Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #38 Review

by Charles Martin on December 05, 2018

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #38 Review
Writer: Brandon Montclare
Artist: Natacha Bustos
Colourist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Publisher: Marvel Comics

It's a new story arc for Lunella Lafayette, her big red buddy, and all of Yancy Street. Bad dreams stalk the land - not just for Lunella, but everyone around her! Certain that Something Is Really Wrong by the time her gym teacher falls asleep with his whistle in his mouth, she descends to her lab and then descends further … into the Dream Dimension!

Yep, that means a Doctor Strange team-up is barrelling down on us. That's for future issues, though. In this one, Moon Girl is simply and gloriously on her own.

I love that Moon Girl consistently runs into kid-sized versions of classic Marvel characters and concepts. This emerging portrait of the Dream Dimension and its residents reminds me, in totally positive ways, of Illa the Girl Moon. 

A heroic kid contending with her own challenges in a Mini-Marvel world is both charming and, if I remember correctly, an accurate portrayal of how growing up works. (It's tricky remembering; I'm quite the geezer now.) When you're tiny, you have a vague idea that adults face bigger stakes, but that really doesn't matter inside your world. You need to face your challenges bravely even when they're kid-sized. 

And Lunella, of course, does that every time.

Besides an engaging and mysterious story, this issue also delivers a crazy-fun set of visuals. Right from the first panel, Lunella's world bursts with beautiful detail. Did you catch her memento wall and its snapshots of Moon Girl with fans and Ms. Marvel? If you didn't, slow down and go back!

By the end of the book, the visuals have had their chance to walk on the wild side thanks to Lunella's trip to the Dream Dimension. While the setting is appropriately crazy and unreal, it receives enough detail to stand tall in comparison to the earlier scenes set on Yancy Street and in P.S. 20. 

The colour palette sticks to this title's established style, relying mainly on bold, high-intensity colours to make Lunella's cartoony adventures pop. There's a surprising lot of variation, though. The initial dream that revisits Lunella's hypothetical moon-future has a subtle reduction in intensity to make the colours look more adult. And as the issue progresses and gets dreamier, the whole spectrum shifts toward spooky blues.

This issue is simply an eyeball feast from start to finish. My personal favourite is probably the page showing Lunella's descent to her secret lab; her school really needs to do something about the Moloids in the ductwork.

MG&DD #38 kicks off a dream-adventure in the best possible fashion. It's a blast for readers of all ages - both youngsters and parents will find plenty to enjoy. Even after an exceptionally long run for a modern Marvel book, this title continues to deliver perfectly-pitched delight.

Our Score:

10/10

A Look Inside

Comments

Charles Martin's picture
Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur is usually pretty simple. A standout performance like this just proves that simple isn't a bad thing.