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The Captain Underpants series, by Dave "Dav" Pilkey, is a series of American children's books about two 4th graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, and the aptly-named superhero they accidentally created, who is their principal, Mr. Benny Krupp. more...
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Overview
In their spare time, George and Harold write comic books about a superhero they made up which they called Captain Underpants, hence the title of the book. This character is named after his choice of clothing including only a red cape with black polka-dots and a pair of white underwear. Their cartoon character is unexpectedly brought to life when George and Harold jokingly hypnotize Mr. Krupp, their principal, to act like Captain Underpants. To their consternation, from then on whenever somebody snaps their fingers Mr. Krupp transforms into Captain Underpants, and then turns back if water is poured over his head.
Although the books take place in the real town of Piqua, Ohio, all areas that are mentioned in the town are purely fictional. The only real fact about Piqua mentioned in the series is its location in Miami County, Ohio.
Jerome Horwitz Elementary, where most of the stories take place, is a school that condemns any comedy and pranking, yet is ironically named after Curly Howard of the Three Stooges.
These potty-mouthed books are considered very clever and funny by their target audience, and even some of their parents. The book often makes references to things from the 1970s.
The Captain Underpants books were reported by the American Library Association to be among the ten most frequently challenged books. Certain things have been included in the books as a response, including posters that advertise mindless conformity, school rules against using one's imagination, and an evil librarian who bans all but one book from the school library.
Pilkey also wrote and illustrated a book called The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, which takes the form of a comic book drawn and written by George Beard and Harold Hutchins.
In 2008 there will be a Captain Underpants movie by Warner Brothers.
Every book in the series has many similarities:
The last phrase of a chapter has the answer as the title of the next chapter. (Example: Mr. Krupp says "Where, oh where?"; the title of the next chapter is "Here, oh here");
Every book has a chapter with just a few words and one page, titled "To Make a Long Story Short". "It did" is the usual phrase in the chapter. The eight book bent this a little, making two chapters on it, the first being the usual, and the second being entitled "To Make A Longer Story Even Shorter";
Every book begins with "George and Harold" as the first chapter, with George and Harold switching a sign around to make a funny phrase. The only one that bent this pattern was Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy (part 2), which also introduces Melvin Sneedly, Mr. Krupp, Sulu, Carl, Trixie, and Frankenbooger, due to the chase. George and Harold still switch a sign around. Oddly enough, the eighth book did not include introductions of Sulu and Crackers.;
Every book has two comics, one in the plot, and one at the beginning, explaining what happened. (For the latter, it explains how Mr. Krupp turned into Captain Underpants and, for the fourth book and on, how Captain Underpants got super powers. For book 7, it also explains what happened in book 6, being a two-parter. Book 8 highly enshortened the introductions for 6 and 7, just saying that Melvin invented the Purple Potty). Books 5 and 8 were the only ones that included three comics, one being created by the evil versions of George and Harold in an alternate reality.;
Every single book ends with Mr. Krupp turning back into Captain Underpants (due to a snap), or something going wrong, either way having George and Harold crying "Oh no! Here we go again!". The two shout the phrase in book 6 being chased by the Robo-Boogers, for book 7 having the Purple Potty go terribly wrong, and book 8 for being chased by Tippy Tinkletrousers (earlier called Professor Pippy P. P. Poopypants).;
On the cover, it says the number of the series' number, epic novel. (Example: For the first book in the series; The first epic novel);
In George and Harold's Captain Underpants comics, the (fictional) principal is told that the current menace has done something nasty to a certain object as well as the gym teacher, but the principal isn't concerned with the latter. In book 7, he's told that someone got attacked. When he asks who it was, he is told that it's the gym teacher. He is then relieved that it was nobody important. Book 8 did not include such a thing, having no comic being solely Captain Underpants.;
There is a little boy who, after seeing a fight between Captain Underpants and the book's villain, says something like, "Mommy, I just saw a guy in his underwear fighting someone!", to which the mother denies it by saying something like, "Don't be silly." She is often seen reading something even more unbelievable, such as a book about how to lose 20 pounds in 3 days.;
Every book has a chapter known as "The Incredibly Graphic Violence Chapter", which has an animation mode known as Flip-o-Rama or "The Cheesy Animation Technique". It begins with a silly warning about how the "violence" might be offending, instructions on how to work Flip-o-Rama by flipping one page back and forth, and then one to three groups of pages that you flip back and forth. Instead of a violence chapter, book 7 includes instructions on how to do the Underpants Dance. However, book 8 did not include a silly warning on the first page of a flip-o-rama chapter.;
At the end of Chapter 1 in every book the last line is "But before I can tell you that story I have to tell you THIS story", reverting to another sub-plot story that often ties into the main-plot.;
There is occasional meta-humor, the most common joke being a character declaring something only happening in poorly written children's stories, usually right before the actual event happening.;
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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