Super Dinosaur Volume 1

Super Dinosaur #1

by Robert Kirkman, Jason Howard (Illustrator)

Soon to be an Amazon Prime Video animated series airing on October 6, 2019!

The Evil Max Maximus wants to get to Inner-Earth! He wants the dinosaurs that live there! He wants the powerful DynOre mineral that originates there! Super Dinosaur and Derek Dynamo are the only ones who can stop him! The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a ten year-old kid and his best friend, a nine-foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex who loves to play video games! The first book in the bestselling graphic novel adventure series by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and superstar artist Jason Howard.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Dinosaurs, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Adventure, Superheroes

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

About the author

Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.

Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.

In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.

Reviews

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

My girlfriend begged me not to booktalk this.

I brought this on a weekend trip we took together, and found myself constantly reading the cheesy dialogue aloud to her.

I'm talking about gems like:
"Sorry I'm late to the party -- but, good news -- I BROUGHT MISSILES!"
and
"My gloves hold all kinds of awesome stuff we use to fight these guys. I made them, too. I'm totally awesome."

It's about this kid, who lives with his dad and an "altered," intelligent TRex in a secret base on Mount Rainier. Extra points for the local setting. There's a villain, some troublemaking visitors, and lots of bioengineered cybernetic dinos.
In some ways, it's a lot of (totally groan-worthy) fun, but the gf's right, violence is glorified like whoa.

Far as the picture execution goes, the illustrations are totally serviceable. Full color, mostly easy to follow, with a good variety of panel layouts.

It's just the complete ridiculousness of it all, including clichéd characters, that make it so darn cringe-worthy. I may not put this on any outreach shortlist, but I may sneak this to the kids who like dinos in their sci-fi.

[Demian Katz · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best one can hope of something called "Super Dinosaur" is either an exercise in hilarious absurdity or else an ambitious attempt to transcend the ridiculousness of the concept. What one finds here falls somewhere in between, failing to hit either mark. It's not so over-the-top that it's funny; it's just dumb. Its attempts at drama fall flat because the characters have no character. While I'll give it a little bit of credit for ending on a decent cliffhanger, that doesn't redeem it enough to get two stars. The lack of character is the real problem here: I really can't stand protagonists who spend all of their time bragging about how awesome they are, so the male lead gets on my nerves, and the prominent whiny, weepy female character here just brought back bad memories of the largely insulting portrayals of women in Kirkman's "Walking Dead." Don't waste your time.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, it's not high art, but it's fun and I would have loved it as a kid. You could easily call it "A Boy and His Dinosaur". Maybe four stars is a bit high, but it has a T-Rex with a mech suit. That's three stars right there.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

By no means was this amazing or have great dialogue, but honestly I don’t care it’s freaking super dinosaurs! I loved the art and character design so much for this graphic novel that it makes everything manageable. I actually did not mind the story that much it was just written weird in some parts and the conversations went back and forth from different characters at random moments. All in all I did have a fun time reading this and I want to pick up the rest of the series!

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much as I loathe to write a negative review, I just cannot recommend this to everyone. I have young kids and I won't be passing along this title. With this work Kirkman continues to demonstrate that his best work can be found (for mature readers) within The Walking Dead or Invincible. In fact, the reader learns right from page one that attention to detail is missing because the story opens up with a splash page, which has Super Dinosaur in the foreground and Derek Dynamo in the background, but the narrative caption (from Derek) on page one states otherwise with: "Behind me, the nine-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex..." Derek can be annoying too. Despite his grand intelligence, which becomes a plot point later on, his ability to express himself is by constantly reminding the reader just how "Cool" he is. The writer should know better that a coolness factor usually yields better results by showing rather than telling.

Lastly, most of the other character names are enough to make your eyes roll or wonder why it became 1960s again with Stan Lee using first and last name alliteration. From "Breakosaurus" to "Dreadosaurus", from "Derek Dynamo" to "Max Maximus". I'm surprised the one and only female dinosaur "Tricerachops" wasn't spelled: "Tri-Sara-Chops."

[Thomas Salerno · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an AWESOME comic! Super Dinosaur has all of the action, thrills, and heart of the greatest Saturday morning cartoons from my childhood. In fact, this concept is just begging for an animated series adaptation. This was the most fun I've had reading a comic book in a long time. I was in love with every panel. So much awesome was packed into this fist volume. I can't wait to find out what incredible adventures are in store for our heroes next! If you love dinosaurs and/or classic adventure cartoons Super Dinosaur is a must-read.

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kirkman tries for a children's fantasy franchise, and comes up with a loser here. Certainly the adult reader will find the kid just too obnoxious with his "I'm awesome, me" spiel, long before any self-doubt from the brat creeps in. The drama is inherently flawed ("I mustn't tell anyone about how ill my dad is, oh look here are two fit girls and because one is interested in me I'll tell them both about how ill my dad is"), and the whole fantasy world of subterranean Earths featuring dinosaurs that have been turned half-human and weaponised, along with a mysterious substance, is just hokum of the cheesiest order. Why is there only ever one of each kind of humanoid dinosaur? I didn't find anything here to make me download the remaining three books on offer – I found little here to get me to the end of this volume. One and a half stars, for what I did bother with.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing particularly special and a bit old school comic series

Basically this comic series sets Derek Dynamo and his Super Dinosaur friend against other super dinosaurs in a variety of scenarios. It’s more or less the same conflict in each comic with a few characters being introduced and some character development. It’s nicely illustrated and younger readers will get more out of it than this ageing comic fan.

[Matthew J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is moderately fun. The art is pretty good and the ideas are enjoyable (not really new, but fun). The dialog is pretty meh, though, and the lead character is mostly annoying.
It's aimed at kids, probably in the 10 to 12 range, and I assume that age would find it entertaining. They would probably find the lead less annoying that I do.
I have volume 2, so I'm going to read it. But I can't see myself pursuing this series any further than that, unless things really turn around.

[Ryan Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content Warnings: Thematic violence

Super Dinosaur is a family friendly action romp with light sci-fi premises. Genetically altered dinosaurs, futuristic personal mobility tech, and super-suits with large arsenals all make an appearance.

This was a light read that my seven year olds thoroughly enjoyed with me and asked to read the next one. That's a win in my book.

[Mark ‚Fel‘ H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would you expect from a book called Super-Dinosaur? Some mindless fun and action! And for that it delivers. It is actually very kid-friendly (which I did not expect from Kirkman, so no gore or cussing.
It could have been funnier, though.
Overall it was ok like a snack of sweets between two real meals…

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would probably give this a solid 3 stars but because i read it with my 4yr old son and he absolutely loved it and couldn't wait for us to pick it back up again to read, the experience made me enjoy it so much more so that's boosted it up an extra star for me :)

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

this reminded me of Speed Racer and Johnny Quest, never thought a comicbook could make me feel what i did fifty years ago watching those shows. Kirkman and Howard created something on paper that looks and reads like animation.

[Mhairi · Rating 4 out of 5]

SO MUCH FUN!!!

[Grant Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grant went on to read volumes 2 & 3 of this series.

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 1 out of 5]

That... is some crap. A whole lot of it, and presented at speed.

[LMR09 · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this book is awesome it was halarise and i just loved it. it is one of my favorite book because its comedy

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyable nonsense

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little kids' book

[Tawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

am not sure if I would call this a comic book or a graphic novel because that’s not the area that I am familiar with. What I am familiar with is comic book/graphic novel crazy little boys. So far this book is a hit!



I tried to read this on the adobe reader (not pdf) that I downloaded but it was a little hard to read the panel. I finally figured out how to get it on my kindle. I love it. The pictures are phenomenal. My little guy (4) can’t read yet but he was looking at the panel making his own story. I have not tested the book on my two older boys but the little guy alone would make me try this book for pre-readers that love dinosaurs.

As I read through the books, the first thing that I am noticing is the mature pictures. Not in the overdeveloped anime way but this is not a baby book. I realize that all children are different but the first problem I have a bedtime with stories is finding one that all three agree on (at the start anyway, once I add my sugar hyped mommy acting…it’s on and popping. See, I’m a riot!) But these picture panel scream of action. I’ve seen by page 6 a picture and name of dinosaur. I’m pretty sure in this day and age most little guys are familiar with T-rex and pterodactyl but just in case they aren’t what a cool way to introduce them. I would advice the adult purchasing the book to take a look for your youngest children and make sure it is not too scary for them. My four year old pals around and rough houses with the big brothers (and plays dad’s very inappropriate video games) so his fear level is pretty high.

Basics of the story are bad guy Dino-men created by Max Maximus. They are trying to dig to the center of the Earth(Inner Earth) to get a very powerful new mineral. Apparently in Inner Earth (or is it at Inner Earth) there are lot of dinosaurs, particularly Super Dinosaur. The scientist is Doctor Dexter Dynamo (gotta love all this alliteration). Max and Dexter were partners at one time, with good guy Dexter doing all the work. It’s up to Derek (Doc’s son), Doc and the t-rex(Super Dinosaur or SD) to keep the world safe. Enter a military tech with his family to patch up SD after a fight with the bad guys and we are introduced to Erin and Erica. Dr. D and Derek have an emotional moment. Derek explains to Erica and Erin the origins of SD, the battle with Maximus and ultimately how his dad was injured.

To sum it all up, there’s action, emotion, science and great pictures.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: Robert Kirkman wanted to write something his son could read and I wanted him too! So I was anxious to see what this would be like.

This was truly wonderful. We jump right in with battle scenes between genetically altered dinosaurs, who are part robot, and Derek Dynamo. Then we are switched back to the lab where Super Dinosaur (SD to his friends) quickly starts talking about his machinery. This leaves the reader somewhat out of the loop but as the events and dialogue continue we are quickly brought up to par with the other members of the team and understand as much as they do, who they are fighting against and why.

Super Dinosaur is an awesome superhero, that will appeal to boys and dinosaur fans, as will the other various villains such as Terrordactyl and Dreadasaurus to name only a few. The evil genius is a typical protagonist along with his usual background story of how he became evil in the first place. But this makes him easy to understand. This book isn't really the place for deep characters, we already know what makes most of them tick. But new characters are introduced and they put a new swing on things, both good and bad. The volume then ends up with some things nicely wrapped up only to have a major twist in the story thrown at us on the last pages that will have you clamouring for more. This will satisfy pre-teen male readers who are looking for something a little more involved than just Pokemon or Bakugan. However, the final pages of the story, really got me involved in the plot and I'll be sure to read on to Vol. 2 to find out what happens next with the continuing story arc.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deryk Dynamo is not your ordinary kid. His father is a genius level scientist and his best friend is a mutant dinosaur. He and his best friend have cool, tricked out robot gear to fight other mutant robots who are evil. But there are secrets in Deryk's world, like why he and his father don't remember Deryk's mother. And why Deryk's best friend is the only good dinosaur around. Can they find the answers before they are betrayed by someone close to them?

Maybe I am not the right audience, but I found this graphic novel to be a bit of a paint by number story. It's as if a marketing committee picked all the things that little boys love (dinosaurs, robots, kid action heroes), mixed well and then baked at 350 for one hour. Sadly, the book lacks the heart or soul that makes these kinds of work stand out.

I know Kirkman wanted to create something his son could read, but this is too formulaic to live up to his previous work on Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies. Won`t be making my recommended list.

[Hugh Smalley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Collects SUPER DINOSAUR #1-5 and SUPER DINOSAUR ORIGIN SPECIAL #1. This is where it begins! The Evil Max Maximus wants to get to Inner-Earth! He wants the dinosaurs that live there! He wants the powerful DynOre mineral that originates there! SUPER DINOSAUR and DEREK DYNAMO are the only ones who can stop him! The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a ten year-old kid and his best friend, a nine-foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex who loves to play video games."

The Evil Max Maximus wants to get to Inner-Earth! He wants the dinosaurs that live there! He wants the powerful DynOre mineral that originates there! Super Dinosaur and Derek Dynamo are the only ones who can stop him! The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a ten year-old kid and his best friend, a nine-foot tall Tyrannosaurus Rex who loves to play video games! Collecting the first five issues and the origin special of the explosive new series by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and superstar artist Jason Howard.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

A young boy and his father are working with a small t-rex to save the earth. A entire world was found under the earth's crust, a world where dinosaurs still exist. The boy, his father and their dino friend must work to protect this utopia from evil villain Max Maximus.

The three main characters in this book are Derek Dynamo, a ten year old boy who fights Max Maximus along wit his talking t-rex, Super Dinosaur and Dr. Dynamo Derek's father. The three live together in an fortress in the mountains.

This book is set in the near future, after Maximus and Dynamo find inner-earth. The setting is absolutely crucial to the book, because the entire point of the plot is to protect inner-earth.

The plot is shabbily written and this book did in no way satisfy my needs as a reader. However, if you are looking for a classic comic with lots of punches to the jaw, this is the book for you.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay this comic is not for everyone but if you are in the mood for just some good old classic super hero stuff. As much as I comics that explore complex concepts and ideas like Sandman but everyone once in a while I just want to see some super ridiculous and crazy dumb super hero fun and this is probably one of the best in that area. I mean it features a T-Rex fighting Dino-men in a power armor with a human sidekick an that T-Rex loves video games and basketball and while the comic is so stupidly awesome it does try to be better with some actually good mystery and some good character development but like I said this is just a dumb story in the same vein of classic 80's cartoons like He-Man and Golden Age comics as such while it does attempt some darker themes which are obvious and do cause the story to screech to a crawl.

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super Dinosaur by Robert Kirkman is the first in a relatively new comic series sure to please young boys and girls, and those who enjoy comics. The villain is Evil Max Maximus whose goal is to reach the center of the earth where dinosaurs still reside. The hero is 10-year-old Derek Dynamo and his best friend Super Dinosaur who utilizes bionic arms and other devices to help defeat evil.

All around, this is a great story, good, clean fun. Though there is some violence, it is minimal with the good triumphing over all. This definitely a book that I would put in my library, but I think it is one that will endure over time and enjoyed by many. I cannot wait to get the next volume, for my students, of course.

[P Fosten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good all ages comic in the style of Ben 10. It's big action and the concept is fun. An inner world (similar to the hollow earth theory) is discovered with a new power source and still living dinosaurs. An evil scientist creates Dinosaur-human hybrids but is opposed at every turn by the son of his old partner (a 10 year old boy) and the first hybrid, SUPER DINOSAUR! The plot gets deeper than that and leads to all sorts of important dilemmas but never in a preachy way. Excellent fun and I can't wait for book 2. Or I may even have to go for the single issues themselves. Just wish this was an A4 size trade rather than the small manga sized digest.

[Cale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very family-oriented kid-friendly superhero book. Super Dinosaur is a genetically modified T-Rex that is smaller and smarter than the originals, who fights evil dinosaurs and villains with the help of a weapons harness and his best friend Derek. It's silly and over the top, but bloodless and, I hesitate to use the word, affirming. There's family drama and relationship drama, and lots and lots of action between dinosaurs, humans, and robots. It's also surprisingly compelling; the relationship between SD and Derek is at the center of the book, and it's a strong one. As silly as it gets, it's grounded on that relationship, and works because of it.

[Magila · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

There was something decidedly unpolished to me about this work. The artwork was solid, but not fantastic. It suffers from some of the common ills, people being too fit and young in general, characters not standing out, etc.

But, it is amazing for its target audience. Young men will love this. Dinosaurs, technology, fighting, dinosaurs with guns strapped to them, the word awesome. In general it's ok, but for late grammar and middle school boys, there will be few better graphic novels.

I'd strongly recommend it to that audience, but I can't imagine it being a general audience hit. I'll be reading the second installment.

[Chantaal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had incredibly high hopes for Super Dinosaur, because there's nothing about the concept that isn't awesome. A dinosaur that fights? Yes! A kid who fights with him? Yes! Robert Kirkman writing? Hell yes!

So color me disappointed when I realized, as I kept reading, that I found myself sort of bored by it all. There's no reason this should be boring - the concept is too out there and fun for it - but it is.