Today it was announced that Marvel Comics would be adding another female superhero it’s roster. Just knowing that we’d get another potentially rad superhero to read about was enough to excite me! Then, I saw that not only is she female, but she’s African American as well! I am 100% about representation in media and the more characters of color we add to our comics, TV and movies the better!
So just who is our new hero?
In 1978, Marvel comics published Devil Dinosaur, a story by Jack Kirby about a red Tyrannosaurus Rex and his caveman-like friend, Moon-Boy. The series itself was short-lived, but come this fall, the world will once again be introduced to the adventures of Devil Dinosaur — and this time, his companion won’t be a caveman named Moon-Boy, but instead, a pre-teen super genius named Lunella Lafayette…otherwise known as Moon Girl. (x)
Moon Girl came about when the creative team over at Marvel realized there was a limited number of characters that all ages could relate to. Namely: the younger comic book readers out there. And I couldn’t agree more. There are numerous articles around featuring parents talking about how their daughters want to read comics but cant relate to the more hyper sexualized characters that exist.
So what can we expect from this new Marvel endeavor?
The original Devil Dinosaur book took place on an alternate universe where dinosaurs co-existed with caveman humanoids. But one of the biggest things Marvel’s creative team is looking forward to is the opportunity to bring those adventures into modern life. “What’s really cool is to be able to put a Tyrannosaurus Rex in modern day New York City and also juxtapose with a little girl,” Montclare said. “You’re going to have a 30-foot dinosaur interacting with a three-and-a-half tall girl…I can’t think of any other book that’s kind of like that, where you have these kind of crazy things that are going to be very different to work on. But if everyone can pull it off, it’s going to be a unique type of storytelling.” So will that unique type of storytelling bring different monsters to Manhattan during Lunella’s adventures?
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur will be written by Amy Reeder (Madame Xanadu, Batwoman) and Brandon Montclare (Rocket Girl, Fear Itself: Fearsome Four), with art by Natacha Bustos (Strange Sports Stories), and edited by Mark Paniccia and assistant editor Emily Shaw.
