Dog Man

Li'l Petey steps out of Dog Man's supporting cast and into a comic-making classroom. In Cat Kid Comic Club, a group of young frogs tries different ways to tell stories while their mentors help them through mistakes and disagreements. The panels, visual jokes, and appetite for nonsense will feel familiar. The real shift is that the children make the comics instead of watching a canine officer solve a case. This is the closest next stop for a reader who likes Pilkey's cast and wants to try drawing a story of their own.

Before George and Harold drew Dog Man, they created Captain Underpants. Their prank on their school principal turns him into the hero of their comic, and the two boys must deal with the absurd result. You get Pilkey's broad humor, mischievous children, and pages that invite a quick read. The original Captain Underpants books mix illustrated prose with comics, so they ask for a little more continuous reading than Dog Man's panels. Start here if the funniest part of Dog Man was the idea that kids could invent their own hero.

The alligator detectives in InvestiGators are as confidently ridiculous as Dog Man's police force. Mango and Brash investigate strange cases with gadget-filled vests, puns, and enough action to keep the panels moving. John Patrick Green builds longer visual jokes and mysteries out of their mistakes. The pair are partners from the start, while Dog Man's appeal often comes from his changing relationship with Petey and Li'l Petey. This is a good choice when a young reader wants another brightly drawn crime-fighting comic and can happily tolerate a very high pun count.

Aaron Blabey begins with a wolf, shark, snake, and piranha trying to prove they can be good guys. Like Dog Man, The Bad Guys turns an unlikely team into a source of action and silly reversals. It also leaves room for the question of whether someone with a bad reputation can change. The art is sparse and the chapters move fast; these are heavily illustrated books rather than full-color graphic novels. Follow the first volume if Petey's attempts to be better interested you more than the simple hero-versus-villain setup.

Hilo crashes to Earth without a clear memory of who he is, then makes friends who help him face the dangers that follow. Judd Winick's graphic novel shares Dog Man's big expressions, quick action, and warm belief in oddball friendship. The difference is the scale: Hilo gradually opens into a science-fiction adventure with a longer continuing plot, rather than a run of mostly comic capers. Choose it for a reader ready to keep track of a larger story while staying in a colorful, funny, approachable graphic format.