The (Not So) Superheroes: The Terrible Trio
Three goofy characters deal with “superpowers” in this black and white New Zealand import. The Ministry of Superpowers has opened 
and is offering superpowers to every animal in the world! Marge, Barry, and Zeb are extremely excited—especially Zeb—and line up to receive their powers. Zeb, a somewhat neurotic zebra, stands on his hind feet and has wildly changing and dramatic expressions, heightened by his spiky, mohawk-style mane. Barry the lemur has a long, stripy tail and is used to Zeb’s dramatics. The two meet Marge (Margarine), a placid penguin with a plump, pillow-shaped body, when they line up and the three bond while waiting in line—behind the massive butt of a water buffalo.
But when they finally get to the Ministry, the be-wigged minister, a squirrel, is done for the day! He gives in and hands out superpowers for them, but they’re not at all what they expected. Marge is surprised—but pleased—at her mac ‘n’ cheese powers and promptly starts whisking everything in sight. She and Barry both agree that Barry’s new gift of handwriting is an excellent power. Zeb can’t believe how lame their powers are… and is horrified when his is even worse. As he sobs in despair, his power is basically just… being a zebra! Throughout the rest of the story, Zeb struggles to come to terms with his “superpower” while Marge and Barry try to deal with their friend’s dramatics.
Stapleton waltzes through Haddow’s goofy story with raucous caricatures—a chicken with super-strength karate-chops villains while wildly flapping her wings, Marge spins her flipper into a tornado as she panic-stirs everything in sight into lumps of mac ‘n’ cheese, and Barry dreamily fantasizes about calligraphy pens. Zeb, meanwhile, gallops from one crisis to another, his wilder moments explained helpfully to Marge by Barry in asides, and a cast of animals big and small make continual appearances in Zeb’s story. The prison he and the others “break into” is dark and spooky, but the “villainous” animals aren’t particularly stereotyped, other than a giant, toothy crocodile.
The story is laid out in panels, but most of the text is written in captions and there is minimal dialogue in speech balloons – mostly arguments between the three and complaints from Zeb, who is, despite his denials, quite the “whiny unicorn.”
While the plotline of this story, and the art style of Stapleton, is very different, this is obviously meant to appeal to fans of Aaron Blabey’s Bad Guys. The black and white cartoon art, humorous anthropomorphic animals, and unexpected actions and powers make this an automatic read-alike for that very popular series. Whether young readers will embrace the emotionally dramatic Zeb, cheerful Marge, and practical Barry will depend on their interest in future adventures, but this first book at least is likely to be a hit.
The (Not So) Superheroes: The Terrible Trio
By Swapna Haddow
Art by Minky Stapleton
Scholastic, 2025
ISBN: 9781546182986
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11)
