Marvel Omnibus: Devil Dinosaur Review
comic, review, Jack, Kirby
When I was a kid, I would have loved this book. It stars Moonboy (the "first human" and judging by the hair, direct ancestor to Wolverine) and a T-Rex who has blood red skin and six fingers. They live in prehistoric Earth and fight giant insects, rival tribes, aliens and the population of Nevada.
Of course, as a kid, I would have found it weird that a child would team up with anything called 'a devil' and constantly hope that "the devil" would save him.
For those of you that do not know, Devil Dinosaur was created by the King of Comics, Jack Kirby, in the late 70's as the last series he ever started for Marvel. After almost four decades of guiding the industry away from collapse, Jack was getting old and wanted to get into animation, where the work was less tedious and gave a better salary. Stan Lee, long time business partner with Kirby, realized this and decided to let him create Devil Dinosaur in hopes that it would become a marketable cartoon, even if it didn't sell many comics.
Jack Kirby created Captain America, and later with Stan Lee he created the Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Hulk, Henry Pym, and almost every Marvel character in the 1960's. He invented new drawing techniques, and storytelling tactics for the industry; today he is often credited as being the most important comic book artist in history. But for all his ideas and brilliance, he wasn't known for his writing as much as his art.
While it's obvious that Jack Kirby was a better writer than Stan Lee was an artist, his dialogue and plotting are nowhere near as impressive as Stan's. I mention this because Jack Kirby doesn't just draw everything in this book, he also writes and edits all the stories here. While Kirby doesn't suck at writing, he's nowhere near the same league as Stan Lee, Roy Thomas or the other authors he was previously paired with. Compared to other famous titles Kirby had a hand in, this element is noticeable.
But when reading a work by Kirby, there's always the art. Unfortunately, the art in this book is among the weakest in his career. That's not as big an insult as it sounds, since Kirby's art is some of the best ever seen in all of comics, (and even his worst work has some 'Jack Magic' still shining through) and the art here just looks a lot more 2-d and stylized when compared to his other stuff. It's much more cartoonish and flat than what I'm used to from the King.
A lot of people claim that Kirby's art is blocky. While that wasn't always the case, as he began to draw more and more, his character's lost their curves and round edges and became the square-ish figures seen in this book. Surprisingly, the art doesn't come across as rushed or lazy, because there's a lot of stuff on every page. What it comes across as is the work of someone who is getting old, and tired, and jaded of the lack of the industry's magic.
Elderly characters are much more prominent in Kirby's 1970's series, than in his earlier works. They are older, wiser, but are also ignored and can't keep up with the newer more violent characters. I can't help but think Kirby is putting himself in the role of the elder that becomes prominent in the middle of the book; who becomes caught up on a chance to take a last adventure, trying hard to be relevant as the world he knows crumbles around him.
One thing that I noticed when reading through all of Kirby's work, is the lack of blood and violence that shows up in it. This makes his work more kid friendly, but doesn't come across as lame or lazy, it's comes across as the opposite. Kirby has to think of new and creative ways to take out the enemies and show the damage, and drama without just showing corpses. This probably made it more work for Jack (the King) Kirby to write stories, but it never seems like he was doing this just to challenge himself. I think he didn't show it because he wanted to focus on the more positive and wondrous things that were going on.
To further help my theory that Jack was a optimist, all the characterizations in the book come across as noble. Despite the crap the characters do, there is a hint of nobility and honour in all of them. This comes from both the writing and art, and it's a welcome relief from the grim and gritty heroes that emerged in the 80's and dominated the 90's.
The Devil Dinosaur is a creature whose loyalty could challenge Lassie's. He protects the tribe, Moonboy, (the Devil's best friend,) and the valley where he lives. He is so noble, he even creates an alliance with Steel-hand, who hates him. Steel-hand is a power hungry caveman that wants only power, but thanks to Kirby's subtlety, there's always the sense he'll do the right thing before his journey is over.
The series is about a boy and his Dinosaur, but that simplistic wonderful concept is always under attack by darker forces that want to neutralize the simplicity about the valley and the people in it. Again, it's hard not to mirror this with the darker, grittier comics that were popular at the time, which were outselling Kirby's stories based on his wonderful imagination. You can see Kirby struggling not to give into the trends, as comics were undergoing a major shift in tones and subject matter.
When the art and writing fail, Kirby's imagination still shines through. Some crazy designs, playing around with the origins of religion and prototype civilizations, and riding dinosaurs that destroy spaceships, are all examples of what Kirby, even after four decades, was pulling out of his head. There are so many ideas here that could be revisited, I'd almost suggest this series be remade, except that this was the King's departure from Marvel and as such, no one else should touch it. For even though he was targeting a younger crowd at this point, he was creating ideas that I had loved as a kid, and still appreciate now.
This is a children's book though, something I didn't know when I picked it up. Not that this fact would have stopped me from giving it a good read; because I believe if something is well written, it shouldn't matter who it's written for. It's just that the cover price of $30 (US) and $48 (Can) is WAY to much to ask for a kids book. (I've seen it for around $6.) The format of the book itself is great though. It has a forward explaining the situation around the book's creation. It has letters to the editor where Kirby explains his logic in the book and responds to his fans. It's oversized and re-coloured, and the colours are bright and vibrant in a way that no one in the 1970's could have imagined. The colouring and lettering are also well done, and the only parts of the book it seems Kirby didn't have a big hand in.
The book is in an Omnibus format, so it suggests that it covers everything done with the Devil Dinosaur. This is a bit of a misrepresentation, since Devil Dinosaur also appeared in Marvel's Godzilla comic series in a two part crossover (issues 21 & 22 of that series, if you were curious.) I'll forgive it though, the reasons those issues don't appear is because of copyright issues, (Marvel lost the rights to the King of the Monsters,) and the fact that Kirby didn't draw them. Make no mistake about it, this book is much like my review in that it's about celebrating (King) Kirby and his imagination more than the product itself.
Jack Kirby did continue to draw for comics, right up until his death in 1994, but after this series, his work for Marvel was over. Looking back at his huge body of work, many of his finest moments came when working for that company. This series was his goodbye to that part of his life, and although his best years were behind him, he still put out a product that he could be proud of, as well as give his fans some closure at Marvel.
Overall, I give Marvel Omnibus: Devil Dinosaur 6.5 out of 10, and I hope that anyone reading this gives Jack (the King) Kirby the respect he's due. For the King may be dead, but Long Live the King.
Devil Dinosaur was created by Jack Kirby and is the property of Marvel comics.
Marvel Omnibus: Devil Dinosaur collects all nine issues of the series on 183 pages.
Devil Dinosaur was released in 1978, this collection was released in 2007.
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October 24, 2009
Author: Mike M. |
