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Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games #4
Reviewed by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg
The covers: A pair for issue number four. The
Regular Cover has art by Jeff Zornow who seems to be channeling
Bret Blevins. Dr. Frances White is riding a triceratops and
leading a stampede with a herd of the beasts through an
electrified gate; above their heads are a flock (?) of
pteranodons. Zornow has captured the energy of the moment but
every aspect of the art rings of amateurism, or a pending
deadline. And signing one's name and adding "MUST BE DESTROYED!"
is just asking for shots with work of such a poor quality. Cover
R(etailer) I(ncentive) is A without the colors. This version
just illustrates for me how much slack the colorist had to pick
up. Overall grades: A D+ and RI D.
The story: Author Erik Bear (with Story
Consultant Greg Bear) makes up for the lack of thunder lizards
in the previous issue. Undercover agent Espinoza is still trying
to get off the island alive and gets some needed help from
back-to-nature Dr. White, whose raptors left a survivor from the
previous issue's carnage to interrogate. Meanwhile, island
owner/drug kingpin Cazares realizes his thugs probably haven't
killed the agent. The first pages's internal monologue is so
over the top and unnecessary that it destroys any chance for the
reader to feel any sense of dread. In fact, there's more
dialogue on this page than any other in the book. It should have
been edited considerably, allowing the reveal of the raptors on
the first page, since new readers would be interested in seeing
some of the infamous island creatures, rather than enduring a
man waxing philosophic as he strolls through the jungle. The
interrogation comes off a little too quick, and a chance to show
White truly reverting to animalism is squandered. I couldn't
believe any part of Page 10 or 11, though cool, it's just not
possible in the Jurassic Park world. Much better is Espinoza's
skullduggery on Pages 12 -18. I'm also having problems believing
that the raptors wouldn't immediately eat the bad guys if White
wasn't around; so, this, too, strains credulity for me.
Thankfully, the last page is a good cliffhanger and I do admit
to wanting to see how this scene will play out. Overall
grade: C-
The art: I'm enjoying the cartoonish thugs'
faces, but the human leads and the dinosaurs continue to under
whelm me. The layout is also poor (focusing on White's cleavage
unnecessarily and Page 17: Do the four panels at the top have to
be that large? Isn't Hector the most important object on the
page?). Jorge Jimenez, you're breaking my heart. Please stop.
Overall grade: D+
The colors: The coloring continues to look
faded, and only pops on Page 3 when White's hair is on the green
jungles. Studio C-10, please stop. Overall grade: D+
The final line: Wasted and ruined opportunities
abound. I can't wait for this all to be over, so I can consider
this a bad dream. Overall grade: D+
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