Review: Dawn of Time!

7th April 2009

( reviewed by Davy )

Dawn of Time by Michael Stearns

Now this is an odd one. I only recently discovered Dawn of Time and the thing that first caught my attention was the lack of dialogue. The one or two appearances of characters that do speak, seem to be of little importance. The fact that the art itself can not only hold up against this apparent impairment but also carry a story and allow the character(s) to easily convey their feelings and emotions reminds me of old silent films.

Some of the strips have that comedy quality that some may recall from Chaplin or Laurel and Hardie. It’s great to see this tradition carried on in comics, another highly visual medium. The comic has endearing characters such as the cave girl and her pet dinosaur as well as comic timing that is hard to get right in still drawings and appears to do this effortlessly.

The strangeness of the setting and the creatures etc. that she meets as well as the plight of those poor fish that seem to constantly get eaten, killed etc. no matter what they do adds not only to the comedy but to the sense of adventure.

Honestly though, what more could you ask for? What do you need dialogue for when you already have: humour, endearing characters, dinosaurs, cave girls, time travellers, amazing art and top hats?

I urge anyone who likes comics to go and check Dawn of Time out- it really is worth your time and it really will entertain.