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Ayla Elledge
Professor M. Campbell
UWRT 1101-059
September 16, 2014
Captain Underpants: From Awful to Ally
When I was in elementary school, I looked forward to the book-fair every
year. In fourth grade, I found a book that just come out called The Adventures
of Captain Underpants. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and re-reading it. It
follows the lives of the main characters George Beard and Harold Hutchins as
they get into mischief in and outside of school. The first book in the series
shows how the boys accidentally hypnotize their despised principal, Mr. Krupp,
into believing he is the protagonist of the comic books they write, Captain
Underpants. Once Mr. Krupp is transformed into Captain Underpants, he goes
looking for crime to fight. The boys must constantly follow him so that he
doesnt get hurt. This leads them all into harms way and the boys into major
trouble if their secret gets revealed. In the end, they hypnotize him back into
being their principal. However, every time Mr. Krupp hears the snap of
fingers, he turns back into Captain Underpants, setting up the storyline for
future books.
Captain Underpants came out in the mid-nineties. During this time (and
since), there has been an explosion of graphic novels and comic books. Though

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there have always been comic books, in the last twenty or so years they have
become increasingly popular. I think this is correlated with the access to
information via computers and the internet. Computers have made it much
easier to produce and reproduce visual aspects of media (movies, cartons,
prints) which allows a larger audience to made works of art they previously
couldnt have. Another interesting fact about the Captain Underpants series is
that it is one of the most complained about and banned books from libraries
around America. In both 2012 and 2013, it topped the list as being the most
banned book from libraries in America, as reported by the American Library
Association.
Some other works comparable to Captain Underpants are the Big Nate
series, written by Lincoln Peirce and The Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series by Jeff
Kinney. Captain Underpants is a childrens comedic graphic fiction novel. It is
mainly geared at children ages 7-10. I believe Pilkey is mainly targeting most
children in this age group, but also some of the less popular children or
trouble-makers. Children of this age can be very bored by reading and
academics, in general. For them to like a publication, it should grab and hold
their interest, while entertaining them. I applaud him for writing and
illustrating books that achieve this.
Captain Underpants fits well in this genre because there is a generous
amount of illustration on each page. He also chooses to use comic-style
onomatopoeia several time throughout the book. In addition to his cartoon

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work, he includes several jokes and silly situations that the boys and their
principal get into. Other books in this genre use very similar conventions such
as cartoon-y illustrations, witty comedy, silly or bizarre plot twists, and antiauthority tones.
Childrens graphic novels often try to connect to their readers by
expressing a discontent for adults. In Captain Underpants, not only is there a
chapter titled Mean Old Mr. Krupp, but the characters go in to detail about
why they dont like him. He hated laughter and singing. He hated the sounds
of children playing at recess. In fact, he hated children altogether.
Furthermore, Mr. Krupp coerces (blackmails) them into behaving themselves
and doing chores for him in exchange for keeping quiet about pranks they
pulled on classmates that resulted in a football game being forfeited. These are
examples of the writer vilifying the principal to connect with the reader on a
common ground. Many students do not like their teachers or principals and
will understand Fred and Georges malcontent. Although the audience will
never experience some of the fictional scenarios that happen in this book, they
can understand and empathize with something such as being sent to the
principals office or hating their lunch lady.
Childrens graphic novels of this variety also use a lot of comedy to
entertain their audience. The purpose of this is to captivate children in
elementary school and make them laugh. Mr. Krupp recalls the time Fred and
George rigged the intercoms to play Weird Al Yankovic on full-blast for 6

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hours. In chapter 10, the boys acquire a 3D hypno-ring. Before accidentally

transforming their principal into a superhero, they first make him act like a
chicken and then a monkey. The title character itself is used to elicit laughter.
Captain Underpants is a grown man in his underwear who is bald and fights
crime with the use of Wedgie Power. He fights for Truth, Justice, and all that
is pre-shrunk and Cottony. These scenes/excerpts are hilarious and would
definitely make children laugh. Laughter and fun can be a deciding factor in
whether a child decides to continue reading a book or not.
Captain Underpants breaks this genre by adding a tactile activity in
which his readers can participate. In the chapter titled The Extremely Graphic
Violence Chapter, Pilkey includes directions of how to flip the pages fast to
create an action scene similar to how cartoons are made. He encourages the
reader to become part of the process of how they experience the pictures he
has drawn for the climactic vanquishing of the villains.
The author writes in such a way that is easy for the young audience to
read. He uses very straight-forward and unambiguous diction/language. It is
very simple and he doesnt go into overly-wordy explanations that the reader
may not understand. Pilkey also chooses to use lots of character dialogue in
quotations. I believe he uses this to make the book sound as informal as
possible; it is as if the characters could be talking in your presence, leading
back to him wanting to form a connection with the reader.

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The purpose of this series (and most childrens books, in general) is to

entertain children enough so that they enjoy reading. The more one reads, the
more one learns and understands. He accomplishes this through vivid
illustration and a simple, yet interesting plot. I think there is a higher purpose
in Pilkeys writing. This is to encourage creativity that he may have not
experience when he was a child. He subtly achieves this by showing that the
characters Fred and George produce comic books that all of their peers Love
and enjoy to read. Pilkeys audience is at a very impressionable age where a bit
of encouragement and interest can go a long way in the development of their
interests.
When I first read this book, I imagined it as a live-action Superhero film.
If it were to be made into a superhero movie, such as Captain America or XMen, many things would have to be adapted. The audience for this would
expand, if not completely change. Instead of Captain Underpants being geared
toward children, it would also have a larger target audience of males from
childhood to males in their late twenties. If adapted, Captain Underpants story
line would be edited to add more violence and explosions because many
superhero movies include these. Also, the script would likely include a love
interest for either Captain Underpants or the boys because this is a popular
convention of action-based, comic-derived movies. In a Captain Underpants
movie, they would add more comedy, innuendo, and strong language. This is
because the older audience is more suited to hearing this type of language in
adult movies. They could keep some of the original elements of the book, such

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as a montage of the Flip-O-Rama chapter. They would have to graphically edit

the film slides to mimic the flipping of comic book pages. To fill the time
required by the convention of this genre, they would probably have to combine
the stories of two or more novels. All in all, I believe a Captain Underpants film
would be a fun thing to see.