Dreadlands #1-4
Wally Monk
Recap
It's the year 2033 (wow, only 13 years from now) and the scene in the United States is that of a desolate wasteland. Large parts of civilization have collapsed, and workers at a secret United Nations installation in Colorado are working on projects which will help humanity's survival.
In addition to discovering how to grow food in unworkable, contaminated soil, the UN scientists believe they are on the cusp of developing a time machine. But when the research center is overrun by armed raiders, the only route of escape for the scientists and the military is the as yet untested large, dome-shaped time-traveling device.
As the raiders close in on the machine and it is activated from the inside, an ill-fated lightning strike sends the machine 150,000,000 years into the past.
Review
If you’re a lover of dinosaurs, this series is worth picking up for the artwork alone – I can’t help but think that the colorful prehistoric reptiles in this story were inspired by James Gurney’s Dinotopia series of art books. Ironically, Dinotopia was also released in 1992.
Clearly the art is the high point of this series, although the writing isn’t bad. This is a familiar take on the time-traveling trope that’s been done to death in both the movies and comics, ala Turok’s Lost Land, Richard Corben and Bruce Jones’ Rip in Time from Fantagor Press (1986) and B-movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Last Dinosaur. The stories’ futuristic wasteland could easily have been pulled from Tim Truman’s Scout (1984).
While much is borrowed from other stories, Dreadlands works for what it is. The first few issues chug along nicely, telling the story of the future, the attack by the raiders and then the adjustment to living and making things work in prehistoric times. But things start to fall apart when a secondary arc is introduced in issue #3, which turns Dreadlands back toward science fiction. The focus shifts from survival drama to more battles and chases, relegating the best part of the series (the dinos!) to a mere backdrop.
Many of the characters are wooden and stereotypical, but that’s not uncommon for comics that seem directly yanked from “Late Night Saturday” movies. The writing is occasionally dated, using 1980s era colloquialisms frequently, a distraction when reading the story over 25 years after it was published.
Sadly, we will see no more dinosaurs from artist Phil Gascoine, who died in 2007. With an international comic career spanning 45 years, Gascoine also drew issues of Marvel’s Punisher and DC’s Unknown Soldier.
Final Thoughts
We've all "been there" and "done that" as far as the story goes. But, boy do these dinosaurs look good. It's a pleasure to read a comic book full of actual dialogue, and not just full-page fight sequences and meager word balloons. While these themes may be cliche, the writing is efficient and the art excellent.
If you enjoy comics like DC's The War That Time Forgot or merely looking at nicely rendered and colorful dinosaurs, the series is worth a peek. It's available on eBay and other sites rather inexpensively, since the title hasn't received much attention from the House of Ideas or mainstream fans in years. Be sure to stay tuned next week for an all new Sunday Classics at Comic Watch!
SUNDAY CLASSICS: From Dystopia to Dinosaurs, the Future Meets the Past in Epic’s Dreadlands
- Writing - 7/107/10
- Storyline - 6/106/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 6.5/106.5/10
- Cover Art - 7/107/10
