“Devil’s War!”

DEVIL DINOSAUR — Issue no. 2, February 1978

Book: Devil Dinosaur

Issue No.: 2

Published: February 14, 1978

Title: “Devil’s War!”

Cover Price: 35¢

Marvel Comics, circa early 1978, was publishing two giant lizard-monster books — the modern (at the time) Godzilla, which I covered in one of my first Marvel Time Warp posts, and Devil Dinosaur, set in prehistoric times. Which is great, because one can never have too many giant lizard-monster comic books.

Speaking of giants, this issue of Devil Dinosaur is written and drawn by legendary comic book creator and one of the architects of the Marvel universe, Jack “King” Kirby. Kirby’s relationship with Marvel Comics (and with Stan Lee, the face of Marvel for years and a fellow architect of the Marvel universe) was complicated. He had left the company in the early 1970s to work for competitor DC Comics, and he had only been back at Marvel since 1976.

The King shows us how it’s done when he opens this issue with a splash page, after which he immediately hits us with a double-splash page. I mean, just look at this. Ridiculously awesome.

The story here is almost as action-packed as the Avengers story I wrote about last time, with the added bonus that the hero of the book is the titular Devil Dinosaur, a formidable T-Rex kind of thunder lizard with a distinctive bright-red hue. The book opens with Devil and his ape-person sidekick Moon-Boy being attacked by the also ape-like Killer-Folk. Apparently the Killer-Folk think with Devil out of the way they can rule the valley where they live. I wonder if all of these ape-people were inspired by the “Dawn of Man” ape-people in 2001: A Space Odyssey — one of Kirby’s first projects when he left DC and returned to Marvel in 1976 was a 2001 comic adaptation. That said, the ape-people in Devil Dinosaur are a lot talkier than the ones in 2001.

The Killer-Folk capture Moon-Boy and bury Devil Dinosaur under a big pile of rocks, leaving him for dead. Devil is, of course, not dead. But he’s pissed. He gets out from under the rock pile, fights and defeats a fellow dino, and then sets off to rescue Moon-Boy, who the Killer-Folk are gonna sacrifice to a giant spider. Devil shows up carrying a huge torch (in his mighty jaws) and proceeds to set fire to the field, trapping the Killer-Folk between the flames and the giant spider.

Devil is hard core, y’all.

Then Devil Dinosaur lets out a victory roar and he and Moon-Boy go about their merry way.

I haven’t read much of Kirby’s late ’70s Marvel work, and if this story is any indication, I have been missing out. I love this book and can’t wait to read Devil Dinosaur no. 3.

Next time — The magic of reprints brings a Spidey tale from 1972 to 1978!