Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #060: Riot Gear

Friday, August 21, 2020 at 8:00 am Comments Off on Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #060: Riot Gear

Geomancer #5, #6


Turok and Andy get lost in New York.

You might be wondering who this dude in the do-rag is. That’s Geomancer! But… hang on, wasn’t Geomancer a twelve year old or something? Blonde kid in a headband? Always there in all the panels of every crossover event covered so far?


The Chaos Effect: Omega (Nov 1994)
I’ll keep it brief, but the Geomancer is a mantle passed down between generations, and the boy, Geoff McHenry, was the newest and most proactive one at this point. Anytime the Valiant universe had a crisis, he was the one corralling everyone into action… until The Chaos Effect, which ended with him getting dragged through a time arc. He’s still alive, just stranded at the dawn of time — possibly even in the Lost Land, actually! — but he never appears again in Valiant Comics, so let’s just say he’s dead. Every appearance he makes is headache-inducing anyway.


Geomancer #1 (Nov 1994)
Anyway, Gilad the Eternal Warrior really needs his Geomancer fix, and there’s no more Geomancers! So he sought the last possible option — Clay McHenry, Geoff’s uncle. A crooked cop who was on the take until the operation got rumbled, resulting in shots that left him permanently blind, and he’s been wallowing in self-pity since.


Geomancer #3 (Jan 1995)
Gilad reluctantly bestowed upon him the book of Geomancers, and it turned his life around — it’s given him a new lease on life, a mission to fight for, and the license to dress however he wants. The hot pink life preserver is totally a look, and I am all for it.
He’s since been to Egypt to learn more of his powers and acquire some mystical artefacts, but he’s back in the Big Apple to bust the dirty cops he was once a part of. His friend James, who was paralysed in the same incident that blinded him years ago, has already had an attempt on his life in his hospital bed. He reveals to Clay it was by the same man who shot them both: Officer Underwood.


But we’re here for Turok! He and Andy have braved the monster that is the New York subway system, but ultimately decide wandering the city aimlessly is a more productive use of their time.



As luck would have it, they happen to pass the hospital just as the crooked cops make their move. Maybe they’ll stick around and keep an eye on things.


Shots are fired, and they find Clay fleeing from police seemingly abducting a patient — James. Clay does his best to explain the situation — and under duress, at that — but hearing he’s a Geomancer, Turok takes him at his word. He’s free to go. Turok and Andy will hold off the police–


— with a killer dropkick and headlock combo, possibly segueing into a neckscissors. Someone get Turok a wrestling agent.


Clay and James escape to the roof, but Underwood isn’t far behind and the two lay into each other. Clay’s a strong dude, and becoming a Geomancer does connect one with the spirits of the world, sometimes calling upon them in combat… but there’s a reason Geomancers tend not to travel alone. Someone else usually fights their battles. So it’s a good thing James is there to bite Underwood in the leg.


Clay and James are both pretty wrecked, but Turok and Andy arrive to help — Underwood’s lemming imitation has bought them time for a getaway. While this might look like a titanic shitshow, it does prompt an investigation from internal affairs, resulting in two arrests and possible connections from the police department to big-time gangsters… so not too shabby for a completely unplanned kidnapping attempt.

It’s perhaps the most shoehorned Turok crossover so far, with barely any pretence, little to no byplay with the title character, and only appearing on seven pages across two issues. If nothing else, it’s nice to see Andy tag along for once, and Victor Marchetti’s art is always a pleasure, perfectly fine-tuned for stories about grizzled old men beating the snot out of each other.

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