Written by Robert Kirkman
Illustrated by Jason HowardALL-NEW FROM ROBERT KIRKMAN & JASON HOWARD! This is where it begins!
The Evil Max Maximus wants to get to Inner-Earth! He wants the dinosaurs that live there! He wants the powerful DynOre mineral that originates there!
SUPER DINOSAUR and DEREK DYNAMO are the only ones who can stop him!
The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a ten year-old kid and his best friend, a nine-foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex who loves to play video games.
Has everyone here read Astounding Wolf-Man? I should hope so. Robert Kirkman’s first collaboration with Jason Howard ended up in a rather quiet hit of a series, chronicling the adventures of a man thrust into an epic time-spanning battle between werewolves and vampires. It ended on a fairly high note all things considered, despite it’s rather dubious open end (which saw partial resolution recently in Guarding The Globe!), but the series ending in the first place was … well, not exactly what I wanted!
Of course, now the new collaboration between Kirkman and Howard is out – SUPER DINOSAUR! Having already proved to me that the duo are capable of carrying a story past humble beginnings and into a rather dynamic close, I’d say that picking up the new book from the two is .. well, the obvious choice, really.
Check past the cut for some of my thoughts on the first issue.
To many, yesterday was not just “New Comic Book Day”, but “New Kirkman Book Day”, which is arguably just as important if not more so. Robert Kirkman is the creator of The Walking Dead and Invincible after all, two of the best comics currently coming out on a (reasonably) regular basis (again). Kirkman has certainly dug himself a comfortable nook in the creator owned world in which he can simply write what he wants now, without taking on extra work. So it’s reasonable to expect that with the release of a brand new title with one of his frequent collaborators, you can probably expect the best of the best from the upper-echelon of Image Comics.
This is why, for all intents and purposes, we can assume that despite any comments that I myself might have, Super Dinosaur is going to do really well. Which is really good, I suppose, because even now after I have read it multiple times, I am still not sure if I actually like it or not.
Allow me to elaborate a bit: for the most part, I am willing to trust Robert Kirkman on any endeavor. I have every issue of Image United despite not having read Spawn since I was a teenager and never having read Witchblade or Savage Dragon. I have Destroyer and Irredeemable Ant Man, which are oddly not talked about too much. I even have some of his lesser known/harder to find work like Reaper and Cloudfall – and I do not know anyone else personally who owns those or has read them. There has only ever been one series that I didn’t think I would read, and 14 issues later I have bought every issue of Haunt the day it was released. So in some ways, I feel like I have a good handling on how Robert Kirkman works – what he does well, how he establishes good characters, and his ability to put even his favorite characters – quite literally – through Hell.
I suppose then that is why that now, with Robert Kirkman writing a book that is specifically not aimed at me as an audience, the title is somewhat lost on me. I am endlessly impressed with Kirkman’s ever expanding Kirkman-verse that is comprised of 90% of the things that he is writing, even if it’s simply tangiently. Kirkman’s general idea of making the Image universe as inter-connected as the Marvel or DC universe 24/7 (as opposed to only during the convenient crossover) is pretty amazing, given how long ago it really should have happened without him. And now Kirkman is here with a brand new creator-owned title with Jason Howard, an artist who had previously worked with Kirkman on Astounding Wolf-Man (part of the Kirkman-verse), and it just feels off – ultimately, in the same way that Haunt sometimes feels off.
Continued belowSo let’s take the “me” out of the equation and simply look at the book as it stands. Since the origin story is being saved as a Free Comic Book Day issue, the book opens in the “middle” with our main character Derek Dynamo, son of Dr. Dynamo, riding his robot Wheels in a free fall with his best pal, Super Dinosaur. Super Dinosaur is his best friend and greatest creation – a T-Rex with an added robotic harness that gives him actual arms fight with, controlled by remote controls attached to his pelvis. Together, they begin the story by doing battle with Terrordactyl, Breakeosaurus, and Dreadasaurus – evil dinosaurs working under the twisted hand of Max Maximus. It is as silly/ridiculous as it sounds. We’re also introduced to Sarah and Bruce, two new technicians to work in Doctor Dynamo’s facility, and their daughters Erica and Erin, as well as the three main things that will be the plotlines the title follows: 1) the neverending evil of Max Maximus and his vanity, 2) Tricerachops and the liberation of the dino-people, and 3) the smarter Derek Dynamo becomes, the less intelligent his father gets (which I don’t mean to imply are neccesarily related beyond simple aging factors). So that – in a brief nutshell – is the first issue of Super Dinosaur.
The thing that is inherently different about Super Dinosaur versus something like Invincible is that Super Dinosaur is a kid’s book. I emphasize that point not to imply any negative form of connoation to the idea, but simply to say that you will never see the intense violence that is apparent in a book like Invincible, let alone the Walking Dead. To a certain extent, that already gives characters in Super Dinosaur a specific stunt. The discerning child reader is not the same as the discerning adult reader, and the things that the adult reader wants is very much different than that of a child. A child is happy to have a book about a sassy talking dinosaur fighting other dinosaurs with enough ridiculous character names to go around. The adult reader – 9 times out of 10 – wants to see a story that revolves around the characters and their evolution, where the plot is simply what pushes them forward and into difficult decisions. Kirkman is also a creator who is rather known for putting his characters into holes they have to viscerally fight their way out of, and it somewhat sets a precedent of what you can expect when reading any of his work.
So without even reading any further issues, you can already tell that Derek is never going to have to deal with his father getting Alzheimer’s, because that’s ostensibly not what is going to happen here in a kid’s book. Yes, Derek will be affected by his father’s memory problems, but don’t expect it to be as difficult as – oh, I don’t know, anything Mark Grayson has had to deal with ever in 79 some odd issues of Invincible. And while that isn’t enough to simply snub a nose at the title, it is a definite concern for the future of the story simply based on what I’ve learned to expect from Kirkman as a creator, which has developed from reading almost everything Kirkman has done. While it might seem like comparing apples and oranges, Super Dinosaur doesn’t exactly hold up to the first issue of Invincible, let alone the Walking Dead, Haunt, or even Astounding Wolf-Man. To put it quite simply – buying a Robert Kirkman title means that anything can happen. That is not the vibe given off by Super Dinosaur.
Super Dinosaur effectively reads like a Saturday morning cartoon, which is both a good and a bad thing. To begin with the bad, Super Dinosaur is a reasonably predictable first issue of a cool named child hero fighting against a villainously named villain where the hero of course wins the day and we get the patented “villain cursing at the improbability of his loss” scene in order to illustrate just how awesome it is for the hero to win. I mean, it is a child beating an adult after all – certain concessions have to be made. However, in a nut-shell I not only just described Super Dinosaur, but I’ve also just described to you any number of kid-starring shows about black and white good vs. evil, such as Ben 10, Generator Rex, or Kim Possible. So simply reading this as someone who has read a lot of stories before, one can’t help but note that this is a very telegraphed storyline with only a few minor differences between this and anything else.
Continued belowAll of that being said, the incredibly important caveaet here is that as much as I am treating this against the illustrious Kirkman catalogue, that is decidedly unfair. As I’ve said earlier – apples and oranges – this book is not specifically written for me. It’s Kirkman’s first kid-oriented title, and it is not part of the Kirkman-verse. There aren’t going to be any Invincible appearances or crossovers. Super Dinosaur is 100% self contained to itself, it’s universe and it’s characters. So as much as I have literally spent the 1200+ words leading up to this paragraph moaning about how it is not as good as Kirkman’s previous work – specifically the Walking Dead and Invincible – the only thing that it can really be compared to in his catalogue is probably TechJacket. For those that have not read it, TechJacket was Robert Kirkman’s first Image ongoing – before Invincible (as I have learned from reading all of his essays in the trade). Kirkman wrote the title intending to lead it above and beyond, only to find that it, unlike Invincible, was not the hit that he thought it would be, and that the market would not sustain both titles. In the end, he chose to put all his guns with Invincible, and obviously it paid off as now he can bring TechJacket back as a character, but at the time Kirkman admits it was fairly disappointing to see happen. And the important thing to note about TechJacket? It was much more light hearted than Invincible ended up being, and it was a kid superhero fighting against evil. While it may not have been intended specifically for kids as Super Dinosaur is, TechJacket reads well as if it was the one-hour movie pilot for a Saturday morning kids show – and this is where we can find the redeeming quality of Super Dinosaur.
Super Dinosaur is not the Walking Dead, Invincible, Haunt, Astounding Wolf-Man, Image United, Capes, Battle Pope, Brit, Reaper, Cloudfall, Tales of the Realm, Destroyer, Irredeemable Ant-Man, or Super-Patriot. It is not. Super Dinosaur is something new for someone new. Super Dinosaur is the book you should most certainly buy any young boy or girl you know who likes superheroes or dinosaurs. Super Dinosaur is a title that you can read and enjoy, as long as you don’t expect it to be some universe shattering game-changing “everybody will die soon” book. You’re not going to get to issue #3 of Super Dinosaur and see a character suddenly get imapled, or shoot themself in the face. That’s not what this book is about. No, instead Super Dinosaur is a light-hearted, quirky, entertaining book for kids that – if you’re in the right mind – can work well enough for adults/older audiences of any age to be an enjoyable read from a creator who can – assumedly – make this work.
There’s also one important note about the comic that has to be said: Jason Howard is a terribly underrated artist, and the visual aspect of this title is certainly worth the purchase on those grounds alone. I put that in bold because I really want it to stand out – Howard’s art is really that good. The incredible thing about Howard is that, as a fan of the Kirkman-verse, I have literally been able to watch Howard’s rather stark growth as an artist become what it is today. Anyone who has read the Astounding Wolf-Man in it’s 24 issues/4 volumes has a two year path between “pretty good” artist to “holy crap, what an amazing page!” artist. It’s one of the benefits for allowing an artist time to grow, and anyone who has read … well, any Kirkman book will know that he REALLY knows how to pick artists that can get his script across. Watching Howard become more and more of an intricate artist was one of the best parts of Wolf-Man, because Howard moved beyond an artist who simply gives his characters a bland back-drop to exist in to an artist who fills each page and panel richly with beautiful detail, scenery, and all around content. Howard really brings the life out in Super dinosaur, fully rendering every panel with such visceral detail that the book really pops to life. And considering he is doing all the artistic duties of this title alone, it certainly allows Howard a lot of room to really show off with this first issue. As much as it seems I have been complaining for however many words, I was sold on the book for the art alone – and that’s the honest truth.
Continued belowI know what you’re thinking. “Matt, you have just spent an excessive amount of time explaining why Super Dinosaur wasn’t very good, only to turn around in a paragraph and say the exact opposite. What do you think you’re playing at?” It’s a good question, and I’ll tell you what it is that I’m playing at – many a time when picking up new titles, I – as someone who has learned to take my role as both a reader and a reviewer rather seriously – have learned to simply appreciate some things for what they are enough to accept their existence, though not discernably invest in it myself. I am a big enjoyer of Kirkman’s extended catalogue, but at the same time I have often found that I just do not enjoy kid-centric comics more than others who have a more open mind or perhaps a more joyful song in their heart. So while I certainly appreciate Super Dinosaur for all that it wants to accomplish. In fact, I cheer it on from the sidelines. I want to see Super Dinosaur succeed, and for the first few issues I am willing to support it to see if my opinion changes. However, what I personally want from a title Super Dinosaur does not really deliver. Max Maximus and Tricerachops make for fun villains I suppose, but there is a difference between Kirkman writing ridiculous villains in Invincible as a satire and Kirkman writing ridiculous villains in Super Dinosaur because that’s what the audience responds well to.
I suppose the round about way of wrapping up this article is really just to reiterate my opening thoughts: I am still not sure if I actually like it or not. I like Kirkman’s work as a whole, and Jason Howard’s art is magnificent, but so far I – as a completely personal opinion – am just not really into all ages titles. I am more than happy to support them, and I have no problems telling you that every Tiny Titans issue I’ve ever stopped to look at in the store has been an absolute joy. However, there is a difference between wanting to support the idea of all-ages titles and actually buying them myself, for my collection. I still watch Saturday morning cartoons – really, I do – but unlike when I was 8, I don’t just watch the TV for three or four hours while eating cereal. Now I watch the ones I like, and ignore the ones I don’t. Super Dinosaur right now is walking the very fine line between “book I appreciate and support” (like Invincible or Walking Dead) and “book whose mere existence I appreciate and will verbally if not monetarily support” (like – ready for a heart breaker? – Thor: The Mighty Avenger).
This, in so many words, is my essential thought process with the first issue of Super Dinosaur (and, to be honest, I have read an advance of the FCBD Origin story, which I have basically the same thoughts regarding). I have purchased the first issue and am happy to have at least that in my collection. We’ll see as time goes by if I go any farther. However, I have laid out to you both sides of the argument to the best of my ability, which I can only hope will help you in making a decision based on what kind of reader you are. If you’re open enough to just read a comic and have a fun time – which, for all intents and purposes, you should be able to do regardless of the suggested age a title has – then Super Dinosaur will fit right into your collection. However, if you are more like me and gravitate only to very specific kid based entertainment and titles, then I suppose just try not to let Kirkman’s previous work influence your thoughts on this as much as it did mine.
(And, as a side note, given my habit of giving books a year or so worth of issues before dropping, could very well just mean that I’ll stay for the long haul all things considered.)
