Big Nate: Next Stop, Superstardom! by Lincoln Peirce

I knew that Big Nate had been turned into a TV show and wondered if this was the book version of that. It is. And, at some point it may be successful to go that way with a comic book but this book... is dark. Like, physically dark. There's a running internet joke about how hard it is to see television and movies these days because the producers make things so dark and I feel like the artists in this book took that to heart. I thought at first it might be a metaphor for being at school because some panels have Nate in his house which is fully lit but I was really overthinking the process. 

There are three stories in the book. The first is a decent one about a baking competition against Jefferson middle school and trying to fake a haunting and Nate's dad dressing up as clown to go to a funeral. 

The second has Nate being pushed into figure skating for gym. He needs a partner to make it work but the only decent skater, Chad (who seems to have a lot of chest hair?) is forbidden from skating by a family curse. 

This one has a subplot with Nate's friends trying to teach his dad how to say no to Nate. 
The third story is Nate's dad trying to find a job which leaves an opening for Nate's band to step into a wedding. 

At the end of each of the stories is a page from the original comic is was based on. And, I feel like a curmudgeon typing this but, the (original) book was better. 

Two and a half stars

This book comes out May 25, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own