Jack’s Dinosaur

Today I went into Mrs. Kidd’s second grade class to talk to Jack’s class. They are doing a unit on dinosaurs and so I spent an hours talking about about dinosaurs and comics. We started with how dinosaurs got me into comics. While on a family vacation to Dinosaur National Monument my parents bought me a copy of Marvel Team-Up #19 because it featured Stegron the Dinosaur Man fighting Spider-Man. I didn’t know squat about Spider-Man but I knew a horde of cool dinosaurs when I saw them. I read that comic until the cover fell off and eventually became interested in Spider-Man. As a big nerd, a super-hero with a science nerd alter ego was very appealing.

As part of their activities, I give them a four panel grid featuring Wrinkles the Wonder Brain responding to something. I used to start with a completely blank set of four panels, but a high percentage of the kids were often stymied by what to draw. I’ve found that having a predrawn element gives their imagination something to play off. Below is a scan of Jack’s comic. In it, a stegosaurus rolls up in a ball brandishing its plates like a whirring buzz saw. For fans of Godzilla movies (and the boys and I watch one every Saturday night with an orange cream soda), this maneuver is reminiscent of how Anguirus mounts an attack.

Note the effective use of sound effects (”boing”), speed lines, icons (the puzzled question mark in panel 1) and word balloons and dialogue all in the service of healthy cartoon mayhem! To say I’m proud would  be a gross understatement.