Galactic Hot Dogs: Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway by Max Braillier

Ill. by Rachel Maguire and Nichole Kelley. Simon & Schuster, 2015. ISBN: 9781471123122
From The Wimpy Kid to Captain Underpants there has been a surge in books featuring both text and cartoon styled pictures. Some are easier to read than others. Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway will appeal for the cartoon style but I fear that there could be too much text, and action on each page for less confident readers to be able to negotiate and understand. I had to re-read quite often, but then I'm more than probably out of the loop with both the style, language and content.
Cosmoe the Earth Boy and his alien friend Humphree have entered their space ship the Neon Wiener in the Intragalactic Food Truck Cook Off, run by evil Queen Dagger. Their offering is a Mega-Dog, a giant hotdog, which is stolen by Princess Dagger who then stows away on the Neon Wiener. Her mother the Queen, thinking that she has been kidnapped, sends the Royal Amada of Jack Jets in pursuit.
In their bid to escape, especially as the Princess refuses to return to the Queen they eventually discover the Lost Triangle (The Bermuda Triangle of Space apparently) where legend has it treasure is to be found. The treasure is one slice of a map-o-sphere. When they find all 3 slices it will lead them to the Ultimate Evil. When this information is accidently broadcast all and sundry are after them as they follow clues to the other pieces.
With space pirates, Zombies all manner of evil space creatures, hot sauce and fighting, the action is fast, furious and often quite confusing. Like a good action comic there is an abundance of exclamation marks and Onomatopoeia in a variety of fonts.
A saving grace is that the evil Princess turns out to be not so evil after all, though she definitely enjoys the rough and tumble of battle and has a leading role in the action joining forces with the Neon Wiener crew to save the galaxy.
Sue Keane