Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #054: Time to Burn
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #14
Captain Red hits the books.
In the sewers beneath Port Cynthia is another time-stranded refugee of time — Captain Red, with an unlikely fusion of claw and steel accompanying him! They’ve just been rumbled by an unwitting journalist, but that can be easily remedied — they don’t need baggage like that when they’ve treasure to reclaim!
Meanwhile, Andy is at the university library trying to pick up chicks. Apparently his dogged persistence and made-up film trivia is able to score him a potential date…
… but Captain Red spoils the romance by barging in and tearing the library apart. OU-8-2’s data tells him his old maps must be stored in the library’s cartography section, and once he’s reclaimed that, they’ll be in business!
While his mates are busy, Red fancies a little plundering of his own — the college girl. Andy fights back, socking him on the nose before he can get any saucier, but one swipe of his steel claw is enough to KO the kid. Red holds him aloft, rearing for a chance to use his sharp new toys–
Anyway, what’s Turok up to? Making light of that journalist he dropped from a second-storey window, for a start. He and Regan are on their way to collect Andy when they hear the ruckus…
… and enter guns-blazing. Turok has no memory of the man, but Red’s steamed to see an old face make an enemy of himself. The bionisaur Misfire clonks Turok, knocking him down as Red rears his sword for a fatal plunge…
… but Andy shoves Red aside, and is rewarded with a nasty gash across the chest. Having found the map, Red and his crew make their escape while Regan and Turok tend to Andy. He’s gravely wounded and won’t last much longer without medical attention.
But that’s a job for qualified medics. Turok sets out after Red, who’s fled into the sewers, ready to dabble in his personal qualification: payback!
As usual, the middle portion of each story arc is often little more than fact-finding or endless brawls. Howard Simpson takes over art duties from Rags Morales for this issue, and will remain in the role for the next eight issues. Even with the same inker and colourist as last ish, Randy Elliott and Bill Dunn, he’s got a different vibe going on; not quite as free-flowing and naturalist as Rags’ art, but still with a great sense of dynamic page layout and terrific action panels. Not bad, just different! Later issues perhaps play more to his strengths, as I’m sure being handed a story with four busily-designed villains fighting in a detail-heavy environment is not the easiest way to hop on to a new series.
