I freely admit it; I’m a comic book geek. I’ve got boxes of them. Specially procured comic-sized boxes filled with bagged and boarded four-color wonder. I especially love the older, oddball stuff they just don’t write any more. Vintage Stan & Jack; Mantlo; Gerber. Not that there’s anything wrong with today’s more grim-n-gritty, “realistic” take on the medium, but it’s just not the same me if the Hulk’s not hiding from the army disguised as a robot clown in a travelling circus, or Dr. Strange isn’t diverted from an epic quest for a completely random two-page battle with a space dragon*.

Beyond the phone-book sized Essentials and Showcase reprint lines, there just isn’t much of this kind of storytelling at the major publishers these days. Occasionally, however, something that harkens back to the ridiculous, continuity-heavy, epic storytelling of yesteryear slips through the cracks.

Something like today’s subject, currently gracing the stands down the street at your local comic shop: Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, a four-issue limited series written by Crhis Eliopoulos with art by Ig Guara.

The story chronicles the adventures of Lockjaw, the Inhumans’ giant teleporting bulldog, and his merry band of Marvel comics’ pet sidekicks as they cross time and space in order to retrieve the fabled Infinity Gems.

It’s aimed primarily at younger kids, and yes, it’s a talking animal book, but it’s a talking animal book with Lockjaw, Niels Hairball (Speedball’s cat), Lockheed the Dragon (from X-Men), Redwing (the Falcon’s falcon), Frog Thor (yes, a frog with a helmet and little hammer, imbued with the power of a Norse thunder god), Zabu (trusty sabertooth companion of Ka-Zar), and Ms. Lion (Aunt May’s dog from the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon). It’s steeped in Marvel history, with lots of surprising cameos (Devil Dinosaur!); it’s quite simply the most fun I’ve had with a new comic in years.

My kids are having a great time with it too (talking animals!), so it has the added benefit of letting us bond over the story, characters, and our despair that the Marvel Legends line never offered a Lockjaw build-a-figure pack-in.

Issue two is currently on the stands, and #3 ought to hit in a couple of weeks, with the exciting promise of underwater adventure (does Prince Namor have a telepathic sea horse or something I’m forgetting?). If you like fun, it’s definitely worth your time.

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* – both of these actually happened.