Adam's Adventures: Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #2 (Marvel Comics) Review by Adam P.

The Pet Avengers enter the Savage Land

Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #2 is essentially a light-hearted romp through the prehistoric Savage Land as we see the Pet Avengers in an extended fight sequence against Devil Dinosaur.




Allow me to give a bit of backstory here. When Mr. Fantastic visits Black Bolt and Medusa in the Inhumans' city on the moon, to initiate a search for the infinity gems Thanos used to nearly destroy the universe, it is actually the great teleporting dog Lockjaw who digs up the first gem and sets off on a quest to find the rest before some maniac does. Along the way, the great silent bulldog picks up other notable animals to assist him in this heroic mission, and after finding the second gem in Antarctica, the dragon Lockheed, of Excalibur fame, whisks the team away to the distant past to find the third of six dazzling jewels.

Chris Eliopolous, the writer/artist of the kid-friendly Franklin Richards one-shot comics, is adept at handling this ragtag gang of anthropomorphic heroes with big attitudes. However, this second issue is a little too thin on the intrigue. Eliopolous seems to be settling into cruising speed after an action-packed and laugh-out-loud hilarious first issue. Although the banter between the various species provides some nice entertainment, this instalment ends rather quickly without much having occurred other than the retrieval of the third gem.

The one bright spot in this series is Throg, the frog of Thunder, who wields a mini-version of Mjolnir and speaks in Shakespearean English. He tends to steal each panel he appears in. It's also a real pleasure to see Lockjaw as the well-deserved star of his own title, since he usually serves as a mute second-fiddle when appearing with the other Inhumans. Eliopolous does succeed in making him a wonder to behold again, like when we first met him Fantastic Four #45 (1965): an absolutely original creation, fearsome to behold and fairly unpredictable.

Although this particular episode of the four-part miniseries is not exactly a classic, it's a delightful read that sets the stage for what should be an interesting rest of the story. How often do we get to witness an in-continuity super-team of pets hard at work that are neither campy nor overly serious?

7.5/10

Adam P.
Review Co-Editor