Reading Comics #77 "Dinosaurs vs. Aliens"

Remember that underwater scene in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, where Jar Jar Binks is distracting Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn as they try to make their way to the Naboo capital, running into a series of giant sea monsters?

What I'm referring to is the parade of sea monsters.  In DVD commentary it's explained in detail, the motivations and details that might not have been apparent while most the of the audience was busy being annoyed by Jar Jar.  Perhaps the most famous element from the sequence is Qui-Gon explaining that "there's always a bigger fish."

I call this image to mind because it's pertinent to Grant Morrison's new graphic novel, Dinosaurs vs. Aliens, produced in conjunction with Liquid Comics and Dynamite Entertainment (the same publishing scheme that made 18 Days possible two years ago).  DvA is a potential film from director Barry Sonnenfeld (perhaps best known for the Men in Black trilogy).

Like 18 Days (which was to be the first phase of a potential screen epic, in that instance an animated series), DvA is illustrated by visionary artist Mukesh Singh, whose work is greatly enhanced by vivid coloring.

Morrison has history imagining the inner lives of terrestrial characters other than humans in We3, which looked at the aftereffects of a military program that turned a cat, dog, and rabbit into commando warriors who subsequently broke from their training and succeeded in returning back into the ordinary world.  DvA is very much the reverse of that arc.  This graphic novel represents only the opening salvo of aliens on the verge of extinction coming to Earth and discovering dinosaurs waiting for them.  As humans have ever since digging up their bones, the aliens expect dinosaurs to be dumb and easily wiped out.

But Morrison's dinosaurs are clever, and have their own culture.  They will not be so easy to eliminate.

The story in the volume unfolds as the aliens approach the planet, relating their tale in hindsight, thereby making it clear that they will meet their match later on.  Most of the words in the volume are in narrative caption, though dialogue creeps up eventually.  The dinosaurs, naturally, are silent except for animal sounds, but it's Singh's task to illustrate Morrison's version of that Phantom Menace sequence, drawing the reader into a world where the inner lives of beasts are explored in the context of their lives.

The dinosaurs in DvA are garbed in primitive decorations, and that's the first and most startling evidence that they're more sophisticated than most estimations allow.  Dinosaurs have been a cultural fascination for decades, with Jurassic Park representing the high point of that interest.  In recent years, as more examinations have modified classifications and some facts have shifted around, it's almost been like when Pluto was declared to no longer be a planet: something was lost along the way.  As we've come to know them better, they've become less exotic.

Morrison clearly has retained his fascination.  Included in the back end of the volume along with sketches from Singh are excerpts from the script, and Morrison's continued interest is clear.  Dinosaurs fit perfectly with his ability to grasp complicated systems, which has been demonstrated in his Batman work, The Invisibles, Seven Soldiers of Victory, and other comics.

In an introduction, Morrison admits a favorable impression of Sonnenfeld's Wild Wild West, which is otherwise classified as one of Will Smith's few outright failures, a movie that quickly became a punchline.  Yet it is also an imaginative wonder, and that's the kind of thing that Morrison will always enjoy.

You can easily enjoy this on its own terms, or as a possible prelude to a future movie blockbuster.