Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #013: God of the Bog
Turok: Son of Stone #10
Turok faces the insurmountable terror that is group projects.
Still living with their cave-dwelling companions, Turok and Andar awake to an unholy racket outside — a triceratops tearing up the place! It’s blocking the only path to their hunting grounds, so they pop a poison arrow in its direction to ward it off. It bounces off uselessly, but the beast leaves. That was their lose drop of poison, but they can restock in the morning, surely.
Guess who’s back! The three-horn chases off anyone who dares approach, stranding them all in their cave. Turok begins to formulate a plan, but one lowly cavemen believes whoever kills the beast will be declared the new leader… and Alg wants in on that action! He’ll talk over anyone with a better plan, and if he can’t accomplish that much, he’ll sock ’em one too!
Turok gives him a fistful of democracy.
With Andar’s help, the two make lassos to snare the beast, holding it in place so the tribesmen can close in with their spears. However, Alg had weakened the vines ahead of time…
… and they snap, dragging poor Andar along with the honker! Turok distracts it long enough for him to get out of harm’s way, but they’re back to square one. It’s Alg’s time to shine! And what master plan has he got in store?
Throw a big pile of rocks on it. Turok’s not exactly convinced, but he agreed to follow Alg’s plan, no matter how stupid. What he doesn’t realise is Alg’s real plan is to clonk Turok across the head and make it look like an accident!
Before the clonking can occur, Turok’s foothold gives way and dunks him right in front of the triceratops! The dust obscures him long enough for Andar to pull him to safety. Two accidents on two attempts… something’s mighty sus’ about all this.
Days pass and they still can’t hunt for food. Turok begins on his second plan: a pit lined with stakes. Once it’s covered up, that three-horn won’t know what hit it! Naturally, you can count on Alg to lure the triceratops towards them before the pit is complete.
The beast ploughs past them and into the pit — the stakes are knocked harmlessly aside, but it’s trapped… for now. It’s digging its way out!
All they need is a stake big enough to stab it… and someone big enough to carry it! Turok and Andar couldn’t do it alone, but with Alg’s formidable strength, the three of them are able plunge the stake into its neck.
The tribe are plenty chuffed and hail Turok as a hero, but he’s quick to praise Alg for his strength — they couldn’t have done it without him! Alg finally gets the respect he’s been craving, and they’ve made one less enemy that day.
In other news, Dell Comics begins their advertisements for get-rich-quick schemes on a high skill level.
Turok and Andar enter a bog to find their catch while hunting, but are quickly captured by the hostile locals as a sacrifice to their god — the spirit-god of the bog! Turok’s quick to call bull-hockey on this…
… but a honker suddenly attacks, and being good spuds, they shoot it down with poison arrows before it can harm their captors. The tribe are proper chuffed — they can sacrifice this to their gods instead!
They rest the carcass in the bog, and come morning it’s totally gone — no bones, no remains, not even tracks to denote something taking it. It’s just gone! Andar’s all in on the bog god train, though Turok’s still not convinced and is out to debunk it.
He and Andar hunt a dimetrodon and place it in the bog, tying a rope to it to tell if something takes it. It does indeed sink… but there’s nothing below it but wet sand. No time for further investigation — Turok’s stuck fast, and there’s a honker approaching them! Andar is able to sink it himself with only a single arrow, and pulls Turok safely to the shore. His deduction was correct — there’s quicksand under the bog!
These two panels are noteworthy for introducing some terminology. On the right, this is the first time Turok refers to their domain as the “Lost Valley” — until now it had been the Sunken Valley, and it’ll retain this new name for the duration of the run.
The left panel is notable if just for Andar calling upon “oh great spirit of my people”. In this context he’s clearly still convinced of the bog god, but it’s one of the only times the Turok: Son of Stone stories allude to the great spirit, supposedly of Native American culture. I’ll address it further in an issue of the Valiant comics I’ll be covering soon.
They conduct another experiment by placing sticks in various spots. Only some of them sink, while others remain steady; he shows this to the tribe, and muses to Andar this sacrificial tradition must have started when a beast they slain disappeared before they could retrieve it.
The tribe refuse to believe this — all it proves is the spirit god can claim what it wants all over the bog, not just from their sacrificial pool. All right, what if Turok proved he was stronger than the god? He dunks himself in the quicksand and stands boldly as he sinks deeper and deeper. Andar’s not allowed to pull him out, though. That’s something he hadn’t counted on!
He lays flat until a log drifts by, and pulls himself out onto it. The tribe still aren’t convinced there isn’t a god beneath the bog… but they are convinced it’s a weak piece of shit that doesn’t deserve their food anymore. The two stay for the midnight feast, and finally get themselves a decent meal after all this time.
