Desert crossings never go well.
Creative Staff:
Story: Chuck Wendig
Art: Alvaro Sarraseca
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Turok’s raid on Terminal Prison has gone according to plan – but now he must face the prison’s fiercest guard – Karkaro, a terrifying war-dinosaur bred only for battle! Now the Dinosaur Hunter becomes the hunted! Also: Doc Spektor, Part 5! The story of the all-new master (and we use the term lightly) sorcerer continues… as Doc gets jumped by two of Hurgn’s goons – and meets his roommate Frankie’s new girlfriend!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Turok has been an interesting series so far in its first few issues and it’s one that has left me in a lot of ways kind of eager for a lot of material for it to be out as it feels like a binge read as to when it’ll work really well. Chuck Wendig’s a writer I struggle with when it comes to novels but his comic writing works better for me and I like what he’s doing here. It doesn’t hurt being paired with Alvaro Sarraseca either as there’s some great design work in this installment that lets him cut loose a bit more with creature design but also time periods, allowing him to free up a bit while still keeping everything wonderfully consistent and cohesive. It definitely helps having Triona Farrell on the colors as she nails down this kind of cohesive feeling in the right way.
With the Terminal Prison storyline done and Turok having escaped, he’s now making his way across the Storm Lands to try and find his daughter. These lands are interesting and frightening for the same reason in that they’re filled with reality storms, storms that draw things from other times and places and dumps them here and occasionally into the Lost Valley. The book opens with a story from 1961 about one of the more advanced submarines at the time and how it got caught by a massive fish-dino and they ended up getting thrown into this future period where they all died in the desert from the experience. Combine that with buildings in decay, an array of vehicles, and a mixture of desolation and frightening looking storms with its not-normal lightning and it’s definitely a distinctive if familiar realm.
The human element of is is Turok riding the Ceratops with part of a car attached to it while Nettle and Marak are riding in another one, both of them now waking up after the Terminal Prison events. Neither of them are keen on what they’re learning from the situation and Turok as he needs them to rescue his daughter since they’re thieves. In his own way he plies them with their own desires, Marak’s sense of helping by doing right and both of their desire for riches, but going to the city of Ak-Tha and the forces that are there isn’t exactly what they’re keen on. Turok’s pulling together a team in a standard way but it works because Wendig gives us some decent personality for both of the characters, though I liked Marak more just because he’s riding it all with a sense of humor to cope with it. It’s a solid transitional kind of issue that serves to bring this trio together more formally and it doesn’t overstuff it with action to accomplish it.
There’s also more Spektor but the backups in all of the Dynamite Gold Key books continue to just read badly for me.
In Summary:
Turok’s firing on all cylinders for me and I know that fully since I wish I was “discovering” this book after there were a couple of dozen issues out so I could just burn through the experience and crave more. Turok’s straightforward at this point but nicely humanized with the flashbacks with his daughter while the time between Marak and Nettle helps to bring them both to life while playing off Turok decently. There’s a nice expansion coming at the end here for the next issue and I like that Wendig took the time to give us some backstory on a key piece here with the submarine rather than just dropping it in and running with the idea, instead giving us some history and humanity to it. The book is just great looking and a very fun read that has me anxious for more from this team.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: October 25th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
