JURASSIC JEFF

The continuing adventures of a would-be space conqueror and his down-to-earth prehistoric friends.

Extraterrestrial invader-turned-friend Jeff searches for the missing warp drive to his spacecraft. Helping him in this endeavor are the returning party, consisting of Carl, Trevor, Hungry, Spike, and Dragon. While sharing family stories, the group learns that dinosaur Hungry has never met their parents: “I hatched out of an egg, and I was…alone.” A side plot about Jeff’s abandoned pet, Charles, sees the crustacean growing into a rampaging beast—and eventually colliding with the main storyline. The group also contends with King Quazzy, who wants the warp drive for his own villainous reasons. Communication is frequently the key to progress, such as when a falling coconut breaks Jeff’s translator device, and he then speaks in (subtitled) German for roughly a third of the book. A priceless running punchline about profound parental advice is simultaneously elegant and absurd. Elsewhere, the cast members find solutions by asking for help and turning weaknesses into strengths. Visual humor is ever present and just as delightfully anachronistic as the verbal gags. Lepp uses King Quazzy’s enormity in interesting ways to show differences in scale, as in a panel in which Jeff is held up to Quazzy’s eyeball. New fans and returning series readers alike will enjoy this clever and humorous outing.

Separate pursuits of family and a science-fiction MacGuffin both lead to hilarity.