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Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games #1
Reviewed by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg
The covers: Four covers stampeding your way!
Cover A features art by Geof Darrow and colors by Jamie Grant.
Four artists can do no wrong in drawing dinosaurs: William
Stout, Walt Simonson, Art Adams, and Geof Darrow. A dust colored
triceratops is coming the reader’s way while a tiny winged
reptile rides atop. Perfection. Cover B is by Jeff Zornow,
illustrating how the book’s protagonist would fare against some
feathered raptors. It’s very pretty and scary. Cover RI A is the
B cover without the colors. I actually prefer this one to the B.
Cover RI B is also Cover B, with colors, but this is the
“Signature Edition” signed comic, by whom and retailing for how
much I don’t know. My store didn’t have any. I’d be nice if IDW
listed who the signers were on the checklist on the inside
cover. Overall grades: Cover A A+; Cover B A, Cover RI A
A+; Cover RI B A.
The story: Written by Erik Bear, with story
consultant Greg Bear, this issue flashes between the present and
the past (three months, then three days earlier), focusing on
protagonist “Mister Espinoza”. In the present he’s being thrown
out of a helicopter onto Isla Nublar. In the past Espinoza is
revealed to be an agent tracking a drug lord named Cazares, who
just happened to purchase Isla Nublar. I have a major problem
with this plot point: the most infamous island in the world is
allowed into a drug lord’s hands? I can’t buy this. A super
power would step in and claim it if this were to happen.
Obviously this is done to get all the “known” people off the
island and get others into the mayhem with the dinos, but this
is too far fetched, even for a comic featuring genetically grown
dinosaurs. In the past, Page 4, Espinoza’s cover is blown, which
leads to his present situation. The story then morphs into a
Jurassic Park version of the “The World’s Most Dangerous Game,”
and then becomes just a cliché run through the jungle. I want
better, and I hope it’s arriving with the last page’s speaker.
Overall grade: C-
The art: I admit it: this artwork really is not
my taste. I’m not a fan of manga art and this is Jurassic Park
Japanese style. I don’t care for the characters’ looks (be
honest, does Espinoza even look remotely Hispanic?), I don’t
care for the backgrounds (Page 8 is a sloppy mess), and the
dinosaurs are coloring book quality (Pages 14, 15, 17, and 20).
Speed lines appear used to cover the artist’s inadequacies. And
why is there a T-Rex skeleton handing up in the middle panel of
Page 9? I doubt that it would be rehung after the first film.
This is a gaff of the Ed Wood school of continuity. Now if you
like the Japanese look, you might think better of Jorge
Jimenez’s work. I thought it was just horrid. Overall
grade: D
The colors: Studio C-10 is credited for this
issue. Every page looks as though it’s been left in the sun too
long and the color has faded out. It’s as if they were only able
to have grey, army green, black, pale white, off blue, off
orange, and off red available in their palate. Case in point,
Page 15 should be a WOW! Reveal shot but it’s a dud. Studio C-10
doesn’t wake up until the last page, but it’s too little, too
late. Overall grade: D-
The letters: This is the only highlight of the
book: clear dialogue and dynamic sound effects. High five to
Shawn Lee. Overall grade: A
The final line: An absolute waste of paper. A
third string story with art and colors that are a flatline in
presentation. If this is the future of Jurassic Park comics,
they’re soon to be extinct. Overall grade: D |
