A Science Fiction Dinosaur Saga
The name is very reminiscent of Cowboys vs. Aliens. Maybe you didn’t like that movie, but I loved it. Both the movie and this series share a similar plot. Aliens come to Earth at some point in it’s history, and have ideas on what they want to do with the Earth. Meanwhile, Earth’s inhabitants manage to cast their own vote on the way forward. Dinosaurs vs. Aliens is a graphic novel series from Liquid Comics. It was created by Barry Sonnenfeld of Men in Black fame. The story was written by Grant Morrison, and the artwork was done by Mukesh Singh. This will be a spoiler-free review. Now, one thing I didn’t realize before buying it is that the entire series is not currently available. In fact, it looks like only the first four parts of the series are complete. No new story has been printed since 2012. I can’t tell if the series wasn’t popular enough, or there was some other reason for the drop-off. That may not be the proverbial rest of the story though. I found some promising rumors in my quest to learn more.
Story Becomes Inadvertent Cliffhanger
The story builds up steadily, and then it just stops. Your prehistoric war-epic is interrupted abruptly. It’s not even an awkward stop. Given the first three chapters, it seems to stop in a reasonable place. It’s clearly not meant to end either. You’re just left in a kind of holding pattern, as if the next issue was on it’s way to you in the mail. Unfortunately, a good portion of the story so far is reliant on what will be in the next issues. You get a lot of retrospective commentary that leads you to believe the explanation is coming. A lot of “if only we had known” or “at that point it should have been clear” kinds of things. If the story were complete, this may not be a problem. You get a lot of base level story. A little basic background on the aliens, a little present tense of what is going on, but only a teaser of specific intentions. Given that this part of the story is dependent on the next parts of the story, it hurts the experience given what is available.
A Dinosaur Artwork Masterpiece
Personally I found the artwork to be the proverbial crown jewel. Both the style and color choices were incredible. It is a very imaginative and primal vision of dinosaurs. In reading this series, I don’t really care if the dinosaurs look or move in a scientifically matter. I look at it as artwork in a science fiction comic book, and in that regard it is superb. You can download a free preview of the first few pages to get an idea of the artwork. If you’re more into the art portion of comics, it may be worth watching for a good sale.
Future of Dinosaurs vs. Aliens
One thing I found in my online research was that there were plans to make Dinosaurs vs. Aliens a movie. Nothing new on that front past 2012, however there was an odd mention on twitter about selling Dinosaurs vs. Aliens to a TV network in the UK. Not sure what that’s in reference too, but seems like all signs point towards something good. I have tweeted at the person, and will update with any response. I attempted to tweet at Grant Morrison on Twitter to see if there are any planned follow ups to the comic series itself. It doesn’t look like he’s used his account in over a year. Barry Sonnenfeld isn’t on Twitter himself, and I sent a tweet to what I think is Mukesh Singh’s personal account, as well as Liquid Comics on Twitter. I’m testing out the power of social media.
Final Recommendation and Purchasing
If you have a good imagination, then you might enjoy reading this as an exercise in what-could-be. Additionally a strong appreciate for artwork would also make it a worthwhile purchase. Otherwise, if you like to see stories come to a conclusion, you may want to skip this one. I enjoyed Dinosaurs vs. Aliens less than I anticipated. That was solely for the lack of follow-up, though. Nothing to do with what has actually been published to this point. As someone who loves dinosaurs and science fiction, I would probably have waited for more of a sale knowing what I do now. If you are still interested in picking up a copy, I got my physical edition of Dinosaurs vs. Aliens used for $5.92 through Amazon. A Kindle edition for $9.99 is also available. Occasionally the physical copies also pop up on eBay for about the same price. Using these links provides a commission to support the site, without you having to pay any extra. Thank you for you help! A final word of caution: The Free Comic Book day edition is the same as the free preview linked above. Unless you’re a collector, avoid that particular edition. The graphic novel encompasses all four parts of the series, so there is nothing else to buy.
