Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Jurassic League #1 Review



They're a Modern Stone-Age Justice League!

Written by: Daniel Warren Johnson, Juan Gedeon
Art by: Juan Gedeon
Colors by: Mike Spicer
Letters by: Ferran Delgado
Cover art by: Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer
Cover price: #3.99
Release date: May 10, 2022

Jurassic League #1 reimagines the origins and characters of the Justice League in prehistoric times and as anthropomorphic dinosaurs. As each dino arrives to play the hero, the forces of fate (or nature) bring them together to fight a greater evil.

Was It Good?

Well, okay. When the announcement first came out about this reimagining of the Justice League, I admit I didn't know what to make of it. It sounded silly on its face, but Daniel Warren Johnson has an earned reputation for making the strange into something special. In truth, this first issue is unique but not how you might think.




Jurassic League #1 is unique in that there's nothing remarkable about it. Besides redesigning the prominent Leaguers into an anthropomorphic version of dinosaurs and placing the heroes in prehistoric times, there's nothing different from the characters you already know.

Supersaur is an alien sent to Earth from a dying world. Adoptive parents raised the infant dino into a kindhearted dino with the powers of a god.

Battasaur patrols his jungle home looking for evil dinos who harm the innocent. When he tracks down the insane Jokerzard, he recalls through flashbacks how the clown prince of dinos killed his parents, driving him to don the cape and cowl.




Aquacroc rises from the ocean with an army of aquatic friends to stop the malicious Blackmantasaurus from terrorizing the humans who fish and play on the shore. Wonderdon hears the cries of suffering from her home on the isolated island of Trimyscira. Her mother, the Queen of the island, gifts her special armor to go out into the world to fight evil. 

If you replace the character designs with their human counterparts, there's almost no difference. No special dino abilities or uniqueness distinguishes the Jurassic League from the Justice League (so far). In short, this comic is simply a reskin. In fairness, this is only the first issue, and it's entirely focused on introductions. Still, if you're expecting to get hooked with a fascinating/intriguing take on a different kind of Justice League, this is not that. If anything, this has a Flinstones feel where the cartoonish characters are homages to real-life celebrities, except replace the superstar with your DC superhero of choice.




At least the art plays to the strength of the concept. Gedeon's art style is similar to Johnson's signature style, and it suits the material well. The rough, sketchy outlines evoke the feeling of cave paintings, which complement the period and character designs to a tee.

Bits and Pieces:

Jurassic League #1 is an interesting idea that doesn't seem to have anything interesting in the execution other than the art design. It's like reading a comic version of the Flintstones where the characters are nearly exact reproductions of the originals, tweaked to fit the setting. Whatever magic intended to come out of this concept may unfold in later issues, but this first issue is only a strange homage.

7/10

1 comment:

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