Christmas Week: Dinosaurs and More

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
By Alex Ness
December 18, 2022

HAPPY HANNUKAH, MERRY CHRISTMAS, FESTIVE SOLSTICE, REFLECTIVE KWANZAA, A JOYFUL DIWALI, OR HAVE A NICE DAY

In an era where selfishness and acquisition mark the modern mind and soul, Christmas is an opportunity to share, and to seek out the best in people. If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas to you. If you celebrate other holidays, then I wish you well as well.  If you don't celebrate any holiday, stay warm.

MY FAVORITE DINOSAUR and/or CAVEMEN COMICS

Jack Kirby created many characters, heroes, villains, people in the background, of all races and genders.  He didn't always have a dialogue that worked for the day, but as a man who nears 60, I am aware that my son and his peers hear me speak and think I am antique.

DEVIL DINOSAUR was a comic that as a kid I thought was fun, consistent, and if not scientifically accurate, made up for it by being full of energy and monsters and humans and UFO's and more fighting. I read in a Wizard magazine, or current magazine or journal of the day, that it was low brow and not very good. As a 14 year old, I recognized it wasn't a course on Paleontology or Archeology. It fit the need for entertainment of me in that day. 

SRBissette's TYRANT was high brow, perfectly well done, and deserves immaculate collection in tpb form. The life of a T-Rex, told without dialogue, focusing upon a naturalistic story of the difficulty, excitement, and effort to survive in a violent world, is beautiful, and dark. The art is brilliant. The story telling is beyond good, because, well, you go try to tell a story without word balloons to guide the reader in such a world. Bissette brilliantly accomplishes his task of storytelling. I needed more chapters of this.

TUROK SON OF STONE is a comic that excited me, fascinated me, and created an amazing world to explore, filled with cavemen and monsters, ruins and ancient people. It was a wee bit frustrating in the way that Gilligan's Island was, in that your heroes never escape, and find their home. To the young mind that is a flaw, but as an older fellow, it doesn't diminish the writing or art. I would describe this series as true comic book comfort food, and it was one of my first comics bought, with my own money.

HOUSE STYLE

This isn't about favorites, just to point out something that has changed in time, for the better. One aspect of comics and perception of interest and quality, comes in the initial view of the comic book's cover. There is a house style from publishers, if they wish to give a quick invitation to buyers, by making the product released by that publisher, have a quality look about their releases. In addition to simple quality, utilizing similar cover aspects and color schemes, along with the trade dress of title and credits, the publisher has a means of making you more interested if you haven't decided beforehand. The images below are examples of some excellent publisher house styles.  In the case of Valiant there was a look that along with classic characters from Western publishing, the covers evoke the comics drawn from, from the 1960s. The DC animated series lines embrace the creative hand of Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. The stylistic approach to each character reminds the potential buyer what source they evoke. Viper Entertainment was a nifty publisher of non typical product. They made a great use of similar trade dress and evocative style, being young but not childish, energetic and edgy, without resorting to mature languish and themes. Vertigo made a name for itself with dark and moody characters, art and stories. One of the more popular voices of those comics was David McKean, with Sandman and other titles, doing covers that told the reader, this comic book line was dark and mature.

About Getting Reviews from Me

I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

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