Avengers #31 – Review

By: Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Brandon Peterson & Mike Mayhew (art), Jason Keith (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  In the day after the Phoenix calamity, a lost Avenger triggers her emergency beacon.

The Review:  This review is a tough one to write due to the fact that I could easily come at it from two different angles, one positive and the other negative.  Let’s do the former first.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed the feeling of “the morning after.”  After all the AvX craziness, Bendis does a good job of giving the feeling of a new day having dawned and our heroes relaxing in their own unique ways, finally able to unwind and release tension.  As a reader, reading this, I sort of shared that and reading this issue felt like letting out a giant sigh and getting comfy in readiness for the next thing.  And hey, there’s a Wolverine beer joke, which is always good.  I will also say that Mike Mayhew’s art during these portions also suit that tone perfectly.  His photo-realistic, almost painterly style has that natural lack of tension, that grandiose, relaxed tone that matches Bendis’ script.

Super Dinosaur Origin Special #1 – Review

by Robert Kirkman (writer), Jason Howard (artist & colorist), and Rus Wooton (letterer)

The Story: Derek Dynamo tells of the origins of his buddy SD, the creation of SD’s harness, the discovery of Inner Earth, and the blossoming of Max Maximus’ villainous tendencies.

The Review:  I’ll admit, comic books weren’t a huge part of my childhood.  That said, I watched a lot of cartoons.  Super Dinosaur is totally something I would’ve watched religiously.

That said, this is a tough issue to grade.  As an actual comic book, it isn’t very good.  It’s basically an atomic bomb of exposition.  The idea of “showing not telling” is completely thrown out the window and finds itself buried by heaps of text.  This isn’t a master class on comic book storytelling, to be sure.

Yet, I actually liked this issue more than I disliked it, and I think that’s testament to how fun Kirkman and Howard’s world and characters are.  I skipped the first issue of Super Dinosaur, but I liked what I saw here enough to give #2 a go.  The characters are just so likable and the world is just so crazy, the sort of crazy that only a wide-eyed kid could dream up.  Indeed, this almost read’s like a kid’s fantasy.  There’s an enthusiasm, life, and, well, ridiculousness here that is impossible not to grin at.  With characters named “Super Dinosaur” and “Max Maximus” there’s a sense of gleeful abandon that’s infectious.

More than that, Kirkman once again shows, albeit in a very different context this time around, that he excels at writing kids.  Derek sounds like an actual kid, and his youth and vibrance isn’t forced at all.