Dinosaur Arsonist is a clever potentially one-off comic (the backcover promises a return in First Dinosaur on the Moon) written by James Moore with art by Talcott Starr. Through the course of 19 pages we learn the history of a Coelophysis punished by his pack for some unspecified crime, cursed to keep guard over the land should his bones ever be disturbed. Awakened by oil drilling in present day, he quickly absorbs all the knowledge of the past eon for which he has laid buried. He then, reluctantly at first but eventually with great passion, begins setting about his duty to lay waste to those that disturbed his land the only way he knows how: with a flamethrower.
The book is a quick and fun read, and I really enjoyed the little bits of history about the central Ohio landscape thrown in throughout. It was informative, but even more so, genuinely funny, which I think was the ultimate goal. I legitimately laughed at a reference to the city developers apparent love of mixed-use buildings and was actually surprised to learn that the Fireproof Warehouse and Storage houses luxury apartments. I like Starr’s art style, which pairs well with the playful nature of Moore’s story. There is a panel towards the end in which I am not quite sure what is happening, which normally wouldn’t stand out, as it doesn’t detract from the story, but it does interrupt the flow in what is otherwise a quick and enjoyable book. In the postface, Starr explains that for anything that doesn’t make sense in the book you can just chalk it up to magic, and if you approach the book with that attitude, I think you’ll have a genuinely good time (and you may learn a thing or two in the process)!