Lola’s father is a secret agent. He hides it well at home, when he’s washing the dishes or doing the vacuuming, or cooking dinner. But Lola knows the truth. She’s really proud of the fact that he’s a secret agent. And she wants to protect him. So when she’s supposed to be in bed sleeping, she gets up, makes herself a cape out of the curtains, and heads out with her friends to keep her dad safe.
But instead of taking a lap around the neighborhood and finding everything as it should be, she sees her parents tied up and taken away by bad guy Max Imum and his two evil dogs. Lola and her super friends follow them, and find themselves in danger they never dreamed of.
But there is no need for concern. Lola is smart and can dance. Her cat, Hot Dog, can make jokes and get out of the way. But her toy dinosaur James has a super secret power where he can expand, growing to a genuinely intimidating size, causing his shorts to turn into a thong. But he is sufficiently scary to hold off Max and his minions.
When Max tries to run, Lola and her Supers have no choice but to follow, finding allies along the way and adding sharks, skeletons, an alligator, and others to her roaming pack of superheroes. And that’s just the first of the 2 adventures in Lola’s Super Club #1. (The second adventure involves time-bending glances at history with the same sort of laugh-out-loud moments as the first adventure).
Wildly imaginative, this graphic novel for kids (although there is plenty of humor for adults as well) is a crazy adventure through the playful musings of writer Christine Beigel and illustrator Pierre Foiullet. It’s like a super clever cartoon captured on the page, with all the giggles, groans, and frenetic energy captured in words and art.
When I first heard about Lola’s Super Club, I thought it would be cute and maybe cleverly funny. I didn’t expect the lovely surprises that made me laugh out loud throughout these graphic tales or for how much I truly came to love these characters. Lola is an absolute delight, but there is no one who can hold a candle to Super-James when he decides it’s time to save the day!
Egalleys for Lola’s Super Club #1 were provided by Papercutz, with many thanks.
