| SPOILER ALERT!!! This article or section contains spoilers. Read at your own risk! |
| “ | Can good deeds outdo evildoers? | ” |
–The book's blurb | ||
Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls is the seventh book in the Dog Man series. It was written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey and Jose Garibaldi. It was released on August 13th, 2019. The title is based on the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway.
Characters[]
- Dog Man - The main protagonist. He's a hybrid of a dog and a cop. He is distracted by balls and does not like baths, but he later became a target by Dr. Scum and the Burgle Balls.
- Li'l Petey - The kitten with a kind heart and the leader of the Supa Buddies. He confronts Dog Man whenever he has a fear of taking a bath or hiding at the trash can due to his panic of rolling Burgle Balls.
- Petey - The evilest cat of all but due to his son, Li'l Petey's, kindness Petey became a good cat. He is free at the Cat Jail from the governor and starts his life with them.
- Grampa - A mean father who has his own life. He and his son unexpectedly met after Petey being free from the Cat Jail.
- Big Jim - The inmate cat who dressed up as a superhero named "Commander Cupcake". His heroic alter-ego's interest is cupcakes.
- 80-HD - The robot who likes creativity and also sometimes becomes a superhero named Lightning Dude. He uses his sensors to find Petey's Dad.
- Sarah Hatoff - She is the best reporter. She did news about Petey doing good. She also has an amazing poodle named Zuzu.
- Zuzu - She is Sarah Hatoff's pet poodle.
- Chief - He is Dog Man's best friend. When Dog Man does something unnecessarily he gets mad at him.
- Daryl- He is Piggy's friend (although Piggy isn't his friend) which bought an idea to form The Friendly Friends. He also has an uncle.
- Crunky and Bub- They hypnotize Big Jim when Piggy was thrown out by Big Jim's ear wax.
- Piggy - He is a secondary antagonist. In this book he was caught by Commander Cupcake along with Bub and Crunky.
Prologue[]
- George Beard and Harold Hutchins - they are best friends who likes to make comics together in their own comic company, Treehouse Comix Inc. They were awarded a trophy for their maturity.
- Benjamin Krupp - The principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School who formerly became Captain Underpants. He is the host of the awarding ceremony at their school.
- Melvin Sneedly - The smartest kid in George and Harold's classroom.
Summary[]
Chapter 1: Rise of the Planet of the Cats[]
Sarah Hatoff does a news story about the events that happened last night. When Petey finds out that seven dogs got a pardon while he didn't, he decides to start a revolution. Meanwhile, Chief and Dog Man are trying to chase down a robber. Dog Man obsession with balls leads to the robber's escape. Chief is very angry, and tells Dog Man to go home.
Chapter 2: Behavioral Modification Therapy[]
After Dog Man goes back to his house, Li'l Petey and 80-HD try to help Dog Man by making flashcards to train him not to get distracted. This method takes a while to work, but soon backfires later on.
Chapter 3: To Heck with the Planet of the Cats[]
Petey is giving a speech about how cats deserve more rights than dogs, while the F.L.E.A.S. are forming a new plan on Petey's whisker. He is interrupted by the Jail Warden, telling him he got a pardon. He then forgets everything he just talked about and tries to leave Cat Jail. Big Jim then shows up and gives Petey a hug, and the F.L.E.A.S. end up on Big Jim's whisker.
Chapter 4: Papa Knows Best[]
Petey goes back to his lab and orders kid-sized furniture for Li'l Petey. Then he goes to the market. He fluffs Li'l Petey's pillow before going to Dog Man's house. But then Dog Man jumps on Petey and growls at him, while he learns how Li'l Petey taught him to focus and give Petey another chance. He then licks Petey and Li'l Petey appears, praising Dog Man because he learned to focus. Petey then tells Li'l Petey that's since he's free, he gets to live with him. But Li'l Petey worries about Dog Man and 80-HD, then Petey tells him that they have each other, and now they have each other too. So they walk away, but Li'l Petey is careless about his surroundings, then Petey tells him that he needs a good dose of reality.
Chapter 5: A Good Dose of Reality[]
Petey shows Li'l Petey his new room, where he says he's going to sleep, but Li'l Petey says he's going to sleep in Petey's room with him. While preparing for bed, they argue back and forth about this, culminating in Petey yelling that he doesn't get a bedtime story. Li'l Petey then asks why Dog Man and 80-HD couldn't live with them, and Petey says that it ''just wouldn't work out." Petey then explains that he was just trying to give Li'l Petey what he never had and reveals that his own father didn't care about him and abandoned him as a child. Li'l Petey suggests that they find Petey's father, but Petey shuts the idea down, saying that he never wanted to see him ever again. He tells Li'l Petey that the world was a horrible place, and they not everyone was good deep inside. Dog Man and 80-HD show up outside his lab. Petey gets angry at first but works out an arrangement: Li'l Petey will stay with him on weekdays, and Dog Man on weekends, exciting the two. Once Petey goes back inside, he sees that Li'l Petey was in his bed.
Chapter 6: A Buncha Stuff That Happened Next[]
While Big Jim was in bed, Piggy, Bub, and Crunky were walking on his fur. Piggy reveals to the two that he was going to hypnotize Big Jim, so they could do whatever they pleased with him. While Piggy is hypnotizing Big Jim, Bub tells Big Jim that there was a speck of dirt in his left ear, and that he should get rid of it, that speck of dust being Piggy. Big Jim then flings Piggy, sending him flying out of the window. Piggy then lands on a moth. The moth introduces himself as Daryl and suggests that they should be friends, while Piggy loudly shouts, ''NOOOOO!!!!!!''.
At the Lab, Li'l Petey wakes up and thinks back to what Petey said about his father. Li'l Petey sneaks outside and arrives at Dog Man's house. He wakes up 80-HD and tells him to take a sample of his DNA, so he does. 80-HD flies Li'l Petey back to the Lab, while Li'l Petey thanks him for the help.
Meanwhile, Dr. Scum is designing an army of robots that he called ''Crime Crabs'', wondering if they could defeat Dog Man.
Chapter 7: Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast![]
While building, Petey and Li'l Petey hear a knock at the door. Once they answer it, they see 80-HD and Petey's father. At first, Grandpa mistakes Li'l Petey for his son, but then, comes face-to-face with his son for the first time since he was a child. Grandpa invites himself in and helps himself to the kitchen, breaking many plates in the process. Petey starts to question Li'l Petey, asking him why he brought his father there. Li'l Petey tells him that he just wanted Petey to see his dad, but Petey tells him that his dad abandoned him, and asked him if he knew what that felt like. Li'l Petey then says that Petey abandoned him once, and despite that, he forgave him. Saddened, Petey hugs his son while Grandpa makes a mess in the kitchen.
Sarah Hatoff is interviewing Chief, saying that Dog Man learned how to focus. Chief pulls out a ball and tries to excite Dog Man, and at first, he does. But then, Dog Man started to get flashbacks on what happened the previous day, causing him to get nervous and jump out of the ball's way. Dr. Scum is watching the new report and decides to change the design of the Crim Crabs, removing their limbs and changes the name to ''Burgle Balls''.
Meanwhile, at Cat Jail, Bub and Crunky are talking. Bub says that once something happens, their ''cupcake dreams'' would come true. Suddenly, a fight breaks out, and Big Jim leaps into action. He gets his Cupcake Commander outfit on, and runs for the cupcake table, breaking up the fight in the process. Big Jim snarfs down all of the cupcakes, causing the crumbs and sprinkles to rain down on Bub and Crunky, as the two rejoice.
Chapter 8: The Old Man and the Seafood Crackers[]
At Petey's lab, Grandpa is measuring all of Petey's belongings with a tape dispenser, until he comes across Li'l Petey. Li'l Petey tries to tell him that he was making a comic for Flippy, until Grandpa says that he ''didn't ask for his life's story'' and demands him to pick up his crayons. Petey walks up to them with a plate with seafood crackers. Upon eating him, Grandpa spits them out and insults Petey. Li'l Petey tells Grandpa that he shouldn't had treated Petey like that, to which Grandpa states that he ''never felt love for that hothead''. Li' Petey then explains what love really was, to which Grandpa said to him: ''WHO ASKED YOU?!!?''.
Meanwhile, Piggy tells Daryl that the both of them could be villains together and become a team. Daryl mistakes this as becoming friends and making others happy, annoying Piggy.
Dr. Scum has finished all of his Burgle Balls, and unleashes them to the world, laughing manically.
Chapter 9: Burgle Balls Attack[]
Grandpa comes across Petey and Li'l Petey building the Robo Rat 2000. Grandpa then tries to make Li'l Petey turn against his father, saying how much of a ''crybaby'' and a ''loser'' he was. Suddenly, the news comes on. Sarah is reporting about the Burgle Balls, saying that they were stealing from every store in the city.
Chief gets a call from Dr.Scum, stating how he was taking over the city. Hearing this, Chief tells Dog Man the news and he sets off to find him. Once Dog Man arrives at the scene, he growls at a Burgle Ball, but then, he remembers what happened once he growled at the ball card, and runs away, hiding in a thrash can.
Seeing this, Li'l Petey tells Petey that they needed to go help Dog Man. Grandpa agrees, and the two set off.
Chapter 10: Do Good[]
Pages 149 to 164.
Chapter 11: The Very Hangry Ratterpillar[]
Pages 165 to 172.
Chapter 12: A Farewell to Arms[]
Pages 173 to 182.
Chapter 13: Commander Cupcake Returns[]
Pages 183 to 196.
Chapter 14: The Mud and the Stars[]
Pages 197 to 221.
Trivia[]
- Some of the chapter titles, including the book's subtitle, are references to some books by Ernest Hemmingway; "For Whom the Ball Rolls" is a parody of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (But is more famous as the name of a song by Metal band Metallica), "The Old Man and the Seafood Crackers" is a parody of "The Old Man and the Sea", and "A Farewell to Arms" is a reference to the 1929 novel of the same name.
- Petey's speech on Page 50 (Panels 2 and 3) are direct quotes from For Whom the Bell Tolls.
- Big Jim is named after an action figure from the 1970s.
- The Very Hangry Raterpillar is based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
- When the robber throws the ball and Chief's clothes fall off going POW!, this is a reference to the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, when Charlie Brown gets hit by a fly ball on the pitcher's mound.
- At the end of the story, Sarah interviewed Dr Scum about being new. Dr Scum ended the interview after the fourth question due to not being new. It went like this:
- Sarah: What's it like being a newcomer to the world of villainy?
- Dr Scum: I'm not new! I was in the first book!
- Sarah: Has your newness affected your outlook on life?
- Dr Scum: I just said I wasn't new! What is wrong with you? I was in Chapter 2! A LOT!
- Sarah: Have you thought about returning for a second shot at world domination?
- Dr Scum: I JUST DID RETURN! THAT WAS MY SECOND ATTEMPT! WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE LISTEN?
- Sarah: Has the stress of your newness been a...
- Dr Scum: THIS INTERVIEW IS OVER!!!
- When Li'l Petey tells Petey he abandoned him once, this is a reference to Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties.
- One of the themes of this book, including scenes where Petey and Li'l Petey stepping on the mud while looking at the stars and Chapter 14: The Mud and The Stars, is inspired by Harold's favorite short poem:
- "Two men looked through prison bars. One saw mud. The other, stars." -Author Unknown (but varies to Dale Carnegie or Reverend Frederick Longbridge)
- Commander Cupcake's dialogue on Page 224 is based on this quote:
- "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." -John F. Kennedy
- Dog Man and Li'l Petey are not looking at them in the original cover, but changed at the last minute.
- This is the first appeareance of Grampa.
- When Grampa calls Li'l Petey a "jabberjaw", it is a reference to the Hanna-Barbera character of the same name.
- Like Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas, it had concept covers, but was later scrapped.
- Dav Pilkey also made a former cover for this book, but he didn't liked how it looked out.
- Some of the concept covers included Petey.
Gallery[]
Covers[]
Concept Art/Behind the Scenes[]
Trailer Transcript[]
Dav Pilkey's Dog Man is back! Part dog, part man, all hero! It's a whole new ball game when the heroic hound's former obsession becomes his greatest fear! Will the devious Dr. Scum destroy Dog Man with a bunch of Burgle Balls? And what will happen when Petey's pop comes in and a sugary superhero shows up? Can the Supa Buddies save the day? One thing's for sure. This time it's not enough for the friends to be good, they also have to do good
| Dog Man Books |
|---|
| Dog Man (2016) | Dog Man: Unleashed (2016) | Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties (2017) | Dog Man and Cat Kid (2017) | Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas (2018) | Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild (2018) | Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls (2019) | Dog Man: Fetch-22 (2019) | Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (2020) | Dog Man: Mothering Heights (2021) | Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea (2023) | Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder (2024) | Dog Man: Big Jim Begins (2024) | Dog Man: Big Jim Believes (2025) |