The Bad Guys

About The Bad Guys

Mr. Wolf has spent his whole life being feared on sight, so he recruits fellow "scary" animals -- Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark -- into a gang with an unlikely mission: doing good deeds to prove that bad-looking guys can be good guys too. It rarely goes to plan. Each fast-moving, mostly-dialogue graphic novel sends the gang on a chaotic heist-shaped rescue mission -- breaking into a pound to free shelter dogs, infiltrating a chicken farm, going undercover in outer space -- that inevitably spirals into slapstick disaster before landing, somehow, on the right side of good.

Aaron Blabey writes the whole thing as pure high-energy comedy: snappy back-and-forth banter, cliffhanger chapter breaks, and simple black-and-white cartoon art that reads almost like a storyboard, which makes it exceptionally friendly to younger and reluctant readers who find denser illustrated novels intimidating. Underneath the jokes is a consistent, gentle theme about first impressions being wrong and about choosing who you want to be rather than accepting the reputation you were given.

The series became a global hit and the basis of the 2022 DreamWorks animated film, and it remains one of the most reliable "gets kids reading" recommendations for the 6-10 age range, thanks to its speed, humor, and low barrier to entry.

How to read this series

Read strictly in publication order starting with The Bad Guys (2015/2016). The missions build on each other into one continuous, escalating story -- new gang members join, an overarching villain plot develops, and later books pay off jokes and character turns set up many books earlier -- so this is not a series where you can jump in anywhere.

The series is complete at 20 books, concluding with One Last Thing (2024), which makes it an easy, satisfying binge for a young reader once they're hooked: there's a definite ending waiting at the end of the shelf, not an open-ended wait for the next installment.