Jurassic Park: The Devils In The Desert #4 Review

Well folks, it's finally here. John Byrne's take on Jurassic Park has come to a close. Did the finale of Devils In The Desert fare better than the mediocre issue 3? Well, yes and no. WARNING: HUGE SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS ISSUE. I STRESS THIS BECAUSE IT'S KIND OF A BIG DEAL THIS TIME AROUND.

This issue starts with Monica and Sheriff Tobias flying in Monica's plane and they talk briefly about why Monica's last name is different than her dad's. Turns out she was married but her husband was killed overseas in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. Tobias apologizes for bringing it up but then they see the Pteranodons flying below them. Since the plane is too fast, Monica has to keep circling them in order for the Sheriff to get a good shot at them. He gets two of them but one kamikazes into the plane's propeller and they crash into a zoo. Monica twists her ankle on the way out and Tobias is bleeding from his forehead but the second Pteranodon isn't dead and bites his head apart. It comes after Monica because this Pteranodon is out for vengeance and she limps into an animal enclosure only to get jumped by a polar bear. She dives aside and the Pteranodon lunges at the polar bear but gets the unholy shit beaten out of it and then she escapes. We cut to Tobias' funeral where Daniel says he's only the temporary Sheriff now and Tobias' secretary is talking with his old high school sweetheart who says she won't tell Tyler who his real father is because he's already lost one father. The comic closes with Monica saying that the creatures came from Isla Sorna using the ocean currents and what happens next year?

This issue was better than the last because it seemed to have better pacing this time around, I don't have to read about that "Who's Tyler's Real Father" subplot that got annoying fast and I was greatly amused by seeing the Pteranodon get completely hauled by a bear. Yet, at the same time, not a whole lot happens in this issue. Seriously. Fly after the Pteranodons, crash at the zoo, Tobias dies, Pteranodon vs bear, funeral, fin. Not that this series overall was bad, in fact, it's still really good, issue 3 being the only major bump in the road, but there were just a couple of things that bugged me. I'll have to watch the scene again, but I'm pretty sure that nothing will happen next year because I thought these were the last of the Pteranodons from Jurassic Park III, unless they've nested elsewhere and we get a repeat of The Devils In The Desert somewhere else. I still recommend this series, but it sucks that we won't be able to get a new Jurassic Park series until May 2012 at the latest when the Dangerous Game tradepaperback hits shelves. I mean, we'll probably get an individual issue run before the trade comes out, but since the individual issues haven't been announced before the trade, I'm not so sure.

-The Cynic