Dinosaurs Vs Aliens is a graphic novel created by Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) and Grant Morrison (also known for We3).
The story focuses on a secret world war battle that was never recorded in the history books. When an alien invasion attacks Earth in the Age of the Dinosaurs, the planet's only saviors are the savage prehistoric beasts which are much more intelligent than humanity has ever imagined.
The series lasted for exactly one volume, and then was never seen again. There was a movie planned, but nothing has been heard of it since 2012.
The comic includes the following tropes:
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: The dinosaurs are depicted as sapient, wearing face paint and armor and using tools.
- Anachronism Stew: Scar (the carnivorous dinosaur wearing a Triceratops skull as headgear) and Titan are an Allosaurus and a Brontosaurus respectively, even though the story is supposedly set in the Cretaceous period, and Allosaurus and Brontosaurus are both Jurassic Period dinosaurs. Maybe they’re from relic populations?
- Ancient Astronauts: The aliens who arrived on Earth during the Cretaceous period.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: The aliens' first act of hostility towards the dinosaurs became their own undoing."We had awoken dragons. There was no need to translate."
- Cut Short: We got exactly one volume and a promise of a movie that has never seen the light of day. Other then that, this thing's deader than the dinosaurs it's about.
- Dinosaurs Are Dragons: One of the aliens referred the dinosaurs as dragons, as mentioned in the quote under Awakening the Sleeping Giant.
- Dumb Dinos: Inverted. The dinosaurs are sapient.
- Dying Race: The aliens rendered their original homeworld inhospitable and wandered aimlessly in space for a long time. They have lost half of their original population during their great migration. They are no longer able to naturally reproduce and have resort to reproduce artificially, which only results in each generation becoming more sickly and frail.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Neither side is portrayed as good or evil, since both the dinosaurs and the alien invaders are fighting each other for the sake of their species' survival.
- Invading Refugees: The aliens invades Earth to claim it as their new home after they had rendered their original home planet uninhabitable."These things gave us the right to stay alive whatever it took, whatever that meant. Our whole culture agreed on that."
- Misplaced Wildlife: Spinosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Saltasaurus did not live in North America. The author actually knew this, but included them anyway.
- Raptor Attack: The raptors and troodonts have feathers.
- Token Good Teammate: The alien scientist Shel is the only alien who is sympathetic to the dinosaurs and tried to sway her people from exterminating them.
- We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: The first alien that shown his species' intentions on Earth is by killing the first dinosaur.
