Comical Thoughts: Super Dinosaur

…Annnd it only took me seven days – seven days to break the vow that I made in my last post. I swore I was done with Image comics, outside of collected editions, until they got their act together. But then, they had to go and release a book called Super Dinosaur. Motherfucking SUPER DINOSAUR! Look at that cover! How do you pass on a concept like that? Simple answer: you don’t.

I’ve got to start by saying that Robert Kirkman isn’t exactly my favorite creator. He’s got a lot of great ideas, but I kinda soured on him after he became a giant creator-owned evangelist. To him, you’re wasting your time in comics if all you’re doing is working on X-Men or Batman. Instead, you should be creating new concepts that you OWN, rather than making money for Marvel and DC on decades old characters. He’s on to something there, but he reached a point where he became somewhat of a bully in trying to get that message across. There’s no doubt that he practices what he preaches; he’s so prolific that I either believe his stuff is being handled by ghostwriters, or he’s a tortured artist who beats his wife between ideas. He’s already crossed media with The Walking Dead, but I get the feeling that Super Dinosaur will be another crossover hit.

It’s clear that Super Dinosaur is meant to be one of those rare “all ages” gems that we don’t get very often in comics these days. That said, it appears that Kirkman went to the well of a lot of sources, both familiar and unfamiliar, to pull this all together. Basically, Super Dinosaur is what you get when you throw Ben 10, Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, and a little known Image comic called Johnny Monster into a blender. Derek Dynamo is the son of a famous scientist who discovered dinosaurs living 100 miles underground. Dr Dynamo also discovered a powerful mineral, which he named “Dynore”. Now, his former partner is trying to claim the Dynore for himself, but his attempts are thwarted by Derek and his best friend, Super Dinosaur. Derek’s got a healthy ego (he thinks everything about himself is “awesome”), and Super Dinosaur is able to be “super” due to a special tech harness designed by Dr Dynamo. It’s high stakes fun and adventure, as tomorrow’s technology is introduced to the lost world of the past.

The Super Dinosaur concept is VERY toyetic, which has a somewhat negative effect on the premiere issue. Instead of feeling like a true introduction to that world, it feels more like a comic book adaptation of a TV show that might be called Derek Dynamo & Super Dinosaur. I can’t put my finger on why, but it just doesn’t feel genuine. At the end of the book, there’s a blurb where Kirkman goes on about how this is an all ages book and how he’s excited about that. While that may be true, it’s an all ages book with an agenda. If handled correctly, this is the kind of concept that pays for summer homes. The 8 year old boy inside me thinks it’s a kickass concept just from the title alone, but he’d much rather wait for the cartoon that the book seems to be adapting. The same way some publishers are using comics as a cheap way to create movie pitches (I’m looking at you, Radical Publishing!), this book feels like Kirkman’s audition to join Man of Action at the big boy table of Nicktoons and the like.

Apparently, a special origin issue of Super Dinosaur will be offered on Free Comic Book Day. I’m not sure if it’s going to change my opinion of the book, but I’m definitely willing to give it a chance. It’s not that I don’t like Super Dinosaur – in fact, I love the idea. I just feel that it has enough potential that it almost seems like a waste to tell the story as a comic. It’s very reminiscent of the done-in-one-season animated concepts of the late 80s/early 90s. Maybe Kirkman’s hoping for more of a shelf life for this one, but it’s hard to tell where this falls on his full plate that already includes Invincible, The Walking Dead, and various other projects.