read as white. Ages 7–10. (Apr.)