When Dinosaurs Walked the Earth (That Would be Today)
Fabian Nicieza – Writer
Jorge Jiménez – Artist
Guy Major – Colorist
Dezi Sienty – Letterer
Ryan Sook – Cover Artist
Darren Shan – Assistant Editor
Wil Moss – Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza – Editor
Special thanks to Scott Lobdell, whose firsthand experience with extinction proved invaluable.
Our cover shows Kid Flash racing down the highway with the three dinosaur people he started tracking down last issue. This setting contradicts the story inside, as all the action there is confined to Chinatown, New York. I also really, really wish Jiménez drew this cover. Sook is ... adequate. Not bad by any means. But Jiménez brings life to Kid Flash — the spark I've been craving since the New 52 began.
DC Universe Presents was an odd series that jumped around every couple of issues (or sometimes just one issue) to feature characters that couldn't quite hold down their own monthly series. Or at least DC thought they couldn't. It's nice that Kid Flash got a moment in this spotlight, but don't expect any answers on his mysterious past here.
Our story begins with Kid Flash breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader directly. He provides a brief recap on how the Teen Titans escaped the Crucible, ended up on Mystery Island, then returned to Chinatown, but were followed by three "dino-teens." Kid Flash concludes his recap with a curious line: "Continuity doesn't really matter! Clarity is overrated! Let the fun begin!"
We then cut to Kid Flash chasing the pterodactyl girl across the rooftops. She eventually becomes entangled in a clothesline, which gives Kid Flash the opportunity to question her. She introduces herself as Dac, saying she came to this world with her friends Teryx and Steg in search of adventure. Suddenly, Teryx attacks Kid Flash from behind with his ridiculously long tail. Kid Flash easily breaks free, then cockily puts Teryx in his place.
Dac calms them down, but Kid Flash decides it's time for the dino-teens to go home. Problem is, they don't know where Steg is. Kid Flash searches the neighborhood, eventually finding Steg causing a commotion in a Chinese restaurant. The establishment decorates its walls with chameleons and other lizards in aquariums, which Steg believes is an outrage to his "brothers and cousins." Kid Flash rescues a couple of police officers from Steg's rampage, but unfortunately the cops are quick to remind Kid Flash of his debacle with the house fire and the time he stole the Statue of Liberty's plaque.
Things get even worse when Steg starts spreading a strange powder that makes all the lizards mutate and grow into dinosaurs. Kid Flash is forced to flee from these dinosaurs, and makes a point to let the police officers know that this isn't his fault. Dac and Teryx catch up, and Kid Flash learns that Dac is in love with Steg, despite his psychotic tendencies, and poor Teryx is the nice boy that Dac won't give the time of day. So Kid Flash asks Dac to talk some sense into Steg, while he and Teryx chase down the newly transformed dinosaurs.
Kid Flash and Teryx make a good team, quickly tying up all the dinosaurs. But when they regroup with Dac and Steg on a rooftop, Dac reveals that she and Steg lied to Teryx. They always intended to come to this world to seek revenge against the mammals. Steg tosses a pouch off the roof, which, when ripped, will release mutagenic mists on the street below, according to Teryx. And to hasten this process, Steg launches several projectile barbs from his tail at the falling pouch.
Teryx and Kid Flash dive to catch all the barbs, and they succeed, but it turns out the pouch was empty. Naturally, Steg and Dac used that diversion to escape, and Teryx warns Kid Flash that Steg still holds enough mutagenic compound to harm countless innocents. Kid Flash manages to persuade Teryx to allow him and the Titans to help take down Dac and Steg, then he turns to the reader and announces this story will continue in Teen Titans #12.
It's a good thing Kid Flash warned us that this story is essentially not in continuity. The timing doesn't make any sense, and it's downright criminal that we didn't see any of these dinosaur people when we were on Mystery Island. But if you took Kid Flash's advice to not worry about such things, you'd actually have a lot of fun with this issue. Nicieza writes a terrific Kid Flash. He's fun, witty, energetic, and cleverly says his ideas out loud while he's doing them. And Jiménez was simply tremendous. This version of Kid Flash never looked better. And Teryx had a really cool design, too. I so wish we had this creative team with this style of storytelling on the Teen Titans series. I'm so tired of the super-serious story weighed down by way too many unanswered questions and gratuitous violence. Oh well. At least we got a brief respite here.
We have a new house ad for the Geoff Johns run on The Flash with Scott Kolins and Howard Porter.
Next time, we're going to follow Kid Flash's advice and pick up Teen Titans #12.
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