LUNELLA LAFAYETTE is a preteen super genius who wants to change the world—but learned the hard way that it takes MORE than just big brains. Fearful of the monstrous INHUMAN genes inside her, life is turned upside down when a savage, red-scaled tyrant is teleported from prehistoric past to a far-flung future we call TODAY. The pair are many things, and together the most amazing Marvel Team-Up. MARVEL PRESENTS… MOON GIRL & DEVIL DINOSAUR!
Summary
A genius level middle school student (Lunella Lafayette) is unhappy in her current environment. Her intelligence and abilities are unrecognized or ignored by her teachers (who see her as a disruption and a pain), her classmates (who mock her ceaselessly) and her well meaning and concerned parents, who are unable to connect with or help her. Plus she has apparently been infected by the Terrigen mists which cause her considerable anxiety. She is worried she will soon no longer be human. She does not want any “super powers/mutant abilities she thinks “My brain is all the super power I need “While out late at night looking for something that will help her cure herself she discovers some sort of alien device. She thinks she has hit the jack pot. Mean while in the distant past the proto human Moon Boy and his companion Devil Dinosaur confront and drive off a group of their enemies who have been sacrificing members of Moon boy’s tribe to their scared object, which is a mirror image of the device Lunella discovered. Moon boy confiscates the machine and the “killer folk “tribe try to recover it in the struggle the device is activated. Meanwhile back the present it is the next day. A dimwitted gym teacher snatches the device that Lunella discovered, away from her and while foolishly toying with it activates it and opens a chronal corridor which brings Moon Boy, Devil Dinosaur and the band of Killer Folk into the present. Chaos ensues the proto-humans all run off. Devil Dinosaur confronts Lunella (who had yelled at him to stop his rampage) She has recovered the alien device she found. The dinosaur rather gently picks her with his teeth and carries her off.
What I thought
I most liked the first part of the story I thought it gave us a very perceptive look at a wonderfully gifted and talented child who cannot find a place for herself in this world. We see that she applied unsuccessfully to several schools for advanced and gifted students. The story also shows how the normal demands of everyday life (getting ready for and leaving for school on time) clash with her desire (almost need) to invent and create. In addition to being very smart (she already knows the entire school curriculum) the story shows us that Lunella can design and fabricate all the devices her mind can conceive (her sneakers have a roller skate option she can deploy at will, she put together the metal detector that uncovered the alien artifact that paved the way for Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy and the rest into her world). 
But all this intelligence and talent does not make her popular or accepted. Her teacher is continually irritated with her because she doesn’t pay attention and is always coming in late and her classmates are idiots who laugh at her for no good reason (in other words regular children).
She loves science (and learning) but she hates the way she is being taught and fears the day there will be nothing left to learn (I thought that was a great touch).
And her parents, though they obliviously love and care about her, can’t do anything to help. Lunella is very much alone in the world. That point is forcefully driven home when we learn that she has been infected by the Terrigen mist and is afraid of losing her humanity. She does not need or want “Inhuman “powers. Her own intelligence and practical knowledge and ability is all enough for her and she is counting on them to find a solution/ cure to her dilemma. Here the story quietly reveals that Lunella has not told anyone about her condition. She has no one she feels she can trust or confide in. She has to find a solution to her situation all by herself she really is on her own. This is a rather sobering thing to realize and the story does a good job of quietly but effectively bringing that point home. The next part of the story which introduces Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur was adequate but nothing special. I thought the dialogue sounded a little forced or improbable in spots. The scene set in the gym class (dodge ball) really caught the tedium and pointlessness the non athletic would experience while there. Lunella (like so many others) cannot wait to be eliminated so they can get onto something more important and interesting. The story did a great job of presenting the PE teacher as a clueless goof whose unwarranted meddling inadvertently sets things in motion.
The rest of the story depicting the pandemonium that results from the dinosaur and proto humans’ arrival was all right and set things up for the next chapter.
I would give this story 3 out of 5 stars
Review written by contributor Jim Johnson aka “JJ”.
Reblogged this on Psichomofo and commented:
ok
I can get behind this, just Lunella alone would make me read this comic.