Odd Cat Couple! It's Me! (Catwad) by Jim Benton

Catwad looks like a cranky cat.

He may not really be cranky, but we'll never know--as long as he's stuck with his dumb companion Blurmp. Not just the usual slowcoach, your everyday dense and dumb dolt, mind you. Blurmp is a boneheaded blockhead. But Blurmp has his good qualities, too.

Here's a sample:

"I'M A CRIMEFIGHTING HERO NOW!" SAYS BLURMP.

"OKAY," CHALLENGES CATWAD. "LET'S HEAR YOUR ORIGIN STORY!"

Blurmp tells Catwad that he considered being one of those inscrutable-heroes-with-a-past, those Angry Heroes of the Night. But he has to go to bed too early for that.

He considered being the type of hero who gets his super powers from the bite of an irradiated insect, but he worries that the bug might have spent too much time in proximity to dog poo.

He was tempted to be one of those heroes who grows huge and powerful whenever he's in a bad temper.

"BUT GETTING BIG AND STRONG WOULD MAKE ME SO HAPPY THAT I WOULD JUST SHRINK AGAIN!" SAID BLURMP.

So Catwad questions Blurmp about the scope of his superhero powers.

"WELL," SAID BLURMP, "WHENEVER I SEE A CRIMINAL GETTING READY TO STEAL SOMETHING... I JUST GO AHEAD AND BUY IT FOR HIM!

THE BEST WAY TO FIGHT CRIME IS TO MAKE SURE IT NEVER HAPPENS!"
Catwad has no comeback to counter that kind of logic!

But finally Catwad comes up with a way to at least keep Blurmp quiet:

"HEY, CATWAD. LET'S PLAY TRUTH OR DARE!"

"OKAY," SAYS CATWAD. "TRUTH OR DARE?"

"DARE!"" SHOUTS BLURMP!

With a wicked grin, Catwad executes his clever plan.

"I DARE YOU TO STOP PLAYING AND NEVER BRING IT UP AGAIN," SAID CATWAD.

Blurmp sits silently, snickering to himself. Days and weeks and years pass....

"OH, MY GOSH, I'M WINNING." HE THINKS GLEEFULLY....

"I'M STILL WINNING...."

But thanks to Jim Benton, the New York Times best-selling cartoonist has plenty more graphic comic books like It's Me. (Catwad 1)(Scholastic Books, 2019), spoofing this star-crossed couple, with the crotchety Catwad and his quirky companion playing the perfect straight man and noodle-head character. This one offers perfect comic relief that will appeal to the fans of Dav Pilkey's The Adventures of Captain Underpants and its sequels.