The series really hits its stride in book 4. No spoilers, but there is a distinct tone shift, and it’s when most readers say the series truly ascends from “great” to “amazing”. Also, calling it dumb fun is a pretty funny take. The entire series is a scathing rebuke of capitalism and conservatism, wrapped in a fart joke.
The whole series is a good example of how to turn a conservative into a social anarchist. Lonely white military bro with a harsh upbringing, who internalizes all of his feelings? And then suddenly being pushed into a scenario where you’re forced to be a badass hero asskicker? Yeah, Carl’s characterization was grown in a vat to be someone conservative men would imprint upon. He’s meant to be sympathetic to that demographic, so they can then sympathize with the person who is trying to burn the aliens’ entire end-stage capitalist system down and piss on the ashes. The ironic part is that many of those conservative readers end up on social media, arguing the Carl is actually conservative. Because they’re too wrapped up in identity politics to see that the individual actions have all been anything but conservative.
Err-… Uhh… I mean… God damn it Donut! Glurp Glurp! IWKYM.