Worst Hero Ever: Feet First by Eva Amores and Matt Cosgrove

Title: Worst Hero Ever: Feet First

Author: Eva Amores and Matt Cosgrove

Genre: Humour

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st April 2026

Format: Paperback

Pages: 160

Price: $15.99

Synopsis:
If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

Super strength? Invisibility? The ability to fly? Super speed? So many superpowers to choose from. Unfortunately, for Licky Ricky, he didn’t get to choose. He just woke up one day with the most useless, least impressive, socially unacceptable, slightly embarrassing, frankly gross, superpower of all time!

Grab your barf bags, buckle up and brace yourself for the unbelievable but entirely true origin story of the worst hero ever!

~*~

What happens when you’re given superpowers? Well, that’s what Licky Ricky is about to find out. Except…he isn’t going to get to choose what those superpowers are! It all starts with The Incident at a camp that he really doesn’t want to be at, that’s not as fun as it should be and where well, he is just going to be humiliated! It’s classic Matt and Eva, and thankfully, poor Justin is getting a break in this book. It’s all going to be done to his cousin now, and I love the way this is connected with the Worst Week Ever series.

But Ricky also has to contend with an older brother who wants nothing to do with him, parents who are focused on other things, and a younger sister, Tabby, who is permanently glued to her tablet. This means that we never see her face! Poor Ricky is stuck in the middle of all this, feeling like he doesn’t fit in. He’s also pretty boring compared to everyone else. That is, until The Incident that leads to his new, quite gross superpower! You’ll have to read the book to find out more, it’s pretty gross.

It’s all delivered with Matt and Eva’s trademark humour, and it takes the reader through Ricky finding out what his superpower was, and what he could do with it. And then there are the ups and downs, the things that are just way too gross to talk about whilst also looking at the really cool things he can do (which, let’s face it, are also a little bit gross).

But it’s the kind of out there, bonkers superpower that kids will love and laugh along with. Kids are always talking about superpowers and superheroes and the same powers often come up. But what if there were some outrageously different superpowers out there? That’s what makes this so much fun to read. It’s a little bit out there. It’s fun. It’s funny. And it has that Matt and Eva magic that just makes these series so much fun to read.

Unlike Worst Week Ever, this is a combination of comics and narrative, which suits the superhero theme. Most of us will know superheroes from movies or comics rather than novels. I think this worked well and was set out in a great way for readers to engage with. It’s broken up well for reluctant readers and for confident readers, meeting somewhere in the middle for both readerships. This is a fabulous way to present a book and get kids of all ages reading.

It’s a great start to a series as well, and I’m interested to see where Licky Ricky goes from here!