DinoWars Recommended

Publisher
Antarctic Press
Writer
Rod Espinosa
Artist
Rod Espinosa
Country of origin
US
Length
4 volumes
Year
2006

DinoWars #3 & #4 of 4

By David Rasmussen
28th Apr 07

Hey! Look! I got a blurb from my last review used for the advertising for the collected DinoWars book! And… yes… the blurb is as relevant now as it was on that first review way back when.

“Oh, joy, do we need to see another Independence Day end-of-the-world title? Actually… yes. A title about rampaging, impossible-to-defeat enemies that actually makes SENSE” (I’ll go over that this review) “and is logical, to boot! How insidious!”

Wow! That is so cool! I remember when a blurb of mine was used to promote sales of Korean Manhwa Ruler of the Land Volume 1 from ADVManga… not to scare you, or anything Mr. Dlin, but that title was canceled a few volumes later (originally slated for 21 Volumes). I still miss that title. Yes I do.
Now where was I -- oh, right, DinoWars.

As the war rages on, and things start to look bleak, we are suddenly shown a possible light at the end of the tunnel as a second group of dinos who are NOT out to destroy humanity show up, two of their “agents” having spent time in the first two volumes with main hero Hank’s girlfriend. No, not that way, this isn’t Icarus Publishing. Anyway as the friendly side of the coin, the Protosaurians, come to the UN (relocated to a temporary new location) to make all nice with the humans we can finally go through how this war came to be, by turning the clock way way back… and then asking you to do one thing (because then this will all make sense as I promised). Now… hold on, here’s the request… throw out the dinosaurs and replace them with humans set in the seconds before post apocalyptic no-tomorrow (Issue #2 lays out the story of their origins).

OK. Apparently the dinosaurs were, in fact, a hyper intelligent species with a massive technology and civilization which (yes) was put on the brink of extinction when the ice age came (the event, not the movie). Deciding that staying on Earth meant death, the culture of the dinos packed up their bags of tech and left the planet, using giant colony ships to hold out off planet in suspended animation until the day they could come back to the Earth once the ice age was over. Makes sense what’s going on now? No?
Let me rephrase this. On the verge of the end of human civilization mankind is ferried offworld in giant worldships that humans built to hold them in suspended animation, until such a day as the clouds dissipate, radiation levels fall and the Earth is once again inhabitable.

Now imagine that years pass, the dinos wake, and they come back only to find out that their Dino Al Gore’s doom and gloom predictions was abit off, and (surprise surprise) life seems to have actually made it through the ice age (to the point that a new higher form of life that the last civilization once totally ignored now runs the planet). Well, as it turns out the culture had it’s peaceful types, and it had it’s warmongers -- guess what the warmongers are in the mood for after endless millennium of hypersleep? It ain’t peace talks!

And thus the war began, as the violent factions of the dino culture come crashing down planetside hot on taking their “homeworld” back from the “evasive species” that has “infected” their once pristine world. Yeah, you tell me after humanity is offworld so long that we’re going to open dialogue with the new master race of technology enhanced cockroaches or whatever happens to be running the planet when we get back. Not happening. No way. No. No. No. Hence why this all makes sense, because if you remove the dino equation and ask yourselves how humans facing the same situation would react, you would probably come to the same conclusion as Rod Espinosa (in that things go south and war breaks out).

Thankfully for mankind one of the two sides of the dino coin actually wants them to make it, and that’s why they’re talking to the UN right now. All they want is land to re-establish their own culture and -- (silence) -- oh, wait, we’re talking about the UN here, aren’t we. Let’s see now, if they can’t solve the problem of Iran, North Korea, or Darfur odds are going to the UN is not going to be all that helpful to the good dinos, and for the most part it’s not. They do get enough of a deal through (shocker) to at least get them to have Antarctica (the country, not the comic company) and a seat on the UN security council as well as UN membership. Nice. Now the next time Iran acts up they can threaten to feed the Iranian president to the dino nation’s ambassador. Oh, this was done in the best way possible to insure complete agreement.
Yeah. The evil dino nation dropped in on their meeting and it was vote or die time.

Now the good news and the bad news… but first, the score. Mostly since what I say next may be construed as a spoiler so read my score, then stop reading if you don’t want to know more.

OK. Scoretime.
DinoWars #3 & #4 gets a 4 out of 5, because I haven’t changed my opinion of the title yet (why should I).
Smart, intelligent premise of a scenario combined with large setpiece action sequences and characters you can actually like (which is always a plus in a series) set the stage for a 4 parter that has all the large scale oomph of an Independence Day without the suck factor of an Independence Day. How nice is that.
Be warned -- it ends kinda abruptly as we get to the nitty gritty of the final issue, and the last stand which includes protecting the Protosaurian ship from the attacking evil dinos (the Megasaurs) and wrapping this all up nice and tight (almost).

DinoWars. If you missed the issues buy the collected graphic novel, it’s worth having as part of your collection. DinoWars (the complete run) thus gets 4 “What Happens in Antarctica Stays in Antarctica” tourist brochures (after the Protosaurians set up shop and their new nation) out of 5.

And yes, I do think it’s creepy how sometimes it looks like the main man of the title doesn’t seem to have any eyes the way he squints so -- how does he run about without running into things?
OK. Stop reading now if you don’t want to hear a possible spoiler. Go on now. Bye.

OK. Everyone who were warned to go has gone.
As I said above there is an abrupt ending, and the war comes to a quick close -- not quite.
Unfortunately the Protosaurians take their good guy stance too far and let the bad guys make a run for it, which is nice and noble and all except that, well, if there really was a place for them to flee to in the solar system then we wouldn’t have had DinoWars in the first place! (They would have just moved to THAT planet and stuck to it!)

However, instead, we are left with enough opening for a sequel to maybe one day squeeze it’s way in since the bad dinos are pretty much backs against the wall without a home planet. This should leave enough scenario open for a sequel as they will one day want to retake the planet, which means another war (maybe this time with a more hands on Protosaurians since they’ll have something worth fighting for next time out).

Of course that doesn’t mean there isn’t enough sequel fodder here without the Megasaurs.
After all eventually the Protosaurians have to move in, and get to know the neighbors. Out goes war Independence Day style, in comes political intrigue and international dysfunctional politics (Rod Espinosa’s West Wing as envisioned by Tom Clancy or H.G. Wells). Oh, and whatever will happen when the dinos start to “terraform” Antarctica and the water levels rise, or the penguins become homeless, or whatever.

The way DinoWars ends there is more than enough “wiggle room” so that, well, one day if somebody at Antarctic decides, they can come back to this universe and explore the dynamics of what was wrought at the end of this book to a greater depth. This is the big reason why, by the way, I’m giving this a 4 out of 5. Not only is the story we have here and now worth reading, but there is enough here to one day say we want to see where this goes from here (and what may come in a possible sequel years down the road).

To the here, and the now. But also to the tomorrow, and the potential this series may yet wrought. That is why I score the way I do today. In short DinoWars got a 4 out of 5 for it’s worth now, but I’d like to this it’s 4 out of 5 is a marker for what it may get one day should somebody decide to take us back to this world, and show us what’s next.

And yes, gosh I’m glad plans for Independence Day 2 or Godzilla 2 (the American version, not the original Japanese) never came to be. Unlike DinoWars I really don’t care what happened next in either of those worlds, thanks ever so.

-- David Rasmussen 28th Apr 07