Written by: Brandon Montclare
Illustrated by: Natacha Bustos
If you have a child who is interested in: (1) All things Marvel, (2) Comic books, and/or (3) Black geeky girls kicking butt, then this comic book is for them. Now, I love Marvel movies and TV shows, but comic books were never my thing. But one day on my lunch break, I had to run an errand; and found myself near one of the very few comic book stores in my city. With some spare time on my hands, I decided to check it out. After asking the guy behind the counter (also the owner) if he had any comic books featuring Black female protagonists, he led me to the Marvel and DC section, and answered any questions I had. I picked up a few, but it was the Moon Girl comics that grabbed my attention. I’m a sucker for Black girl nerds (having been one myself before it was cool).
I was excited to dive into the world of Lunella Lafayette at her elementary school, P.S. 20, in the lower east side of Manhattan. I’m not going to lie, I was a little confused at first when this 9-year-old turned into a big, red T-rex in the middle of class. That turned out to be a dream, but I soon learned that she does have a connection to the aforementioned T-rex. We follow Lunella as she eats breakfast with her parents, Mrs. and Mr. Lafayette, then heads to school, where she is bored out of her mind. She’s known as the smartest in the whole school and thinks it’s a waste of her time. Her school, however, is depending on her to score high in the standardized test to help skew the school’s testing average upwards because there’s a lot riding on it.
The mayor, Wilson Fisk, will make a determination on whether the school stays open dependent on the results. Closing the school is all part of Fisk’s scheme! (Of course Fisk has a scheme! He hasn’t been the bad guy in Daredevil the film AND Daredevil the Netflix Series for nothing!) His adopted daughter, Princess, enrolls in the P.S. 20 and he’s raising her in the art of entitlement, privilege, and power — a real chip off the old block. Princess is jealous that Lunella is the smartest in the school. She resents being taken out of her prestigious boarding school and enrolled in the public school. With the big standardized test looming, Daddy Fisk will do anything to ensure his princess comes out on top. Moon Girl, along with the Devil Dinosaur, with whom she sometimes switches consciousness, battle Fisk’s goons to stop him from tearing down P.S. 20.
This was a really entertaining read. I look forward to reading previous titles in the Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series. The illustrations are superb, capturing the action-packed sequences perfectly. I wholeheartedly recommend this for girls and boys age 9 and up.