This past weekend, as the D23 Expo dropped bomb after entertainment bomb on the world, one of the lesser-known but extremely interesting characters that surfaced was a new series set for release on Disney+ called Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. The show was announced Saturday amid a ton of other news, and this one drew my attention because I had just met one of the co-creators of the character and comic book, Brandon Montclare, at Keystone Comic Con in Philadelphia. Montclare, along with Amy Reeder and Natacha Bustos, created the character.
The show Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur will follow the adventures of 13-year-old Lunella Lafayette and her best friend/time traveling partner/pet, Devil Dinosaur. This show is adapted from the Marvel Comic Series and is produced in conjunction with Laurence Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy Productions.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1, via Marvel.comLunella is the self-proclaimed smartest person in the world in the comics, and one of her inventions creates a time warp that allows Devil Dinosaur, a vintage 1970s Marvel character created by Jack Kirby, to appear in present day and help her fight bad guys.
Animated image of Lunella and Devil Dinosaur, courtesy of Marvel Animation.
I sat down to ask Montclare some questions about his comic and the upcoming show.
DF: Give readers who may not know of the comic your description of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
BM: Moon Girl is Lunella Lafayette, a nine year old inventor and she is always trying to make new gadgets to save the world, or to at least make herself happy. One of these gizmos malfunctions and teleports Devil Dinosaur from the past into the present day, and Devil Dinosaur is just a big red Tyrannosaurus Rex who was created by Jack Kirby… they become reluctant partners. They need each other, as all buddy cop stories go.
DF: How did the character of Moon Girl come to be?
BM: Moon Girl was originally Rocket Girl, and Marvel really liked what we’d done with the image, and said “Maybe you guys can do something for us”…we had a meeting…and very early on they mentioned Devil Dinosaur was something that might be cool that nobody was working with. It was a property they were trying to revive and they were also looking for something geared towards younger readers…there was a supporting character in the old Devil Dinosaur that was Moon Boy, which was just a cave man back in the dinosaur world…so we came up with a brand new character, we made her a girl, and instead of being set in the dinosaur world we would bring it up to speed, so it kind of developed that way. There’s a huge tradition of scientific Marvel characters…Peter Parker, a kid who was able to make his own web shooters, plus Tony Stark, Mister Fantastic and Ant Man…so we made this superhero in the same mold as all of the other guys and gals, and gave a little twist on it.
DF: How do you feel about the announcement at the D23 Expo that your comic was picked up for a show on Disney+?
BM: Super excited. I really wanted to make Moon Girl feel like a Marvel book. For me it’s about the chance to make a character that’s going to be a part of that universe. So I want her interacting with other characters, whether it’s [working with] Iron Man, fighting Doctor Doom, or whatever. Marvel has gone on so much beyond the comics, the movies, the shows and everything else…so I’m super excited about it. And I really do like seeing other people’s take on it. It’s pretty cool.
DF: How did Moon Girl end up working with some members of the Fantastic Four?
BM: I really liked working on that arc. It was called Fantastic 3 because what happened was at the time, in the regular Fantastic 4 book Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman were presumed dead and lost in the multiverse someplace. In our story Moon Girl found a way to send Devil Dinosaur back to his own time to correct accidentally transporting him. So she lost her partner, and The Thing and the Human Torch were left without their partners, so they thought it was a good idea to combine forces and do what the Fantastic 4 couldn’t do anymore…but [working together] was a bit of a disaster. It all works out okay and Devil Dinosaur ends up coming back as a fourth member of the Fantastic 4, they had to fight the Silver Surfer, Galactus and a couple of new characters…but now the original members are back and she was an ancillary member.
Moon Girl fights with The Thing and The Human Torch as part of The Fantastic 3
DF: Could you see Moon Girl in the MCU at some point?
BM: Sure! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying she will be. I would just love to see it. Maybe in Phase 9.
The comic Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is on a current run, and the show is slated for Disney+ sometime in 2020.