46 pages • 1 hour read
Dog Man Unleashed
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Symbols & Motifs
Absurdity
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
Much of the story’s humor depends on absurd situations and characters. This motif of absurdity begins with the story’s very premise—that the head of a dog has been surgically implanted onto the body of a human, resulting in the creation of the world’s greatest police officer, Dog Man. Dog Man’s habits are absurd—he is a police officer obsessed with balls and licking both bones and his fellow officers, and he loves to roll in dead fish. The villains he chases are absurd—a habitually criminal cat, a paper representation of that same cat brought to life with “Living Spray,” and a pet fish described as “the fishy face of evil” (42). This fish is made super-intelligent and granted telekinetic powers by the accidental ingestion of “Supa Brain Dots” (53), a supplement the police chief is taking for his poor memory. Even Dog Man’s eventual defeat of the story’s bad guys relies more on absurd chains of events than it does on logic and planning. The story’s motif of absurdity is also supported by its language, art, and tone. The use of techniques like puns, the silly names of characters and objects, and the narrative’s often hyperbolic drawings all work together to create a humorous tone that complements the absurdity of the plot and characters. The motif of absurdity functions as an important support for The Importance of Creativity and Silliness.
Rock, Paper, Scissors
The motif of the rock, paper, scissors game comes up twice in the narrative. The first time it appears is when Flat Petey breaks away from the EMTs who are trying to take him back to jail. Flat Petey hands the EMT, who is standing on his tail, a rock and then jerks his tail free. The rock bounces out of the off-balance EMT’s hands, hits him on the head, and then bounces over to hit the other EMT in the head, rendering them both unconscious. As Flat Petey runs off, he reminds them that “[p]aper always beats rock” (79).
Much later in the story, Flat Petey is defeated similarly. Boog E. Feeva asks whether he has heard of the game and then enchants a pair of scissors to chase Flat Petey, reminding the paper creation that “scissors always beats paper” (180). The use of similar phrasing reinforces the moment’s function as a call-back joke. The rock, paper, scissors motif adds to the story’s playfulness and helps to develop The Importance of Creativity and Silliness.
Metafiction
The use of George and Harold as narrators and their status as the in-universe “author” and “illustrator” of Dog Man Unleashed is a strategy that introduces a metafictional motif. The two youngsters are pictured in the story’s first panel as if they have drawn themselves into the book. They indicate that the Foreword’s purpose is to “help ya get caught up on the epicness” of the backstory (5), drawing attention to the book as a book—a created artifact. The visual style of the narrative is another metafictional element. Its childish drawings and handwriting, use of many colors, and deliberate misspellings all work together to draw attention to the book’s alleged status as the creation of two fictional children from the Captain Underpants series. This silly premise increases the story’s absurdity and supports The Importance of Creativity and Silliness. The story is heavily intertextual, making frequent references to popular music, film, and other children’s stories. In one case, an entire character—Flat Petey—functions as an allusion to Flat Stanley. The Chief’s final words at the end of the book are an implied commentary on the moralizing of much of children’s fiction: He extols the absurdity and lack of meaning in the book’s plot, making it clear that nonsense and fun are a legitimate purpose for children’s literature.
Bad Habits
When Dog Man is created, the best qualities of Officer Knight are combined with both the best and worst qualities of Greg the Dog. Unfortunately, some of Greg’s habits become a problem in Dog Man’s career as a police officer. The Foreword makes this explicit, naming the bad habits that Dog Man ends up with: He slobbers, chases balls, and rolls in dead fish. Harold and George, acting as narrators, ask the question: “Will our hero be able to overcome his canine nature and be a better man?” (13). This motif continues throughout the story. Dog Man licks his fellow officers, causes havoc at the pet store, and sometimes gets distracted from his pursuit of justice by his desire to chase balls and lick bones. Ironically, though, these bad habits end up saving the day on more than one occasion: Dog Man bites down on the ball on the controller of Petey’s Treasure Tank 2000, inadvertently saving himself from the Love Ray and causing Petey to fall off the tank; he licks the animated Tyrannosaurus so vigorously that it tickles the creature and makes it his friend; and he licks Flat Petey and gets him wet enough to freeze. This irony supports the story’s motif of absurdity and The Importance of Creativity and Silliness.
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