Monty The Dinosaur, a happy, must-see all ages comic book

Sometimes things get missed. Monty The Dinosaur from Action Lab Entertainment is a comic book that was on our radar, but somehow we missed its release date. Well, it came out the other week and it is utterly fabulous. Monty The Dinosaur has the soul of a comic strip in the packaging of a comic book.  It delivers laughs for younger kids and has the timeless appeal that older readers will immediately recall from their favorite newspaper comic strips.

Monty The Dinosaur is just that, a dinosaur living in modern times trying to fit in. He tries silly disguises like fake moustaches in his effort to blend into society so that he can make friends. Unfortunately for him he’s huge, sneezes and proceeds to scare people off when they realize he’s a dinosaur.

He tries going to the playground and meeting some more kids.  Monty starts to feel sorry for himself and goes under a tree to cry where he meets Sophie, an irrepressibly happy child who immediately sorts out that he’s a dinosaur. They start kicking the ball together, having fun and doing the things that kids do when they first meet a new friend.

When they’re leaving the playground Monty asks her if they’re friends. “Do you like pizza and comic books”, she asks. Of course the answer is yes and the two run off to play some more.

Monty The Dinosaur is made up of two short stories with the entire comic book running 21 pages. At $3.99 that’s not a big comic book, but that fact is easily compensated for the sheer joy and happiness that oozes from it.

The comic captures the fun sense of daydreaming that a 6 year old has. This is that magical age where every stick they find in the park is a dinosaur bone (no offense Monty), action figures are a kid’s best friend and all they need to play is their imagination. For older readers, Monty The Dinosaur reminds you of how much fun reading a comic can be.

There are subtle jokes that older readers will laugh at, not the least of which is Monty’s vocabulary and speech. Early on in the comic book he explains that dinosaurs could always talk, it’s just that humans weren’t around to hear it. His tone is also a very unique expression of happy and droll.

Monty is such a happy creature who resembles a very intelligent toddler, with a very high vocabulary. Sometimes he over reacts, but his low points don’t last long and his high points are contagious for readers.  Based on this comic book, Monty The Dinosaur is easily one of the five best all age comic books this year.  It’s one that you’ll want to pick up in individual or graphic novel form and will appeal to anyone over four years old.