Science Comics: Dinosaurs – Fossils and Feathers

By M.K. Reed & Joe Flood

ISBN 978-1-62672-143-2

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Scott

Synopsis:  

Every volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic–dinosaurs, coral reefs, the solar system, volcanoes, bats, flying machines, and more. These gorgeously illustrated graphic novels offer wildly entertaining views of their subjects. Whether you’re a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty-year-old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you!

This volume: in Dinosaurs, learn all about the history of paleontology! This fascinating look at dinosaur science covers the last 150 years of dinosaur hunting, and illuminates how our ideas about dinosaurs have changed–and continue to change.

Review:

Dinosaurs have always held fascination with people – movies such as Jurassic World and the countless books about them attest to such. The giant creatures conjure both fact and fiction in the minds of the general populace but Science Comics: Dinosaurs – Fossils and Feathers serves to set the record straight, in the manner I’ve come to expect from this excellent series. Tracing the meandering paths of human knowledge throughout the relatively brief history of dinosaur discoveries, Dinosaurs – Fossils and Feathers, takes you from philology to paleontology and recounts the popular views of the times. By far it has been one of the more informative, and well presented, depictions of the creatures of myth and legend.

As with Science Comics: Coral Reefs, another book in the Science Comics line, the book is thoroughly researched and documented, containing notes, a glossary, pictorial summaries of major concepts, and suggestions for further reading. Some of the research came in 2 weeks before the book was due to be published!  It covers most, if not all, of the major turning points in the growing paleontological discipline. Not only does this cement the way for dinosaur enthusiasts but also provides a look at how science in general has adapted its viewpoint over the course of time. The graphic novel can be broken down into historical chunks, per se, in which a date, what we knew about paleontology at that particular point, and what we didn’t know. It also sheds light on the cutthroat game of science that was played out over the centuries that have passed.

Science Comics: Dinosaurs – Fossils and Feathers is extremely well written and kudos go to MK Reed for her deft manuscript. Tackling such a huge topic is taxing at the best of times, especially in graphic novels, however the words literally flow off the page, taking you on a tumultuous journey into what we have learned about these majestic creatures. Written primarily for Young Adults to Adults, at no point (except, perhaps in the humorous dialogue) does it waver in its structure or educational output. The words detailing this exotic journey through time, holds the reader captive, as one starts at the beginning of time to the present day. It’s well worth the read.

Joe Flood provides the other ingredient to a graphic novel: the art. Lavishly illustrated, with painstaking detail to what we know about dinosaurs today, the art is a wonder to behold. Technical diagrams, historical personages and, of course, the majestic creatures themselves are skillfully executed and painstakingly drawn. The panel layouts are easy to follow, and lettering and word balloons rarely clutter the page. Backgrounds are largely minimalistic, focusing on the happenstance of the story and getting enough across to make the reading of this graphic novel a delight. Taking key points in the history of the story of paleontology, Flood chooses exact and often witty moments from which to draw. Overall the artwork is polished and professional.

For lovers of great beasts, from Godzilla to Triceratops, from Jurassic Park to Jurassic World,  to just dinosaur enthusiasts, Science Comics: Dinosaurs – Fossils and Feathers (which has a solid bearing on the survival of the species) delivers in spades. A definite requisite on the shelf of both young adults and adults, this graphic novel, will leave you curious as to the next stages we will come to expect from this complex science we know as paleontology.