Extinction Event

(WildStorm, 2003-2004)
™ and © DC Comics

If you ever despair of the lack of literary content in mainstream comics, be aware that Robert Weinberg has taken the basis of what easily could have been one of his novels and turned it into a comic-book mini-series.

OK, it’s “only” a Michael Crichton-styled thriller concerning the discovery of a lost civilization created by intelligent dinosaurs, and Weinberg’s characters consist of some pretty obvious “types.” Like Samantha Gonzalez, a rancher who rides the range in a halter top and square-jawed fighter pilot Rick Benson, who’s needed on the expedition’s dig to fly a “special VTOL plane” (sugarcoat it all you want, but it still looks like a flying car) into a pit.

Brett Booth is probably best known for his super-hero work, which is a shame, since he so clearly shines and obviously has so much fun drawing items as varied as cowboys, dinosaurs, and pretty women. It’s not Proust but it’s still pretty sophisticated by funnybook standards — for one thing, no hitting — and is something a baseline adult could conceivably read and enjoy.

— S.A. Bennett

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