Jack Kirby's Devil Dinosaur is probably my favourite of all of his works. It's quirky and strange, and really troubling, with lots of commentary on the Bible and implied rape by cave people. I know that Devil has shown up in various Marvel series since his debut in the late 70s, and in many guises, often accompanied by Moonboy. So you'll understand if I was really looking forward to a new series starring this delightful duo.
It's not quite that, but it's close, and it's cute, and it's got character. I'm still in denial about what happens to Moonboy in this issue, and I can only hope that I'm being fooled into believing something that CANNOT BE TRUE!!!!, but even if I'm not, I'm impressed enough with the first issue to stick with it for a while and see what happens.
I've noted over the last couple of posts that in the late nineties, DC was creating a cool, weird, not-necessarily-popular-or-epic-but-kind-of-interesting-nonetheless little corner of their universe with titles like Chase and Creeper. Marvel is engaged in a similar sort of project with some of their newer titles. I think I'd put this series in the same sort of space that Moon Knight, Howard the Duck, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are inhabiting. Slightly off the beaten track, not really concerned with all the grave and serious business of the A-list heroes and their angst, but still telling cool superhero stories. Moon Knight and Squirrel Girl veer more closely into the mainstream, but they're still quirky and weird enough that you know the writers are simply enjoying the madness of the superhero universe, rather than worrying overmuch about its coherence.
We'll see where Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur goes. Not really enough has happened yet to be able to comment on the story, but Moon Girl is definitely an atypical Marvel heroine, much as Devil is an atypical hero. Hopefully they'll manage to get into some atypical adventures. Issue two isn't out yet, so that's all I've got of this series for now. I'll check back in in a month. Til then, we'll move on through the collection tomorrow!
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