Agents of S.U.I.T. 2 | Review

Agents of S.U.I.T. : From Badger to Worse
by John Patrick Green and Christopher Hastings, illustrated by Pat Lewis, colors by Wes Dzioba.
First Second, 2024, $12.99
Grades 3-8

It’s Punny. That’s how my son describes the world of the InvestiGators. Though my son has already started high school, he immensely enjoys these titles. And every time First Second sends a review copy to my home, it takes a week before I can read it as it circulates multiple times with my 3 oldest readers. (I give it another year until my little one joins the fray of who gets to read it first.)

Mango and Brash, the original InvestiGators, are now a whole universe of characters. In the second volume of the spinoff series we meet the Badgers, Marsha and Bongo. The duo are grossly over budget, using S.U.I.T equipment like money grows on trees. So they are sent to the tropics to investigate a series of thefts at a resort. Though the mission is meant to knock them down a peg, instead they end up in the midst of an unusual operation and the duo fumble along, happily solving the case, as they stumble onto clue after clue.

The illustrations burst with vibrant colors. The panels offer a sense of expression and adventure. Reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons, the artwork adds much lightness to the already hilarious text which is filled with puns and double entendre. (Looney Tunes comes to mind.) Though young readers can read and understand the plot, a lot of the humor is for an older reader who has a better grasp of the language, which means the title (and the entire series) can be enjoyed by many age levels.

If you haven’t read any of the Agents of S.U.I.T. yet, it’s time to go back to volume 1, but truthfully, this second volume can be completely understood without reading the first one.

Filed under: Graphic Novels, Reviews