The Snips: A Bad Buzz Day

by Raúl the Third, Elaine Bay (illustrator)

For readers of Dog Man and The Bad Guyscomes a fun and zany early graphic novel series starring a crew of scissor-wielding hairdresser superheroes saving the city from evildoers bent on creating havoc and bad haircuts.

The Snips is a superhero series filled with action, adventure, comedy, and hijinks for readers who love Dav Pilkey and animated television shows like Scooby-Doo and Guess Who. The Snips aren’t your average heroes – Casco, Patty, Letty, Nubes, and Flealix the Dog make up Scissor City's beloved crew of crime-fighting, mystery-solving barbers! But not everyone in Scissor City is a fan of their dazzling dos and wacky hair inventions. Buzz and Boffo Buzzington, the descendants of the creator of the buzz cut, have been desperately trying to find a way to overthrow the Snips, restore Buzz Corp—their family's company—to the top of the hair-cutting world, and finally earn the respect of their father Biff Buzzington Sr. Can the Snips keep the citizens of Scissor City safe from the hijinks of the Bad Buzz Boyz and still give amazing hairdos?

This easy-to-read graphic novel series will be perfect for kids 7-10, those who are reluctant readers or newly independent readers, as well as kids who just like jokes, puns, and outrageous humor.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Humor, Middle Grade, Comics, Childrens, Juvenile, Superheroes

128 pages, Hardcover

Published January 28, 2025

About the author

Raúl The Third is an award-winning illustrator, author, and artist living in Boston. His work centers around the contemporary Mexican-American experience and his memories of growing up in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a ridiculous, over-the-top story about a desert town in the middle of nowhere (but clearly the southwest United States), sometime in the future (if the future has improbable robots, vehicles, and various absurd inventions), with ageless protagonists (who have adult-level skills and jobs, but look like pre-teens) and cruel villains (who look like middle-age men but behave like 5th graders gone bad).

The storyline is absurdist, the hair puns are abundant, and the artistic style is a combo of George Herriman's Krazy Kat & Ignatz the Mouse (Geo. Herriman's Krazy and Ignatz: Howling Among the Halls of Night: 004, etc.), decades-old silent-movie-reels, Saturday morning television cartoons, and syndicated comic strips (specifically; Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, & Nancy and Sluggo), all combined with your quirkiest adult friends' tattoos.

The work of Raul the Third surely must appeal to the parents of the intended audience more than the readers themselves, and yet, I am so glad they continue to create these off-the-wall scenarios with the richness of the Hispanic/Latine cultural details.

I especially liked the liberal use of Spanish vocabulary, usually in dialogue, always translated, without any residue of didacticism. These are words the kids will be happy to learn; they are silly and apropos - not effortfully preserving a connection to some distant culture, but welcoming young readers into a vibrant and engaging world where people use language creatively. I think the guffaw-worthy puns and chucklingly silly names alongside the occasional use of Spanish all together put readers in the mood to go along for the ride and not take any of it too seriously.

And yet, the underlying messages are completely kid-friendly, not pandering to their hipster parents; the resolutions they arrive at focus on teamwork, skill development, empathy, and win-win solutions. This is the world in which scrappy workers win over greedy capitalists, even while all of them are obsessed with hairdos.

[Maria (marmalade.reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book features an over the top and rather silly storyline that would be perfect for kids in the 6-8 age range. The art, sound effects, and whacky storyline are a lot of fun and engaging and this is chock full of silly jokes and humor that kids would love.T

his story also contains many phrases in Spanish written by a native Spanish speaker that feel authentic to the characters, but still have translations in footnotes to make it approachable. I think this is a great book for bilingual kids or for Spanish language learners to pick up and see characters that look like them and speak their language while still being approachable for a mass audience.

The plot does feel a bit like it picks up from another book and could also be leading into another book. I'm sure a lot of the randomness is intentional but some of it felt jarring or confusing to be dropped in the middle of.

I was gifted a physical copy for review purposes. Thoughts are my own.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an adult, this is 4.5 stars. As a kid, I would have LOVED this and it would have been an easy 5. It gave me Louis Sachar or Roald Dahl vibes - wacky, hilarious, fine-tuned to a child's sense of wonderment. It also gave me Katie the Catsitter similarities - another excellent, creative graphic novel series, though for a slightly older audience.

I only wish the story was longer and had more time to develop. It is a normal pace in the beginning and becomes faster and faster as the story goes on.

Loved the mix of English and Spanish. The art is gorgeous and vibrant. I want more kids graphic novels to be this inventive and fun. If this gets turned into a series, I will definitely be continuing.

[Matt Glaviano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the influence of classic comic art you can see in the work of some contemporary graphic novel artists. From that POV, this made me think of Nathan Hale's Mighty Bite books.

To be clear, I'm just here for the art (which is great), but I'm not really sure who I'd hand this title to.

My son was almost confused by the level of Spanish in the text. He said something about how this was either translated or in two languages. I see what he's saying, but I think that's both intentional and well done; Raul the Third's use of words with a common school usage (among other words, "backpack" is in here) seems like a great way to offer some shared vocabulary to his audience.

But I'm only in it for the pictures. Which are great.

[Elliott Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me: 4/5 I had a lot of fun reading this with the gremlins, we laughed a lot and I also liked the Spanish translations being included on page so we didn’t have to look it up, but also it felt really authentic to the characters to use Spanish regularly.

11 year old: 4.25/5 I liked the jokes in it. It could have been longer.

8 year old: 1 billion/5 The words coming out of the persons feet when she was flying. It could have been longer.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, accessible, adventure-filled graphic novel about getting the bad guys, hairstyles galore, and teamwork! But my favorite part was after the story, where the backmatter gives you a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw a character, gives details about a real world record relating to the story, and then shares about how the colors on barber poles came to be. Lots of fun, from the ever-fabulous Raúl the Third!

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC from NetGalley.

Take it on credit that by Raul and Elaine is going to be a feast for the eyes. As with Lowriders from Space and the Vamos series, the duo create a dynamic, energetic world. I could have wanted a little more from the book-it felt to me like too much introduction/worldbuilding, but it is fun.

[Kiersten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book from a Goodreads giveaway and I’m really happy I won it. It’s a really cute book and the illustrations are really vibrant and detailed. I thought the plot was good and the language was simple for young readers. I also enjoyed the translations for the few Spanish words. Definitely adding this one to my classroom library.

[Karli Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hair-cutting superheroes. Villains. Chaos. Took me a minute to get into it because the art is loud and there’s a lot happening, but once it clicked, it was fun. I loved the bilingual text, Spanish words with asterisks for English, not too distracting. The jokes and facts in the back were a nice surprise too. Fast-paced, punny, and kind of wild.

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars (I liked it)

This was a pretty bizarre premise and story but it kind of worked. In the vein of Dog Man or The Bad Guys (both mentioned in the Goodreads blurb), very silly things happen but kid seem to like that. I liked all the puns and the inclusion of the Spanish words (with translations right underneath).

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

First page with the rooster in front of mountain reminds me of El Paso
Gotta love some heroes to save us from bad hair days
Gift shop in the way out of the museum 😆
Barbers and inventors
Crimes against hairmanity
Bad buzz boys unleash the hairthing to distract the Snips while they try to break the haircuts in a day record. Snips to the rescue!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story stars superheroes that are fight crime and solve mysteries while cutting and styling hair! Someone is forcefully giving buzz cuts to everyone in town against their will, and the Snips are going to get to the bottom of this.

[Glenna Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad hair day takes on a new meaning when the Buzzington boys decide to take the world record of haircuts away from the snips. One zany adventure follows another on a weird journey to justice and good hair. I don't think I have ever seen so many hair jokes in one place.

[Saritza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun and funny read.

[D.T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art style is very vibrant and quirky, but the beginning was bogged down by too much exposition for me. I think this would really excel as a cartoon. Kids will like the wackiness.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly imaginative and deeply goofy -- love the retro comic style, the over-the-top heroes and the extremely silly mayhem. Delightful!

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a story. A cut above.
😊😊

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel for younger readers is funny with a frenetic pace that keeps the pages quickly turning.

[Yapha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Snips are the hair stylist super heroes that we have all been waiting for! Super fun graphic novel, recommended for grades 3 & up.

[Ominous Frog]

read for tween graphic novel club at the library where I work. Cute retro art style. A little too all-over-the-place for me but would definitely appeal to certain tweens.

[Peg O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was super fun! A definite for the students in my K-5 library!

[Sera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave it a fourth star for the phenomenal illustrations!

[Kelsey]

Really fun start to a new series! Perfect for Dog Man fans