Emmalita recommends!

When I was looking for new graphic novel series to read, Emmalita recommended Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to me. I ended up buying this first volume for my beloved son, who is a fan of graphic novels and the MCU and things that are excellent. Emmalita, as always, was right.

This series begins by introducing us to Lunella Lafyette, a 9 year old girl going to school in New York. For some reason, she can’t get into a fancy school, so is stuck at a public school with children and teachers who can’t accept her for the astounding genius she is. She eventually meets Devil Dinosaur, who has arrived on modern day Earth through a portal from another time/place (maybe?) – they bond and form what seems likely to be a formidable superhero team.

This whole thing is a lot of fun. The pacing is perfect – the authors roll out the story details as the adventure part of the story develops. Unlike many comics, I did not find that much of the story was lost to me because I hadn’t read other related books in the same universe. Outside of the inclusion of a Hulk that I didn’t know about and some references to Terrigen, it was all presented quite naturally in the book, including some explanation of Inhumans. The art in this book is great – Natacha Bustos gives everyone distinct facial features and good expressions, and the colouring is bright and crisp.

The best part of the book for me really was Lunella, though. She is so, so smart and expresses her frustration that nobody will listen to her, but nobody listens to that either. I very clearly remember feeling that way as a child and as a teenager myself, and that just was so relatable. She is fun and smart and courageous, but still had to work through her emotions like any nine year old. I liked it so much that I just ordered Volume 2 for my son for Christmas. The back of the book refers to Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur as an all ages series which is entirely accurate. It was nice to read something that wasn’t trying so hard to be dark or edgy, but still had some heft to it. Thank you for recommending it to me, Emmalita!

CBR10 Bingo category: Cannonballer Says