Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #072: Mystery Hole
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #21
Chichak makes himself useful.
When we last left our heroes, they had been on the trail of Chichak, refugee of the Lost Land turned wanted felon, in hopes of doing him a good turn for once in his life. That’s all on hold after their car tumbled down a ravine, knocking out everyone aboard and leaving them at the mercy of a starved honker. Only Turok is conscious to see the danger, but his bow is just out of reach…
… and worse, fucking Longhunter is here to make the most of the situation. His hated enemy in mortal peril, incapable of freeing himself, fighting back, or even saving his friends. If this ain’t an opportunity to boast, I don’t know what is!
Mercifully (or not), the bounty hunters Preacher and Wongo arrive to chase him off, though you can count on Longhunter to leave a mess for others to clear up. For starters, how do you ward a t-rex away from a free meal?
Freeing Turok and pals from the wreckage requires a little more elbow grease, though. Regan’s less than impressed with the hunters’ ethics, first abandoning them at the first opportunity, now coming back to save their bacon… only because their jurisdiction doesn’t extend to this neck of the woods. Still, they’ve got a lead on the whereabouts of Ripsaw’s weed farm, and they all team up to storm it together; Chichak can’t be far.
Meanwhile, Ripsaw finally returns to his farm and takes charge the only way he knows how.
This issue features a bevy of unique page layouts, with tiered boxes of panels during tense moments, like Turok trapped under the car at the start, or Ripsaw laying into his old comrade above. It’s certainly distinct, if a bit iffy in execution — it’s something that might work in today’s decompressed storytelling, but when compressed into a tiny insert it just looks too small and scattershot to follow. No harm trying, clearly it caught on further down the line!
As the new/old boss, Ripsaw’s first order of business is what to do about the new batch of triceratops munching on his crop. He’s gung-ho on just blasting them to pieces, but Chichak has an alternative — why not use the beasts to harvest the crop, and even relocate the farm?
Having arrived at the site, Turok, Wongo and Preacher make their move towards the complex while Andy and Regan remain under cover in the woods. The tall grass makes their approach seem easy as pie…
… until Wongo stumbles on a tripwire, lighting up the camp and drawing every eye on them — among them Ripsaw, Chichak and company on triceratops-back! Our heroes are out-manned, out-gunned, and out-dino’d.
