indie spotlight: tomb of the triceratops

Tags

dinosaur, dinosaur books, fiction, michael ajax, science fiction, tomb of the triceratops, young adult

Click the cover for a free Kindle preview of Tomb of the Triceratops.

Tomb of the Triceratops takes you on a dinosaur dig where researchers and a group of young students uncover a realm where dinosaurs are still alive. The boys selected to go on this archaeological expedition risk their lives to free a triceratops from the clutches of its brutal, otherworldly tormentors.

And that’s just the beginning.

Author Michael Ajax seasons the story with plenty of dino facts that will surely please any dino-maniac. Between the action scenes, the characters are just as likely to discuss the biology of a Stygimoloch as they are their interpersonal conflicts. The people in this story are passionate about dinosaurs, and that makes it especially fun for those of us who share that enthusiasm.

Though action-packed, Tomb of the Triceratops keeps its language and violence in the “family-friendly” range. Even as an adult reader, I was pulled into the nightmarish struggle of the captive triceratops, but the level of detail and word choice did not venture into overly graphic territory. If you thought Jurassic Park and Rex Riders were fun, this is a good addition to your bookshelf.

The boy heroes of the story casually banter with each other, keep secrets from the adults, and have an unforgettable adventure in this first novel by Michael Ajax. Discover the mysteries inside the Tomb of the Triceratops in paperback or for just 99 cents in Kindle.

Author website: http://www.michaelajax.com/

The World Around Us #15: Prehistoric Animals

Tags

Al Williamson, Classics Illustrated, dinosaur, dinosaur books, dinosaur comics, Gilberton, illustrated story of prehistoric animals, Prehistoric Animals, prehistoric mammals, Sam Glanzman, vintage dinosaur books, World Around Us, World Around Us 15

Gilberton published The World Around Us #15: Prehistoric Animals in 1959 as part of its Classics Illustrated line. World Around Us is a must-have for any collector of dinosaur comics. Despite the way current advances in understanding dinosaur anatomy have made much of this book obsolete from a scientific perspective, it has a quaint historic charm and many stunningly rendered pages. It features uncredited artwork by Sam Glanzman and Al Williamson, according to Steve Bissette’s essay on PalaeoBlog. While dinosaurs take up much of the book, it also features prehistoric mammals, the origin of the planet Earth, and biographies of important biologists and paleontologists.

Collectors can often find a low-grade copy of World Around Us #15 at MyComicShop in the $5-15 range. Copies in various grades appear on eBay, with Fine and Fine+ grades listed in the $30-50 range.

In our second year on this blog, we presented the individual stories in this book as a series of posts. But now, here it is all in one shot for you prehistoric animal enthusiasts. Enjoy!

Flesh: The Dino Files TPB

Tags

black and white, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, dinosaurs, Flesh, flesh dino files, Indie Comics, Pat Mills, UK comics

This isn’t the first time Flesh appears this blog, so let’s keep it brief and look at some awesome dinosaur art! We got our copy at MyComicShop but you can also find it on Amazon. You can see more pages in our Flesh Archives. Okay? Wow, what a beautiful volume this is. Check it out!

kingfisher dinosaur encyclopedia

Tags

Dino books, dinosaur, dinosaur book, dinosaur books, Dinosaur Encyclopedia, dinosaurs, Kingfisher, kingfisher dinosaur encyclopedia

Kingfisher Dinosaur Encyclopedia brings readers up to date on many current developments in dino science. Lavishly filled with photographs and paintings, and easily-read charts, it is a visual feast worthy of a hungry Allosaurus.

One of the best features: a focus on certain regions of dino discoveries. You will visit specific digs, sites in England, Portugal, and China, that yielded new discoveries in the last 10 to 20 years and pushed dino science forward. Many books lack this regional organization, making this one special. You get a picture of each unique biome certain dinos inhabited, where some books simply list dinos alphabetically or historically. The grouping also gives the writers a chance to share about current leaders in the field in these countries.

Kingfisher breaks up its pages into small blocks of text that the reader can take one at a time, or in chunks. Like any Megalosaurus could tell you, it’s easier to digest things when you break them into smaller peices first! This makes the book entertaining and light, but by no means insubstantial. A reader can simply enjoy highlights, or dig deeper.

From the 2000 specimens of a single Cretaceous bird unearthed in China, to the confident resolution of an old myth about Oviraptors, to the solid presentation of the meteorite impact site, Kingfisher gives new dino fans a great introduction, and updates us old dino fans about several solved mysteries.

Criticisms? Calling the book an Encyclopedia may be stretching it. It is not an exhaustive tome of the history of paleontology, or dino physiology, or even a complete list of all known species. I have several “encyclopedias” and scientific texts that are more intensive. They’re also a lot harder to read! So, although I wouldn’t call it an encyclopedia, it’s a worthy and exciting book.

The one missing bone in this skeleton is a pronunication key. Dino books lately have thrown this idea away, and Kingfisher’s isn’t the only culprit. Some help pronouncing the latest Chinese dinos would really help us read this out loud!

Glad to have this on my shelf with the other great dino books. Recommended for all ages, young and old.

Buy the Kingfisher Dinosaur Encyclopedia on Amazon.

World of Dinosaurs by Edwin Colbert and George Geygan

Tags

dinosaur, dinosaur book, Edwin Colbert, George Geygan, Home Library Press, vintage dinosaur books, World of Dinosaurs

 
Some time ago we posted an ad for World of Dinosaurs from a vintage issue of The Brave & the Bold. We went looking for the book after finding that ad, and got an affordable copy. Colbert, a respected paleontologist who among other things discovered Coelophysis, would no doubt want to update some of the science in World of Dinosaurs, from the swamp-dwelling sauropods dragging their tails to the extinction theories. Nevertheless, we always get a kick out of the art in vintage dinosaur books, and George Geygan’s painterly approach is no exception.

Collector’s Guide:
– from World of Dinosaurs by Dr. Edwin H. Colbert and George Geygan; Home Library Press, 1961.
Note: an edition published in 1977 had the title The Dinosaur World.

 

 

He Could Hit Tyrannosaurus Rex with a Stick – the Biggest Stick He Could Find!

Tags

Danger in Dinosaur Valley, dinosaur, dinosaur books, diplodocus, Joan Lowery Nixon, Marc Simont, Putnam, vintage dinosaur books, World Series baseball game

 
Danger in Dinosaur Valley portrays the intelligence and adaptability of a child who teaches his parents some important life skills. A young diplodocus observes a World Series baseball game when time travelers come to visit, and he uses baseball to save his family.

 

 
As with many older dinosaur books, Danger in Dinosaur valley gets some things wrong: pterodactyls are not birds, television signals do not travel across time with their televisions, and brutal hand-to-hand combat is not always the best option. But the story works in its own cute way, and this vintage dinosaur book entranced us many times as young Martians. Treat yourself and your dino-loving kids to this entertaining tale by Joan Lowery Nixon, with artwork by Marc Simont!

Collector’s Guide:
– from Danger in Dinosaur Valley; G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1978.
Note: most existing copies of this out-of-print children’s book are ex-library copies.

 

dinosaur toy

Tags

dinosaur, iphone, photography, plasric, toy

dino cards: tuojiangosaurus

Tags

dinosaur, postcards, Tuojiangosaurus

Intrepid internet adventurers may want to track down the set of cards that include these dinosaurs. We haven’t yet, and so they remain part of the mysterious collection of postcards we joyfully receive here at Martian HQ.

As a bonus, the bright colors look amazing in our black light chamber.
Witness today the awesomeness of Tuojiangosaurus!

 

 

dino cards: hadrosaurs

Tags

dinosaur, hadrosaur, postcards

Intrepid internet adventurers may want to track down the set of cards that include these dinosaurs. We haven’t yet, and so they remain part of the mysterious collection of postcards we joyfully receive here at Martian HQ.

As a bonus, the bright colors look amazing in our black light chamber.
Witness today the awesomeness of the Hadrosaurs!

 

 

dino cards: parasaurolophus

Tags

dinosaur, parasaurolophus, postcards

Intrepid internet adventurers may want to track down the set of cards that include these dinosaurs. We haven’t yet, and so they remain part of the mysterious collection of postcards we joyfully receive here at Martian HQ.

As a bonus, the bright colors look amazing in our black light chamber.
Witness today the awesomeness of Parasaurolophus!

 

 

Dinosaurs Washed My Dishes!

Tags

dinosaur, dishes, plastic dinosaurs, toys

We woke up the other morning to find dinosaurs hard at work, scrubbing and stacking the dishes.

 

A Striking Example of Centuries of Progress!

Tags

big news, chicago, chicago world's fair edition, dinosaur, Sinclair, Sinclair dinosaur, Sinclair Oil, Sinclair World's Fair Dinosaur, worlds fair

Today we’ll share with you a publication nearly a century old now: the Chicago World’s Fair Edition of Big News. Published by Sinclair Oil, it showcases their dinosaur exhibit at the World’s Fair in 1934.

Yes, we have shared with you some other Sinclair memorabilia in our Sinclair Archives, and specifically some things from this same World’s Fair. But this monstrous tome takes the prehistoric cake. Though our copy has damage, the images and text remain intact for the most part. Allow us to mention a few notes, or just scroll down to our gallery today and dive right in!

But first, a word from beauty and the beast:

 

 
Notes: We spliced a few things, but the front cover has a tear requiring more digital reconstruction than we care to do right now. To keep the file sizes at 1 MB or less, we reduced our original scans by 90%. You will find you can still enlarge them on your screen a great deal and retain clarity.

One image we did not bother to splice together in our restoration efforts: the silly Sinclair Minstrels musical act with members in blackface. Some parts of American history just don’t merit the pixels they are printed on. These embarrassing racist depictions stick out like a sore thumb among the dinosaur sculptures. But, they also remind us of the cultural attitudes of the dominant class in this time period.

We know there was a second edition of this magazine with different images, but we don’t have it… yet! We also know many of these dinosaur depictions have what we now consider gross scientific inaccuracies. We could point them out to you and play dino expert, but it’s really more fun finding them for yourself!

While Scaly Monsters Fought in Pennsylvania!

Tags

ads, dinosaur, Saturday Evening Post, Sinclair, Sinclair Dinosaurs, Sinclair Oil

Look what we have here: Sinclair Oil ads from 1931 and 1932! These off-beat dinosaur illustrations ran in the Saturday Evening Post. You will see we included the ad copy, too, for completion. We confess that we don’t understand the pictures, really. Are they sculptures? Dioramas? Paintings? Pictures of sculptural dioramas developed and then painted over? If you have a clue, educate us with a comment, please! If you like these, click on the tags under the post to see more of our archives of Sinclair dinosaur memorabilia.

 

 

 

The Logic of a Lunatic’s Nightmare!

Tags

Avengers, Avengers 200, David Michelinie, dinosaur, George Perez, Ms Marvel

Avengers #200 is one of those sprawling epics of an ‘anniversary’ issue that makes just about zero effing sense. It has a lot of action, and a lot of wondering what the heck is going on – true hallmarks of monumental superhero milestones. By the time you hit the big flashback that reveals how Carol “Ms. Marvel” Danvers got pregnant for only three days, your suspension of disbelief may have taken too many hits to recover.

But, it has George Perez on pencils, and a huge dinosaur bashing around New York City. That’s enough for a bicentennial! Roll ’em!

Collector’s Guide:
– from Avengers #200; Marvel, 1980.

Be aware this issue is NOT included in the paperback collection Avengers Visionaries: George Perez.

 

Alarming Tales 6: Moon Descent!

Tags

Alarming Tales, dinosaur, Harvey Comics, Moon

This one page story from Alarming Tales showcases two of our favorite things: going to the moon, and dinosaurs! We’re not really sure who gets the credit for this, but feel free to enlighten us.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Alarming Tales #6; Harvey, 1958.

Issues #1-3 are now collected in a Kindle version!

If Dinosaurs Were Meant to Fly…

Tags

dinosaur, dinosaur comics, dr. watchstop, eclipse, Eclipse Comics, flight, fusion, Indie Comics, ken macklin, right stuff

In this three page story by Ken Macklin, a dinosaur invents the first set of artificial wings. “Dr. WatchStop” was one of several original creations by Macklin, about whom we haven’t been able to discover much. It seems he was in underground comics in the 70s, too.

We don’t recall ever seeing this story before last month. Fusion was never one of the Eclipse titles we got into back in the 1980s. But, you have to admit, the concept bears a striking resemblance to the core idea we had for our own little dinosaur comic. How did we find it? Our art teacher snagged this book at random out of a clearance bin for a project. Talk about synchronicity…

Collector’s Guide:
– from Fusion #7; Eclipse, 1988.
Backup art & story by Ken Macklin

Sauratopia, Episode One: The Launch

Tags

Brian Bowhay, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Dracorex, pachycephalosaurus, Sauratopia

Millions of years ago, terrible reptiles ruled the earth.
They also ruled… Outer Space!

Two years ago my Project Management 101 instructor approved my proposed special project: creating a mini-comic from scratch. I already had the rough draft and a series of storyboards breaking down the action. My friend Brian agreed to collaborate with me on this project. Brian and I went to high school together, and our parents attended the same church. Working with him on a comic book fulfilled a lifelong dream, and his character design especially brought this piece to life.

Originally I wanted to also hire a letterer, but met with no success through the college’s channels. So, in a matter of weeks, I learned from ComiCraft’s brief but powerful guide how to letter comic books in Adobe Illustrator. This project turned out to be a lot of fun, and I wouldn’t mind producing the next half-dozen “episodes” hiding in the filing cabinet.

Short “backup” stories like you used to find in the back of comics provide the model for this project. But for the class, we laid it out as a 1/2 sized comic book, complete with a wrap-around cover and a double splash centerfold. I always enjoy public speaking, so telling the class how we made this and what I learned felt really good. They all got a printed copy, signed at their request – as have some of our friends here in the blog-o-verse, and anyone who sends me dinosaur books.

Without further ado, we present the pilot episode of Sauratopia.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fear Walks on Four Feet!

Tags

bernard krigstein, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, golden age, Strange Tales

So many things work against this piece of golden age nonsense: disastrous dinosaur depictions, colors fading into putridity, and lots of development to squeeze into four pages. Somehow, they pull it off. This is Bernard Krigstein, isn’t it?

If not, then it’s Paul Reinman, who did the artwork on the totally terrifying… Laundry Machines?

Oh dear god… those shirts! They’re… cleaning themselves! NNNOOOOOOOOO

One thing is for sure: First panel, Final page of the story. That is none other than the Free States Leader in DMZ! Yeah! That might be one we want to paint. The Free States Rising chapter of DMZ is one of our all-time favorite story arcs.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Strange Tales #61; Marvel, 1958.

Angelo Torres: The Swamp God!

Tags

Angelo Torres, Archie Goodwin, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Eerie, Eerie Magazine, Frank Frazetta, tyrannosaurus rex, Warren

Angelo Torres and Archie Goodwin take you into the swamp to meet your god. And if you know anything, you know it’s a god we can really get behind: Tyrannosaurus Rex! Dig that Frank Frazetta cover. Yes! Thanks to The Warrior’s Comic Book Den for turning us on to this piece of Angelo Torres history!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Eerie Magazine #5; Warren, 1966.

Prehistoric World: End of An Era!

Tags

Classics Illustrated, Death of the Dinosaur, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Extinction, Gilberton, Prehistoric World, stegosaurus, trachodon, Triceratops

As part of their Classics Illustrated series, Gilberton published Prehistoric World in 1962.

It takes the reader from the beginning of life, through the age of dinosaurs, into the age of mammals, and ends with a detailed look at prehistoric man. Within its 100 pages, we also learn about many key people who shaped the study of prehistoric life.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Classics Illustrated Special #167: Prehistoric World; 1962.
– Not in stock? Try it on Newkadia.