The Bad Guys in One Last Thing (The Bad Guys #20)

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Author(s)
Publisher
Age Range
8+
Release Date
November 12, 2024
ISBN
‎978-1546111801
Buy This Book
      
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.
The LAST installment in the hilarious Bad Guys series!

Editor review

1 review
It's the End. Really!
Overall rating
 
3.5
Plot
 
3.0
Characters
 
3.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
4.0
After defeating the centipede in The Serpent and the Beast, and traveling to the past, Mr. Wolf is brought by The One (aka Rhonda, who has materialized as a Tasmanian Devil with a mullet and futuristic space suit) to the moment in time when he and Snake are celebrating in a diner after robbing twenty one banks in twenty one days. Mr. Wolf has time traveled and is seeing himself in the multiverse. What made him decide to be good that day, and why did he gather the other Bad Guys? Then, The One thinks it is important for Mr. Wolf to see the future, and the two travel about, visiting other characters. They crash Mr. Wolf's funeral (which everyone had said was too soon), and see not only the B-Team Bad Guys (including The Tiffinator, Penguin, and a snake with butt hands?) but also Agent Kitty Kat and Agent Hogwild, who are retiring from saving the universe to go back to their medical and engineering careers, respectively. Mr. Wolf hikes up the mountain to visit Ellen, who is breathing and teaching yoga. He also chats with Cedric Snake, who is living a contemplative life since he feels bad about his role in all of the evil, even though he wasn't in control of himself. The three part sweetly and vow to stay in touch. The One has an existential question for Mr. Wolf; when did he decide to become good? It's finally determined that it is only because the future Mr. Wolf, resplendent in the sacred mullet and space suit, visited the bank robbing Mr. Wolf and convinced him to change his ways. Future Mr. Wolf returns to the diner just as Cedric is leaving, and talks to his former self, who massively freaks out. Finally believing that his counterpart is from the future, and that the world will end unless Mr. Wolf becomes good and has a role in saving the universe, the path is clear. Future Mr. Wolf causes his past self to forget everything except the imperative to become good. His mission accomplished, Mr. Wolf apprentices himself to The One, and helps her to take care of the multiverse. At the very end, the character with the butt hands says that his story deserves to have more told about it, but we are assured that this will not happen because this is THE END.
Good Points
I have to admit to using the Bad Guys Wiki to try to get up to speed on character names; while Blabey is a master of onomatopoeic words (Wokkita! Wokkita! Vrroww!), this leaves less room for throwing in character names, which would have been helpful. Readers who have practically memorized the series won't have problems identifying characters, and will enjoy this excursion down memory lane.

The first Bad Guys book came out in 2017, and at the time, I was too busy laughing at the facial expressions on the cat stuck up in a tree who was looking down at the Bad Guys in horror to think too much about why Mr. Wolf decided to give up his life of crime. It's a good use of the multiverse to have Mr. Wolf go back and visit himself. Of course The One (aka Rhonda) knows that he needs to do this; she's in charge of the multiverse, after all. It's good to revisit that defining moment and view it in a new way. Language arts teachers everywhere will appreciate the frenetic start to the book that defines and discusses flashbacks as a narrative element, even though it's time travel, rather than a flashback, so no blurred edges are really needed.

"What a long strange trip it's been," to quote Jerry Garcia. I'm not entirely sure what happened in these twenty books, and I have yet to have a protracted conversation with some of the fans of the series, but I'm sure that they would be able to tell me chapter and verse about the escapades of the Bad Guys. Since I feel a sense of peace and closure knowing that Ellen is on her mountain teaching yoga, and Agent Kitty Kat is working in the medical field, I'm sure that avid fans will also enjoy touching base with their favorite characters and knowing that all is right in the multiverse, since Rhonda and Mr. Wolf are policing it in their futuristic, winged Spandex jumpsuits. The Bad Guys are finished. Long live the Bad Guys.
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