The Bad Guys in Look Who's Talking

The Bad Guys #18

by Aaron Blabey

Now a major motion picture! "I wish I'd had these books as a kid. Hilarious!" -- Dav Pilkey, creator of Captain Underpants and Dog Man They may look like Bad Guys, but these wannabe heroes are doing good deeds... whether you like it or not in this New York Times bestselling illustrated series. Forget what you know. This book changes everything. Someone’s found her voice and she has A LOT to tell you. Take a deep breath, hermano, it’s the 18th installment of THE BAD GUYS!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Childrens, Fantasy, Animals, Middle Grade, Fiction, Adventure

192 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2023

About the author

Aaron is an Australian author of children's books and artist who until the mid-2000s was also an actor. His award winning picture books include Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley, The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon and the best-selling Pig the Pug.

In the field of acting, he is probably best known for his lead roles in two television dramedies, 1994's The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, for which he won an Australian Film Institute Award, and 2003's CrashBurn, before retiring from performance in 2005.

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. This was the worst one. It just made references to previous books. I don’t get it is the author intentionally drawing things out to make money? But I’ve come this far I will read book 19.

[Jett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book but, there's already been too many plot twists and it's to late in the series for more.(In my opinion)

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters are so adorable! Awesome series!
This is a quick read.

So... For THE ONE... what should she do to save everything? She just left leaving Wolf alone out of nowhere. Hmmmm.......

I giggled seeing Wolf question and understand what was going on! He even got a bit sarcastic look turning to Good Guys in a funny face. Lol.

No! What happened to Ellen? She turned to a bad guy. *sad* I feel Mr. Wolf's sadness seeing Ellen like that.

Hooray for Team B! Here to save Wolf! They look badass!

I cannot wait for Book 19.

[Phøenix13 (Inactive) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bro I thought I was only reading this series for the nostalgia now.
NOT ANYMORE!
WHAT THE HELLS WAS THAT?!?!?!

*edit 01 April 2024*

My GOSH I AM NOT READY
I'm fully aware this is a children's series and I'm 16 but I've been reading this since I was like 8 so what's the point in stopping?
MY GOSH IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW I CAN'T DO THIS MR BLABEY

Also Imma just say, someone's been reading his Goodreads reviews

[Victor The Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 18th volume of the series really has a handful of surprises as we get a glimpse of Wolf’s start with his gang, past events surrounding their adventures and how it’s been all brought. I sure hope this saga ends soon. A- (91%/Excellent)

[Liander (The Towering Pile) Lavoie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad when they break the fourth wall and give detailed flashbacks, because they keep referencing things that happened in books I read five years ago!

[XOX · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad guys episode 18 Looks who talking

The story continues explaining about how the prophecy on the big good fighting the big bad.

A lot of senseless silliness later, we now know that the one has been hiding his power all along

It is just not a good story.

3 stars read.

[Kirbygirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. No hate, but there could've been more illustrations. Still a really good book! BOOM!!!

[Vidhi Patel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am going to be completely honest here… I read this book while I was getting my mom’s car serviced at Walmart. I didn’t really know what was happening throughout the book SOOOO, I would highly recommend reading the books in the order of the series.

[Ellon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars (I liked it)

Finally, something is actually happening haha.
This book breaks the 4th wall a bunch and makes references to critics and "if your life was a book series, this would have happened in book ..." I found it funny but also a bit annoying. Like I almost wanted to get those books out to see what was being referred to. I almost found the text on page 96 to be insulting (so much so that I marked it). Blabey writes " If your life was a series, all your readers would be rewarded by discovering that NOTHING IS RANDOM. In fact, any negative critics would find themselves completely agog with egg on their faces..."
Part of me find this funny and part of me is like "dude, if you books are starting to become so out there that people are criticizing them for being random, maybe you should actually reveal the plot faster!
I enjoy the books enough to read them but I am severely hoping it does not go past book 20!

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really look forward to this series each and every time that Aaron brings out another book within that said series ... so fun!! but for me this one kind of fell flat ...see why? it is brings together past books but their was not really a bit ...a disappearance (lots of repeat drawing / images ... like why are we seeing them again, what am i missing ... it is a chance to Aaron to bring in other folks who have not read the other 17 books before? or??!) or whatnot ... kind of sad. July 2, 2024 the next book #19 will be out ...yeah, i did PreOrder it but ... i am hoping it will improve or be more exciting for my eyes and child heart and eyes ... i will always recommend these books because they are creative and fun.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tongue in cheek chapter was a bit ham-fisted and while I think this series is fantastic for reluctant readers, it definitely derails often and the content is indeed VERY random. That's part of why the kids I work with enjoy these books! They love the sporadic and spastic nonsense and find it hilarious. Will older readers enjoy it to that same level? Probably not; I don't. Personally I find it a bit overwrought, sappy, sloppy and bizarre rather than whimsical, but for the kids I work with, that's what makes it fun. And if you can get reluctant readers to audibly gasp at plot twists and independently keep reading to the last page, then you MUST be doing something right.

[Arvind · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. It builds on the long narrative arc of the earlier books in the series but, perhaps because of that, this book feels extremely random and quite stretched out.

There are a few fourth-wall breaks, taking on critics of the series among other things, which I guess are kind of fun. And it harks back to the beginning of some relationships in the series, which is mildly interesting.

On the whole, though, not a very good read unless read sandwiched between the books on either side of it.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This breaks the fourth wall so many times, in a pretty funny way. It turns all those other meandering books on their heads, so obviously someone’s been reading their reviews.
As the cover suggests, this is very much Rhonda’s book (we finally find out what she is), though there’s also some Mr Wolf and Snake backstory thrown in there. It has a point, so definite improvement there, and it is a book that will make you want to reread at least some of the previous adventures. Rounding up.

[tridactal · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s fine, set up for the final battle. Necessary evil. Introduces interesting ideas of “pure good” and “pure evil” and I wish it talked more about snake and wolf in relation to that but maybe the next book. Some parts also felt kinda pointed towards critics which was weird as someone who doesn’t look up reviews and just has fun with the books (like the majority of tbg audience I would assume). (2.5 stars)

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, jumping from the first book to here was a pretty big leap. I think the kids in the club were right when they said this was a series that really should be read in order.

Of course it doesn’t help that the pictures are black and white and kinda rough in style, so that a poor graphic novel reader like me would have problems distinguishing the wolf from the fox from the teddy bear (Tasmanian devil?) from the piranha, yeah, I’m bad at this.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

At last, some PLOT! This book moves the series forward significantly and includes some meaningful backstory. Also, even though part of this book recaps previous volumes, this is necessary before the final showdown and is entertaining. The author breaks the fourth wall in entertaining ways, and the narrating character reveals multiple surprise twists that put things in a different light.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting turns in this 18th book.
I love the references to other books "if this were a series of books." Blabey's humorous style shines through as the story unfolds. Mr. Wolf finally learns who The One is and it may surprise readers though clues have been provided. Readers are left with a huge cliffhanger as it looks like it's finally time for the final battle... in book 19.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super fast read, and the parts where the author kind of broke the 4th wall were hilarious! My kids & I had fun reading the book and appreciated the explanation, but almost nothing happens in this volume. It’s just a bridge to get from Book 17 to the forthcoming Book 19. It’s interesting, though, and now I want to go back to all the books & pages referenced to reread those sections.

[Sawyer Blankenship]

I was surprised when Rhonda could actually talk and said that Ellen was actually a decoy and that Ellen was not the one Rhonda was. And it was cool that she was trillions of years old and she was alive at the beginning of time and that she said that "But, thankfully, there is no darkness without light". Rhonda was cute and I loved the book and that Splaarghon was the ultimate force of light.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

They're not wrong. This book changes everything. Annnnd, leaves us on a cliffhanger. Not unexpected. I love the humor and the nods to other books (yes, I was one of those who thought the whole series was going off the rails back in book five, the dinosaur episode 😂).

[Holly Letson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was pretty boring. It felt like it was just a collective of flashbacks to scenes from previous books in the series.

I felt like this book really didn't add anything to the story of the series.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is building to something big. I'm glad the two groups have reunited so the story can focus on one storyline. I hope that this is building to a conclusion of the story and then we can start a new chapter.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

can we leave wolf alone PLEASE

why am i so invested in these stupid books.
the call-backs were funny and all, but I would've appreciated a little more of baby wolf and a little less rehashing every chapter book by book.

[Ellee Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copyright date: 2023
Star rating: 4
Award: N/A
Genre: graphic novel
Summary w/ themes: in this book the one gets revealed after a twist.
Use for future classroom: good series to have
Thoughts of book: pretty good

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the eighteenth volume Wolfie is dealing with the loss of Ellen, the betrayal of Snake, and trying to figure out what to do with The One.

[Elisa O'Hern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun different than normal

Very different but interesting I like the reveal over all very good book I liked it a lot cool new twists

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I have a ton of questions...and like, two answers. XD I need Book 19 NOW!!!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad to hear that trip to the cretaceous period wasn't random.

[Aaliyah Pratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

She's the one?