If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

All the Dog Man books in order, including Captain Underpants and Cat Kid Comic Club

Celebrate Dog Man book #14 Big Jim Believes with how to read all the books, including the spinoffs.

Published on Tue Mar 19 2024

Popverse's top stories of the day

Harley Quinn is making April Fools Day 2025 one to remember with a not-so-sweet-smelling DC comic book special
Watch the D&D, Warhammer, Mega Man, and more anthology panel Secret Level from Prime Video, filmed at NYCC 2024
Nintendo's long-time Mario voice actor reveals the secret behind voicing Mario's Dad in the movie (and how it goes back to his original audition decades ago)

You really can’t keep a good superhero down — especially when they’re also a very good boy. Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man series is just about to release its fourteenth installment - Dog Man: Big Jim Believes - just ahead of the first Dog Man movie.

But wait, you might be asking yourself: I’ve never even read one Dog Man book, never mind 13. And what is the Cat Kid Comic Club? How am I going to catch up with all of this stuff by January, anyway? The first place to start is by checking out our explainer on the new book and the Dog Man mythos, which gives you a solid basis for checking out the books themselves and just diving in. You know what would help with that, though? A list of all the Dog Man books to help you know how to read the Dog Man series (and more!) in order.

How to read the Dog Man books in order

There are twelve official books in the Dog Man series to date, and they are:

Dog Man
Dog Man Unleashed
Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties
Dog Man and Cat Kid
Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas
Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild
Dog Man: For Whom The Ball Rolls
Dog Man: Fetch-22
Dog Man: Grime and Punishment
Dog Man: Mothering Heights
Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea
Dog Man: Scarlet Shedder
Dog Man: Big Jim Believes
Dog Man: Big Jim Returns

In terms of chronological order, it’s a very straightforward series: Book 2 takes place after Book 1, and so on. See? Simple! Unlike…

How many Dog Man books are there?

There are 14 Dog Man books once Dog Man: Big Jim Returns is released. It's 19 if you add the Dog Man spinoff Cat Kid Comic Club, and 37 if you count the OG, Captain Underpants.

How to read the entire Dog Man universe in order

…Okay, here’s where things get a little more complicated. Dog Man actually debuted in the ninth book of the Captain Underpants series, as the creation of George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who go on to appear in the Dog Man series proper. So… does that make Captain Underpants part of the larger Dog Man mythology…? It would appear so, but that’s not the only complication: Dog Man doesn’t just have a spin-off series — Cat Kid Comic Club — but it’s a spin-off series that features the son/clone of one of Dog Man’s antagonists, who happens to have first appeared in an entirely different Captain Underpants series.

The whole Dog Man universe, then, is something surprisingly complex and sizable. Be warned — this is how you’d get to read the whole thing:

For those curious: Dog Man and the League of Misfits FCBD Edition is the new story included in 25 1/2th anniversary edition of The Adventures of Captain Underpants, which is being released as a standalone single issue on Free Comic Book Day 2023, and Wally’s World is a Dog Man-related free 16-page comic, as created by Lil Petey from the Dog Man and Cat Kid Comic Club series.

And if you’re wondering what The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby and The Adventures of Ook and Gluk are, they’re standalone books that are, like Dog Man, canonical creations of George and Harold; moreover, Super Diaper Baby introduces Petey, who’s one of Dog Man’s nemeses, and also the clone-father of L’il Petey, AKA Cat Kid. As Jack Kirby put it in the '70s, 'don’t ask, just buy it.'

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Follow Popverse for upcoming event coverage and news

Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.