T-Rex Beat Down, Semi-Finals Round One: Loner vs. Devil Dinosaur!

Welcome to the First Semi-Finals Round of The T-Rex Beat Down: March Madness with Tyrannosaurs! Join us every day through April 2nd as eight fearsome tyrannosaurs fight for the world T-Rex championship title!

T-Rex Beat Down is a co-blogging series presented in partnership with The LongBox Graveyard.

In today’s Semi-Finals round: Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur and Jim Lawson’s Loner! We invite you to cast your own vote for your favorite in this match. Will your favorite Rex rule the roost – or end up with his head on a spit?!? We’re about to find out!

Devil Dinosaur defeated a telepathic tyrannosaurus in the Quarterfinals, and Loner conquered Gwangi the Allosaurus. Devil remains virtually unscathed after his violent victory, but Loner took some bad hits from Harryhausen’s spunky stop-action menace.

Since you already met them both in the Quarters, let’s go ringside now for a quick interview with our carnivorous cretaceous contestants!

Mars: Devil, you broke the bonds of mind control to take a victory in the Quarters. How do you feel?

Devil Dinosaur: RRRROOOAAAARRRRRRGGHH!!!

Moon Boy: The great Devil says, “There can only be one ruler of this land – and it is Devil Dinosaur!”

Mars: — Thank you, Moon Boy, for that translation! Tell us, Devil, as you gear up for today’s fight, what’s your impression of Loner?

Devil Dinosaur: NNYYAAARRRRRRR! AAAROOOO!!!

Moon Boy: Mighty Devil says, “Loner is a fearsome warrior, but there can be only one ruler of this land!”

Mars: Right on! Thank you Moon Boy – and good luck to you, Devil!

Devil Dinosaur: GGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!

Moving right along! Let’s check in with Jim Lawson’s Loner.

Mars: Loner, you took some nasty bites from Gwangi in the Quarter—

Loner: RRRAAAAKKKK! GGRRRRAAAOOOOORRRRGGHH!

Mars: Whoa, easy there big fella! We just – hey… HEY! Put down my camera-man! Ah- NO!! Do you know how much those guys cost?!?

Loner: (shakes the dismembered carcass of our camera-man violently) RRRROOOOOAAAAA!!!!

Mars: Ah geez. Guys, call Sid’s family. It aint gonna be pretty. Listen, Loner, we know things went badly with your mother when you were little. Have you spoken to her since the Beat Down began?

Loner: NNNNAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! GGGAARRRRRRRR!!

Mars: Alright! Sounds like a NO! And that’s all we have time for right now. Let’s get back to our seats!

And there’s the starting bell! Let’s tune in to the Play By Play!

Devil leaps into action to deliver one of his powerhouse jump-kicks. But Loner clamps his massive jaws onto Devil’s leg mid-air and slams him to the ground. Oh! Loner shakes the leg ferociously as blood sprays the arena.

Devil Dinosaur kicks into Loner’s belly, tearing huge gouges in Loner’s underside with his terrible claws. But Loner won’t give up the leg! Devil kicks him in the throat. Savagery! Devil yanks his trapped leg towards the ground, smashing Loner’s face into the earth.

Finally Loner’s hold on the leg is broken! Devil struggles to his feet as Loner shakes off the pain in his snout. Devil stands, favoring his injured leg, and howls a provocative roar at Loner. “Come and get some,” he seems to say.

Loner charges in for the kill. Devil pivots and blocks with his shoulder. The force of the impact takes them both to the ground! They tumble over each other, jaws snapping at the air, searching for meat and blood. It looks like Loner is going to find his feet first. No! Devil’s teeth clamp down on Loner’s left arm. Devil jerks his head to one side and – off comes Loner’s arm! That’s gotta hurt.

Loner shrieks as the bloody hole in his shoulder spurts streams of blood all over Devil Dinosaur. He whips his tail at Devil’s face. A hit! The severed arm gets stuck in Devil’s throat. His eyes bulge. He claws at nothing, gasping for air.

Loner charges again. As he slams into Devil, he inadvertently dislodges the arm in Devil’s throat. Saved by a savage Heimlich maneuver, Devil’s back in the game! Knocked to the ground, Devil kicks his one good leg at Loner. Loner goes down!

Devil pounces on top of Loner, looking to go for the kill with his powerful jaws. But every snap is met with an equally ferocious snap from Loner! Kicking the red dinosaur off of him, Loner gets back on his feet. He lunges at Devil, tearing a slice of rib meat from Devil’s side.

But as Loner raises his head to swallow his Prime Rex Rib, Devil goes for the throat! At lightning speed, Devil’s jaws close in on the trachea and jugular of Jim Lawson’s juggernaut. A hideous roar of hatred echoes throughout the arena as Loner gushes blood into Devil’s mouth.

Devil’s frightening serrated teeth slice through veins and respiratory passages until… he tears them away! Whoa! We see a gaping hole in Loner’s throat as he falls to the ground. Devil leaps onto Loner. He’s going to confirm the kill! He tears pound after pound of meat from the other tyrannosaur until Loner stops twitching. Then, Devil raises his head to the sky to trumpet his victory! RRRRRAAAARRRRGGGHH!!!! AAARRAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!

WINNER OF THIS ROUND: Devil Dinosaur!
Wounded but victorious, Devil Dinosaur will go on to the Championship Round! BE HERE!

T-Rex Beat Down, Round One: Gwangi vs. Loner!

Welcome to the first Quarterfinals Round of The T-Rex Beat Down: March Madness with Tyrannosaurs! Join us every day from March 24-April 2 as eight fearsome tyrannosaurs fight for the world T-Rex championship title!

T-Rex Beatdown is a co-blogging series presented in partnership with The LongBox Graveyard.

Today’s prehistoric contestants: Gwangi, from Valley of the Gwangi, versus Jim Lawson’s Loner! We invite you to cast your own vote for your favorite in this match. Will your favorite win or end up as Rex food?!? We’re about to find out!

As our first two T-Rex superstars roar into the ring, let’s take a moment to get The Tale of the Tape:

Gwangi (Valley of the Gwangi):

Little-seen but never bettered in the stop-motion era, Gwangi was the creation of movie effects god Ray Harryhausen! Gwangi is an Allosaurus, not a T-Rex, but he made the field by killing Barney the Purple Dinosaur in the play-in game. Punching way above his weight to be in this all-Rex competition, Gwangi is still a force to be reckoned with. He’s a creature from out of time, tough enough to survive into the present age in an isolated valley in the Mexican wilderness. Before CGI changed everything, Gwangi set the gold standard for anatomically-correct stop-motion dinosaur thrills! On the downside, Gwangi has the personality of a dishrag and was once lassoed by lame cowboys. The odds are against Gwangi getting out of the first round; but, even with those tiny arms, his Harryhausen pedigree gives Gwangi a puncher’s chance!
Let’s see a clip of Gwangi in action against a Styracosuarus!

Jim Lawson’s Loner:

Jim Lawson created Loner in 2011 for his web comic Paleo: Loner. Mistreated and unloved as an infant, Loner lived a hate-filled life enforcing brutal domination upon every creature he met. Feared and hated by every dinosaur, he came back as a ghost and killed some more! His only show of compassion or empathy was for a similarly mistreated young tyrannosaur. On the downside, he eats babies and tends to fight before he thinks.
Let’s have a look at this raging beast!

Loner by Jim Lawson

And there’s the starting bell! Let’s go to the ring for the Play By Play!

Our two contestants begin by circling each other suspiciously. They growl and roar a terrible rage that sends other animals scurrying into their dens or flying away. Loner, a full-grown Tyrannosaur, possesses a major size advantage over Gwangi – an Allosaurus. But, Gwangi doesn’t mind chewing on the horns on a Styracosaur. Gwangi puts his fearsome choppers to work on Loner by dashing in quickly and ripping at Loner’s underside.

The swift attack startles Loner, but he did not rise to the top of the food chain by being an easy target. Loner’s massive jaws strike down full-force at Gwangi, who fails to dodge in time.

Loner’s serrated teeth firmly clench the Allosaur as he whips Gwangi violently back and forth. A lesser dinosaur would lose consciousness. Gwangi lashes with his powerful tail and stabs Loner in the eye. Crying in pain, Loner releases Gwangi.

The hate rises within Loner, who swiftly charges his opponent. Gwangi leaps, attempting to jump onto Loner’s back, where he can safely tear away at the larger dinosaur. But all he manages to grab is the side of Loner’s neck.

Gushing blood into Gwangi’s mouth, Loner again strikes with his tyrant jaws. He clamps onto Gwangi’s back, gripping and ripping through the spinal column. Gwangi plummets to the ground, his central nervous system severed.

Loner falls upon his twitching body, tearing away huge slabs of meat. Loner roars again, declaring his victory in this quarterfinals round!

ROUND ONE WINNER: Jim Lawson’s Loner!
Come back tomorrow for ROUND TWO: Old One Eye vs. the T-Rex of Skull Island!

Jim Lawson’s Paleo: Loner!

If you read our Top Ten Favorite Single Comics Issues, then you know we’re huge fans of Jim Lawson’s pure dinosaur comic series “Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous.” This summer, Jim crafted a masterful new story called Loner for the Paleo series, and published it online – one page per day. Now, put down those copies of the DC re-launch and get hip to the REAL comic book event of the year: Loner!

Loner chronicles the life and times of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the most savage, brutal, eloquent, poetic, and thoroughly riveting way. Jim tells his story with perfect pacing, every page and panel composed to convey exactly the right mood. Loner is also horrifying in a way that reminds us of Stephen King’s The Stand or Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. Jim Lawson may have just produced the greatest pure dinosaur comic of all time – unless he’s got another one in the works!

But we like to let comic books speak for themselves. So, with Jim’s permission, dig this five-page opening sequence. Then surf on over to the offical Loner site. To read the pages in order, start with Page One and work your way through the whole story using the Archive section in Jim’s sidebar.