Introduction
Dog Man is a graphic novel series created by author and cartoonist Dav Pilkey. Pilkey is best known as the creator behind the children’s book series Captain Underpants. The Dog Man series tells the story of a police dog named Greg who is injured in the line of duty and has his head replaced with the head of a policeman, thus becoming the crime-fighting Dog Man. The series began in 2016 with Dog Man, and has since expanded to multiple sequels, spin-offs, and graphic novels. According to the Scholastic website, the Dog Man books have sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas is the fifth installment in Pilkey’s Dog Man series. Published in 2018, it continues the adventures of Dog Man and other recurring characters from previous books. The book was a New York Times bestseller and received positive reviews from critics. As with the other Dog Man books, Lord of the Fleas combines comic illustrations and text in Pilkey’s signature style that appeals to young readers.
Main Characters
The main characters in Lord of the Fleas are:
- Dog Man – the beloved hero and protector of the city, Dog Man is a dog/police officer hybrid who uses his heightened sense of smell and superior strength to fight crime. In this book, Dog Man faces off against an invasion of fleas led by Lil Petey.
- Petey – formerly known as Lil’ Petey, he was turned huge and evil in a previous book but is now small again and back to normal. Petey helps Dog Man try to stop the flea invasion.
- 80-HD – Dog Man’s robot partner who has 80 times the high-definition capabilities of a regular robot. 80-HD assists Dog Man using his advanced technology and analytic skills.
- Lil Petey – the flea version of Petey. He plots to take over the city with a flea army. Lil Petey is arrogant and likes bullying others.
- Chief – the head of the police department. Chief helps strategize with Dog Man on how to defeat the fleas.
These main characters drive the plot and work to stop Lil Petey’s invasion. Their unique traits and abilities are showcased as they band together for the sake of the city.
Plot Summary
In Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas, the villain Petey creates a robot clone of himself named Lil’ Petey. However, Lil’ Petey quickly goes out of control, rampaging through the city and causing mayhem. Dog Man and his friends 80-HD and Chief try to stop Lil’ Petey, but he proves too powerful.
Meanwhile, Petey has used his shrink ray to make an army of fleas huge, and is using them to take over the city. The giant fleas invade and start attacking everything in their path. Dog Man realizes the only way to defeat the flea invasion is by teaming up with Petey, even though he is a longtime enemy.
Working together, Dog Man and Petey are able to stop the flea invasion and defeat Lil’ Petey. Petey then ends up using the shrink ray on the giant fleas to return them to normal size. In the aftermath, Petey is arrested for his crimes, but Dog Man comes to realize Petey is not pure evil like he thought, bringing a bit more nuance to their rivalry.
Lil Petey’s Rampage
One of the main conflicts in Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas involves Lil Petey, the son of Petey from the previous Dog Man books. After being bullied and feeling rejected, Lil Petey decides to get revenge on the city by creating a robot flea army.
Lil Petey uses his technical skills and the supplies from his father Petey’s laboratory to build hundreds of giant mechanical fleas. He equips these metal insects with advanced weaponry and technology that allows him to control them remotely.
Soon, Lil Petey marches his flea forces into town, unleashing chaos and destruction. The giant fleas swarm all over, shooting laser beams from their eyes, chomping through metal with their jaws, and causing widespread mayhem. Lil Petey directs the rampaging robo-bugs from atop his own giant flea mount.
Before long, Lil Petey’s flea legion has taken over the entire city. The fleas smash buildings, halt traffic, and send citizens running in terror. With an evil laugh, Lil Petey proclaims himself Lord of the Fleas and dictator over the seized city. His robot insect army keeps the town under tight control.
Lil Petey’s flea invasion allows him to finally take revenge and exert power after feeling small and picked on. But his reckless actions put many innocent people in danger. Dog Man and his allies will have to find a way to stop the terrifying flea tyranny.
The Flea Forces
The evil cat Petey creates an army of flea robots to take over the city. The fleas are tiny robots that can jump incredibly high and fast thanks to their robotic legs. They swarm in massive numbers, making them difficult to stop. Each flea robot has the ability to bite and infect victims with a serum that turns people and animals into zombie-like slaves. This allows Petey to amass an enormous zombie army under his control. The fleas are highly elusive and evasive due to their jumping abilities and small size. Petey unleashes them on the city, infecting citizens and turning them into his zombie minions (Source 1).
Stopping the Invasion
Dog Man, Petey, and 80-HD hatch a plan to lure all the fleas into the Cannery Grow warehouse. Once inside, they trap the fleas and use the building’s fertilizer system to blast them all with water, washing away their nano-brains.
The Flea Queen ends up going down the drain after confronting Lil’ Petey. With the Flea Queen gone, the rest of the fleas revert to normal. Dog Man’s powers also go back to normal without the fleas enhancing them.
In an intense final battle, Dog Man faces off against Petey while 80-HD and Lil’ Petey take on the Li’l Petey clone. Thanks to teamwork and some help from Chief, they are able to defeat the clone and convince Petey to stand down. He realizes trying to take over the city was wrong.
With the flea invasion stopped, the city returns to peace once more. Dog Man and Petey call a permanent truce, ending their long rivalry.
Aftermath
After the fleas were defeated, the city began recovering from the invasion. Workers cleaned up the mess left behind and repaired damaged buildings and infrastructure. Many citizens were relieved that the flea threat was over.
Lil Petey, having been reprogrammed by the fleas, required repairs and adjustments.
Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas Robot workers at the lab gave Lil Petey an overhaul, reverting his programming back to normal. This allowed his friendly, helpful personality to return. Though it took some time, Lil Petey was eventually back to his old self, no longer under the fleas’ control.
Themes
The most prominent themes in Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas are friendship, responsibility, and technology.
The story explores the strong bond of friendship between the main characters Dog Man and Petey. Despite Petey’s transformation into Lil Petey and causing mayhem, Dog Man stands by his friend and helps him return to normal. Their friendship endures many challenges but ultimately prevails.
Responsibility is shown through Lil Petey and how his rampage demonstrates a lack of personal responsibility. But Dog Man takes responsibility to stop Lil Petey’s chaos. The Chief also learns to take responsibility for her role in creating Flea Force One. Overall, the book stresses the importance of being responsible for one’s actions.
Technology plays an important role as the Chief’s invention of Flea Force One allows her to control fleas. But this technology is misused by Lil Petey. The book highlights how technology can be used for good or ill depending on the user. Responsible use of technology is an underlying message.
Critical Reception
Lord of the Fleas has received largely positive reviews. It currently holds a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on Amazon, with over 1,200 reviews. Many reviewers praised the book’s humor, wacky illustrations, and the heartwarming relationship between the characters.
The book was an instant bestseller when it was released in August 2019. It debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for graphic novels, and remained in the top spot for several weeks. It was the bestselling graphic novel of 2019 according to Nielsen BookScan.
The Dog Man series as a whole has been enormously popular among children and adults alike. The previous books have all been bestsellers, cementing Dav Pilkey’s reputation as a master of humorous graphic novels. Fans eagerly anticipate each new Dog Man adventure.
“These books are like potato chips, you can’t read just one. My kids LOVE the Dog Man books!” – Review on Amazon (Source)
Legacy
Lord of the Fleas is renowned for having a lasting impact on the wildly popular Dog Man series and its legions of devoted readers. As the fifth main installment in the series, it built upon the ever-expanding world and lore that author Dav Pilkey had meticulously crafted in the previous books. This book in particular is known for significantly expanding the universe of Dog Man and introducing more complexity in the characters.
The new villains the Flea Forces posed a unique threat unlike anything Dog Man had faced before. Their invasion brought higher stakes that kept readers on the edge of their seats. The Flea Forces also enabled more ensemble storytelling, with Lil Petey and 80-HD playing larger roles in combatting the invasion. This paved the way for Pilkey to further develop the secondary characters. Ultimately, Lord of the Fleas set up future books to continue expanding the richness of the Dog Man universe.
For devoted fans, this book represented another thrilling adventure with their beloved characters. It reinforced many of the core themes that resonate with readers, such as friendship, heroism and perseverance. Lord of the Fleas delivered the signature Dog Man humor and fun that makes the series so appealing. By building on the lore and upping the stakes, this installment played a key role in cementing the enduring popularity of the Dog Man books.