The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby (2002)

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby is a 2002 children's graphic novel by American author Dav Pilkey, credited on the cover as in-universe authors George Beard and Harold Hutchins. The book is a spin-off of Pilkey's Captain Underpants series. It follows a baby named Billy who gains superpowers shortly after birth. Billy teams up with a super-powered dog, Diaper Dog, to fight Diaper Dog's former master, a sentient piece of feces named Deputy Dangerous.

Plot

Introduction

Fourth-graders George Beard and Harold Hutchins are caught skating over ketchup packets in the school gym by their mean-spirited principal, Mr. Krupp. Krupp has them write a 100-page essay on "good citizenship," and specifically banning them from creating a Captain Underpants comic instead. The boys find a loophole and instead create a comic book about a different superhero called "Super Diaper Baby", to Krupp's surprise.

Plot

Expectant couple Bill and Mary Hoskins rush to the hospital; meanwhile, Deputy Dangerous and his talking pet dog, Danger Dog, trap Captain Underpants and drain him of his superpowers. They convert the superpowers into juice, intending to share it to give themselves powers. Danger Dog drinks half of the juice, but the police come to arrest them before the Deputy gets a chance to drink. They run away from the police, ending up below the hospital.

At the hospital, Mary gives birth to a boy, naming him Billy. The attending doctor gives Billy a "spank of life", accidentally jettisoning him out of the window in the process. He lands in Deputy Dangerous' container of juice and drinks it, gaining superpowers and becoming Super Diaper Baby, before returning the favour to the doctor for spanking him. Billy then overpowers Deputy Dangerous and Danger Dog, who are arrested.

Danger Dog and Deputy Dangerous break out of jail and escape to their secret lab, where the Deputy invents a crib device that would transmit Billy's powers to him at midnight, which they deliver to the Hoskins under pseudonyms. Billy soils himself before midnight, so Mary takes him for a bath and leaves his soiled diaper in the crib. The device then activates and transmits Billy's excrement to Deputy Dangerous, turning him into a small, living piece of feces. The next morning, Deputy Dangerous invents a robotic ant mecha-suit and intends to use it to destroy the city as an act of revenge. Danger Dog does not take the Deputy's efforts seriously, calling him "Deputy Doo-Doo" and choosing to cause mischief instead of destruction.

Billy's parents see the giant robotic ant, scaring them. Billy leaves his home to defeat it, but after a brief battle is captured by Deputy Doo-Doo, who throws him into the cooling tower of a nearby nuclear power plant. Danger Dog flies into the tower, saving Billy, while Deputy Doo-Doo falls into the tower instead. Inside, the radiation from the plant makes the Deputy grow to giant size. Meanwhile, Billy's family adopts Danger Dog and puts a diaper on him to placate their landlord, renaming him Diaper Dog.

Deputy Doo-Doo continues his destruction of the city and Billy and Diaper Dog seek to stop him. They trick him into attacking himself and wrap him up in a giant roll of toilet paper from a nearby store roof before flying him to Uranus. Billy and Diaper Dog order superpower juice at a bar in space on the way back and give it to Captain Underpants (who is still trapped), restoring his powers.

Characters

Billy Hoskins/Super Diaper Baby – The book's protagonist, a newborn baby who gains super powers shortly after his birth.

Danger/Diaper Dog – The Hoskins' pet dog and Super Diaper Baby's sidekick. Previously allied with Deputy Dangerous, but by his own confession was "in it for the kibbles".

Deputy Dangerous/Doo-Doo – The main antagonist. He is transformed into a piece of feces during an attempt to steal Super Diaper Baby's powers.

Additional characters

Bill and Mary Hoskins - Billy's parents.

Captain Underpants - The title character of the Captain Underpants book series, appearing in a minor role.

The Doctor - The unnamed doctor responsible for delivering Billy.

Foreword characters

George Beard - The in-universe author of the book.

Harold Hutchins - The in-universe illustrator of the book.

Mr. Krupp - The principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, who finds the books in the Super Diaper Baby series offensive.

Development

While developing Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman, Dav Pilkey began exploring ideas for a standalone book containing a collection of comics, written by the characters George and Harold. One of these ideas was a story called Super Diaper Baby, loosely inspired by a comic Pilkey had drawn as a child called Diaper Man. While sketching early designs for cover art, Pilkey grew to like the concept and decided to expand the story into its own book.

Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers

Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers is the second book in the series. Initially advertised on the final page of the first book, its release took longer than Dav Pilkey initially anticipated due needing to care for his terminally ill father, who died in 2008. The sequel was eventually published on June 28, 2011, billed as The Third Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins. This book also featured the debut of Petey the Cat, a villain who would later appear prominently in Pilkey's Dog Man series.

Introduction

The book picks up directly after the end of the first book's introduction. Mr. Krupp becomes furious at the comic George and Harold turned in as their 100-page essay, objecting to its scatological humour. When the boys struggle to think of something to write that does not involve poop, Krupp shows them a book from his childhood, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! with the last seven pages torn out, which he believes is more realistic. Upon reading it, George and Harold once again find a loophole are inspired to make a sequel to Super Diaper Baby about pee instead. This new book similarly offends Krupp, who sends the pair to detention.