Superquack

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## Superquack

### **Written by**

D. Isaac Thomas
Ammon Thomas

### **Rating**

Rated PG for action violence and mild rude humor.

### **Followed by**

*Baby Intelligence*

*"Fun?! You can't fight Outriders with fun!"
"Maybe you should give it a try."*
―Superquack and Morgan**[src]**
***Superquack*** is a 2009 action superhero book that was released on December 29, 2009. It is the third installment in the D.I.T. Literary Universe, and the third installment of Part One: Prelude to Peace. It was written by D. Isaac Thomas and co-authored by Ammon Thomas. *Superquack* was generally very-well received for Ammon's co-authoring contributions and Isaac's vivid illustrations, as well as its light tone and sense of fun and childlike creativity, and its primary theme/moral being that an optimistic and humorous outlook is just as essential to living life as a pragmatic one is.

The novel spawned two sequels and a prequel: *Superquack: Relapse of Power*, released in October 2014, *Superquack: Focal Point*, slated to be released in October 2023, and *Morgan*, released in February 2022.

## Summary

Superquack, a grim superhero with Super Strength and X-Ray Vision who is used to working alone, meets a woman named Morgan, a female rookie with powers that, unlike him, she has little control over. Only days after this unlikely pair is assigned to team up to fight a robotic monstrosity after the malevolent Iron Godking has threatened the entire world with a hitherto unseen pandemic that will leave a legacy for years to come. The thing is, they are horrible at working together, both of them have erratic driving skills, and worst of all, they have fallen into the trap of a mysterious criminal mastermind! That's when the two of them learn that teamwork is the ultimate weapon against the Darkness, and unity is the ultimate weapon against COVID-19. Who will win? Who will lose? Who will live through all of this chaos? Who will be killed off in a childrens' novel? Find out now!

## Plot

During the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, a world-famous superhero named Superquack arrives at the local bank to confront Bomb Man, causing him to butt heads with the young and unhinged crimefighter and seamstress Morgan, reluctantly teaming up to arrest Bomb Man but not before the criminal tears up his supersuit. Superquack visits Morgan for a new one, and in return he takes her to a meeting of the Metro Board. There, an Outrider Scout arrives demanding an impossible offering as a token of submission to the Iron Godking, who has claimed a string of terrorist attacks that has bewildered intelligence agencies — Superquack replies by throwing the antagonistic envoy out a window before meeting up with Morgan, who decides to appeal to the Confederacy. As Superquack arrives, they decree she cannot be granted travel agency until the hallowed festival is over, yet an agent from the Iron Godking soon appears in secret, rewarding the Confederacy's covert support. However, they then cross paths with seven-year-old Harley, at which point Morgan tells of a savage cybernetic giant, C-4, in the underground city Tutu Land, and they team up at Big Castle Park using Harley's directions for a jet pickup. The duo battle and disable the cyborg by tricking it into ripping out its own batteries, falling in love over a subsequent dinner together.

Feeling rejuvenated, Superquack gives Morgan an Inhibition Jacket to help control her erratic superpowers. Their first date, however, ends horribly when they are taken captive to be punished by the Chief for mischief and forced to stay with the eccentric Nik and her obnoxious daughter Elana, which goes reasonably well until Nik betrays them. When a grocery store is burned, Superquack takes the chance to visit his assistant Davis at the hospital, after which he boldly issues a promise of revenge, giving the Iron Godking the whereabouts of Plasma Bay, an irresistible point of entry, as a challenge. Despite resenting his brash dare, Morgan agrees to become his official sidekick as they head to intercept their enemy. They discover Mr. Tutusymbol is working for Mr. Baby Tutu, an evil AI determined to wipe out humanity. Fleeing into an enormous sunken ship under the bay, Superquack and Morgan discover the bodies of two fallen superheroes, Macroburst and Exogale, whom Morgan against impossible odds brings back from the dead. For their help, Exogale agrees to assist them in stopping Mr. Baby Tutu. The world believes Superquack dead as the Iron Godking starts issuing more threats of violence.

Superquack uses his apparent death to his advantage, conducting an investigation into an explosion that bears the same hallmarks as one of the Iron Godking's attacks, but which the Iron Godking did not claim responsibility for. A girl named Janet offers the unlikely trio refuge and some really good advice and helps them comprise a plan to get into the City of Marbles and track down the Iron Godking. The sniveling toxicologist John is revealed to be the Iron Godking's real name, but he escapes and the Outrider troops burn the town in pursuit of a trigger-happy Morgan. Superquack takes back her Inhibition Jacket for being so reckless and resumes investigations with Exogale. Morgan wants to begin concentrating more on her personal life, yet when she encounters Superquack again, they rekindle their romantic relationship and they take Exogale with them to return to Tutu Land. Unfortunately, they are taken hostage and Mr. Baby Tutu taunts them with his evil plan: he has all but exterminated the superhero community over the years and now intends to send the perfected C-5 to Quackville, so he can give false hope to the people before destroying all that is. To this end, John has engineered a deadly epidemic, giving birth to COVID-19 — all while Mr. Baby Tutu pulled his strings. Horrified, Mr. Tutusymbol helps the trio escape and devise a team plan to split up and expose the Iron Godking. As the plan nearly succeeds, Superquack and his friends are dispelled, leading him to bring a teenager named Jensen into the fray after she introduces some of his fangirls.

The heroes arrive in Quackville to find Exogale and her friends have lost, the city on fire, and C-5 and a hive-minded band of wild beasts trashing the city without interference. Superquack and Macroburst are able to acquire C-5's cybernetic transmitter and destroy the Power Matrix forever, which frees the grateful Outriders from John's evil mind control and causes the city welcomes the last superheroes. Returning home, they head Mr. Baby Tutu off, returning to Tutu Land, where an entire replica factory lies in wait as a contingency, forcing the superheroes into one last stand. Superquack fights Mr. Baby Tutu, but finds himself cornered until Macroburst intervenes and blows the AI to bits, at which point Mr. Tutusymbol receives a promise of adoption from Morgan. At the same time, the Iron Godking, very much reality, is informed that while his minions failed to avenge Mr. Baby Tutu's mockery of his name they currently have John hostage. As he begins helping Quackville recuperate, Superquack receives a visit from a bird who Morgan promptly dubs "the Warrior Chicken", who thanks them for ending the Dinobot Invasion before promising to be in contact in preparation for the future of COVID-19. Four years go by, and Superquack spends a new life with his brand-new wife, Morgan, and their adopted son as they continue protecting humanity, hence being present when the Unhallowed One bears down from a beam threatening destruction, resulting in the events of *Superquack: Relapse of Power*.

In a Postscript scene, a small ninja proposes an alliance with Morgan now that she has brought all the superheroes back to life, as he can begin putting a special team together. In a second postscript scene, numerous people are seen in the hellish realm of Tsala bowing and chanting to the Qisheng as his elite followers watch from afar.

## Development

D. Isaac Thomas approached his brother Ammon with the idea in early-to-mid 2010. Ammon primarily worked on Morgan and Macroburst, while Thomas worked on Exogale and the novel's titular character. Ammon also decided Mr. Baby Tutu, the antagonist, should have a surrogate son. They frequently presented each other with ideas, some of which were much more bizarre than others, generally incorporating them into a cohesive and engaging read. Thomas also scrapped the idea early on for the novel to have a serious and dark tone, with Ammon having always wanted it to be comedic.

While on an underwhelming camping trip, it was also the latter's idea for Exogale and Macroburst to be resurrected and made as major characters, instead of being martyred and staying dead as Thomas had hitherto intended. He also had the idea to make the Iron Godking a real historical figure, as Thomas once meant for him to be a myth just as Mr. Baby Tutu assumed. They based Superquack on a doll previously named "Little Quack" after a defunct franchise of short childrens' stories, while Morgan was modeled after a doll given to Thomas by his former bus driver early in 2009. Thomas' idea to include the Warrior Chicken was a late one, as he had enjoyed pretending to dub Ammon "a chicken", to which his little brother responded by dubbing him "a warrior chicken".

The book was released on December 29, 2009 as D. Isaac Thomas' first novel, as well as his first book to be rated PG (for "action violence and rude humor"), instead of G-rated.

Both Thomas and Melissa Vaine consider this the former's chance to "make or break" the DLU, hence explaining Thomas' confidence of success. He also promised to share the profits with Ammon because of his hefty role in the novel's development.

## Themes

Friendship, courage, chivalry, subversion of human perception, child empowerment, and equality are all themes which are central to the story and have thus become frequent themes throughout the D.I.T. Literary Universe, setting the tone for many of its installments. *Superquack* presents a strong, clear message that an informal and playful approach to life is every bit as crucial as a formal and pragmatic one. It also emphasizes how working as a team with caring and respectful people is better than trying to do everything alone, and that trying to avoid pain by refusing to make connections with others only hurts oneself more. It also promotes non-violent alternatives when facing the wicked. There are some deeper messages about how bland aspects of popular culture are, when everyone uses the same media and goes to the same restaurants. Themes of good and evil are prevalent and extremely transparent; the lines between good and evil are *very* clearly defined.

## Songs

*Superquack* is unique in the sense that it has several songs in it, which was inserted due to the novel's very young audience. They include "Song of Remembrance", "Festival Greeting", "Timorous Girl", and "I Am With You". Placing an upbeat and light-hearted song like "Timorous Girl" after a dark, intense scene, such as the pursuit of Mr. Baby Tutu and the beginning of the supervillain's attack on Quackville is a common technique allowing the readers to release tension in an appropriate time, thus allowing the climax to be appropriately dramatic for them.

## Reception

*"It's all right. Admittedly, the finale is amusing and suspenseful. But it grinds on for far too long, it's a boring escalation of anti-climaxes and sloppy predictability that cumulatively dull the emotional impact that was intended. Maybe I'm over-analyzing and the boys knew what they were doing, writing for kids their age and not ours, but it's a novel in need of a tighter edit with a dialogue in need of a much sharper polish, an imperfect franchise-launcher that nonetheless represents significant progress for D. Isaac Thomas. That's my opinion in full."
"Well, I agree, but it's the best thing in a novel totally functioning on autopilot huge-time."
"Sorry? What's the novel's best aspect?"
"The predictability and underwhelming attempts at escalation, of course. Isaac and Ammon've been doling out much-needed story developments and character details to fill in this default 'origin story'. All while the Thomas brothers successfully breathed life into their otherwise obnoxiously eccentric novel."
"Well, it's sure as heck not for the grown-ups, I can tell you that much."*
―"MaleficentFan2017" and "Annabeth is queen"[src]
*Superquack* was generally very-well received for its light tone and childlike creativity, with Chris (BabyIntelligence4ever) citing it as "an effortlessly entertaining blend of humor and heart, this is a superhero novel that never forgets the genre's real power: deep yet childlike messages for adults, joyous wish fulfillment for kids, and plenty of action and character development, written by sophisticated children for sophisticated children, absolute ten out of ten." Melissa Vaine (SWLover2) said that "while this novel is goofier (and darker) than it may look, you're gonna wish its main cast came with a little more flair," while an unhinged yet charismatic man named Joseph in 2013 called the book "Really, really creative and certainly big on steroids" and particularly praised the tone and plot. The mother of both of the respective authors generally enjoyed it, particularly finding the outrageously comical and unrealistic twists (especially "Now I will demonstrate why water bottles are the ultimate weapon against evil" and "Lava is my favorite drink") to be unforgettable, despite her belief that the plot "is deriving *way* too much [from] other sources", namely childrens' superhero movies such as *The Incredibles*, *The Tick*, and *Big Hero 6*, citing this to an elderly psychiatrist once as a genuine issue.

A currently defunct Wikian whose user ID was "Fantomenk7" said: "...while the story of a pragmatic sentient duck, a batshit-crazy amateur woman, a kind yet no-nonsense reincarnation subject and a cool cat of a fire-shooting... man, all rising to challenge a one-dimensionally sinister mechanical baddie might seem like the epitome of laughable simplicity we can expect from a fourth grader and a first grade co-writer, this is how D.I.T. is gonna start with a bang. Superquack will doubtlessly wind up a modern-day tentpole blockbuster, overburdened with backstories for both hero and villain and subtexts that it can't (or won't) fully articulate." That alarmingly formal consensus followed up with a further consideration of femininity in the novel and the superhero genre generally, focusing on the transition of Morgan from an emotionally stunted girl to a woman with power and responsibility. Fantomenk7, however, has not expressed interest in any other D.I.T. books, having deactivated his account very early in 2017.

"MaleficentFan2017" said he thought it was all right, specifying that the admittedly suspenseful and amusing climax was overlong, anti-climactic, sloppy, and predictable, hurting the entire novel's emotional impact. However, he also confessed he may have over-analyzed a novel by assuming it was supposed to please teenagers instead of nine-year-olds, before claiming it did not justify the loose editing and severely unpolished dialogue, making it an imperfect franchise-launcher that nonetheless represented significant progress for such young writers. "Annabeth is queen" agreed, citing that it was the best thing in a novel greatly functioning on autopilot, doling out much-needed character details and story developments to ensure a potentially world-renowned origin story would not remain empty, before admitting the novel's eccentricity was otherwise obnoxious.

## Continuation

D. Isaac Thomas had been considering writing a sequel to *Superquack* for a long time, but he simply didn't consider it a priority at the time. However, in late 2013, Thomas announced via Wattpad that "a sequel is in progress". The book, *Superquack: Relapse of Power*, was released in 2014. A threequel, *Superquack: Focal Point*, will be released on October 6, 2023.

## Gallery

Superquack rd.jpgSuperquack.jpgSuperquack xlg.jpg
## Music

 Festival Greeting
 Timorous Girl
 I Am With You

## Trivia

* *Superquack* is the only installment of Part One to have a prominent love story driving the plot.

## Appearances

### Locations

* Earth
	+ Skull Rock (mentioned)
	+ Smith's
	+ Tutu Land
	+ United States of America
		- Utah
			* Big Castle Park
		- Tennessee
		- Texas (mentioned)
	+ Unknown Countries
		- City of Marbles
		- Quackville
			* Plasma Bay
			* Sushi Ya
		- Tsala

### Events

* Battle of Skull Rock (mentioned)
* COVID-19 Pandemic
	+ Skirmish in Quackville Bank
* Dinobot Invasion
	+ Duel in Tutu Land
	+ Massacre at the counting house
	+ Burning of Smith's
	+ Skirmish at the Plasma Bay
	+ Ambush in the City of Marbles
	+ Battle of Quackville
	+ Showdown in Tutu Land
* Hallowed Festival

### Objects

* Basketball
* Bomb
* Bread rolls
* Burnette's Absolute Gummies
* Crowbar
* Laser gun
* Manta Jet
* Popcorn
* Quack-mobile
* Rice Chex
* Sushi

### Organizations

* Confederacy
* Metro Board

### Species

* Dogs
* Ducks
* Humans
* Outriders

### New Characters

* Superquack
* Morgan
* Bomb Man
* Outrider Scout
* Fuller
* Harley
* Mr. Tutusymbol
* C-4
* Nik
* Elana
* John
* Captain Obvious
* C-5
* Mr. Baby Tutu
* Exogale
* Macroburst
* Janet
* Nimtumwamba
* Jensen
* Sarah (voice only)
* Iron Godking
* Unhallowed One
* Jay Organa
* Mr. Stupid NoHead

### Mentioned

* Battle of Skull Rock
* NoHeads (indirectly)
* Skull Rock
* Texas

## References

Template:Superquack
Template:Prelude to Peace