T. Rex Generations: a book review

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book review, dinosaur, dinosaur books, dinosaur comics, graphic novel, rextooth studios, t rex generations, ted rechlin, tyrannosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex

T. Rex Generations stars four young rexes we meet under the watchful eyes of their parents as they hatch from eggs. In their youth, the rexes learn to survive, scavenge, and hunt. They meet a beautifully illustrated assortment of cretaceous creatures they must battle or escape. Author and artist Ted Rechlin creates even more dramatic page and panel layouts than in his 2017 brontosaurus book, which makes for great fight scenes. And in a world of monsters just as fierce as they are, not every rex will survive.

This book will delight dinosaur enthusiasts and comic book fans, and though it has a lot of physical conflict, it isn’t graphic or gory. Adults and kids can enjoy this all-ages action-packed story together.

My dislikes are mostly minor details: seeing the same double-splash page of empty landscape repeated where more story pages would be welcome; anachronistic phrases such as “so the siblings ease off the gas” that seem out of place millions of years before cars; and a couple spots of clunky exposition such as saying “as was previously noted…” when repeating something from a few pages prior.

My only major concern: why do the young rexes not get named until the final page? Characters we care about in a story usually get identified by name right away, and the parent rexes are identified just after the babies hatch. It isn’t clear why the younger rexes don’t get names until late in their adolescence, unless we see their climactic edmontosaurus kill as a rite of passage into adulthood. But even though a caption describes that as a “first kill”, it seems more likely that a predatory reptile who has been larger than a pickup truck for years has killed more than a few things. After a wild romp in the cretaceous, the last page left me with more confusion than conclusion.

None of that stopped me from enjoying this adventurous addition to my library of dinosaur books and comics. T. Rex Generations is a fun read and a joy to look at. The full-page and two-page illustrations of the rexes and dakotaraptor, edmontosaurus, and ankylosaurus would make great prints or posters.

Get some dinosaur in your new year at Ted Rechlin’s store or on Amazon!

Big thanks to Smith Publicity for the review copy of T. Rex Generations, and to Comicon.com for the images in this post.

The More the Hoardasaurus Gave Away, the Less Nervous He Felt!

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Glink, Hoardasaurus, Price Stern Loan, Robin James, Saveopotamus, Serendipity, Stephen Cosgrove, tyrannosaurus

 
The Serendipity series of children’s books began in 1974 as author Stephen Cosgrove’s personal vision. He collaborated with illustrator Robin James many, many times on stories that entertained while demonstrating a value or life lesson. In Search of the Saveopotamus may have caught our youthful attention with its colorful dinosaurs, but its philosophy has remained important to us even as adults.

The main character, the Hoardasaurus, has become a nervous wreck. His collection of material possessions brings him no joy. Spending his every waking hour fretting that someone might steal his stuff, he can never really enjoy what he has. True, he has some things of value. But, he holds onto old junk and broken things with equal fervor.

The Hoardasaurus reminds us not to spend our life obsessing over material possessions. They may fill our space, but they cannot fill our hearts. He reminds us that we can let go of all that does not bring us joy. He reminds us that part of the joy of material things is not hoarding them, but giving them. He reminds us we can move into the future with greater speed and agility when we liberate ourselves from carrying around the past. And, he reminds us that even Tyrannosaurus likes to play with a yo-yo.

Collector’s Guide:
– from In Search of the Saveopotamus; Price/Stern/Loan, 1974.
A Serendipity Book by Stephen Cosgrove, illustrated by Robin James.

 

The Man Who Drank the Blood of Satanus!

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Blood of Satanus, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Judge Dredd, Lizard Men, Pat Mills, Ron Smith, Satanus, science fiction, tyrannosaurus

Sometimes it’s hard to tell a good idea from a bad idea. Let’s say you had a totally evil tyrannosaurus that died in the Cretaceous but was brought back to life through cloning. Then, after being set loose by atomic weapons, he killed and maimed his way through the future before vanishing into the wild. As a scientist, at what point do you think it would be a good idea to drink that tyrannosaur’s blood?

Collector’s Guide: From Judge Dredd #17; Eagle, 1985.

Satanus first appeared in the Judge Dredd storyline The Cursed Earth. You can find that in the Cursed Earth TPB. But, be warned that due to being sued by fast food fast chains from America, the publishers of 2000 AD did not include four chapters of the 25-episode story (episodes 11-12 and 17-18.) So, go pawn some family heirlooms, and you can pick up the original Cursed Earth stories in 2000 AD, #61-85.

Satanus also appeared in a story gorgeously illustrated by Colin Macneil called Satanus Unchained in 2000 AD #1241-1246. Satanus fans will also enjoy Judge Dredd #7, which reprints the Satanus chapters of Cursed Earth with a cool Brian Bolland cover.

If you like Satanus, check out our gallery of Flesh from 2000 AD, featuring the mother of Satanus, Old One Eye. 

Charles Yates’ Dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus!

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Charles Yates, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Dinosaurs an Illustrated Guide, tyrannosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex

Charles Yates’ Dinosaurs: An Illustrated Guide showcases tons of completely awesome dinosaur drawings. No dinosaur comics enthusiast should be without it! Dinosaurs has been out of print for more than twenty years and can be hard to find. We present this work with the permission of artist Charles Yates and writer Gary Reed. Gary, now a science teacher, notes that some of the science may be out of date due to new discoveries, but was the best information available at the time.

Collector’s Guide: From Dinosaurs: An Illustrated Guide #1 (Carnivores) and #2 (Herbivores). Sometimes available on Amazon: Issue One, Issue Two.

A Gun for Dinosaur!

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dinosaur, Ernie Chua, Gun for Dinosaur, L Sprague de Camp, parasaurolophus, Roy Thomas, time travel, tyrannosaurus, Val Mayerik, Worlds Unknown

In 1973, Marvel began an eight-issue series called Worlds Unknown. It presented adaptations of science fiction stories. Today we’ll look at our favorite: A Gun for Dinosaur by L. Sprague de Camp, first published in 1956 in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction. The plot, adapted by Roy Thomas, revolves around using time travel to hunt for dinosaurs. We’ve enjoyed that concept in Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury and Flesh by Pat Mills.

A Gun for Dinosaur is a fun romp of Cretaceous carnage and the usual tough guys working out the pecking order with their fists and weapons. We don’t pretend to be literary critics, but one thing is for sure: That’s not how you draw a Parasaurolophus! They have a tube-shaped whatchamacallit on their head, not this fan-shaped thing dreamed up by artist Val Mayerik. Also, if you’re going to use the word “Ceratopsian”, then spell it correctly! Other than these minor dino quibbles, we give A Gun for Dinosaur two claws up.

If you like this adaptation, The Groovy Agent has a few more Worlds Unknown classics for you on his site: Killdozer, Arena, and Farewell to the Master (the original Day the Earth Stood Still).

Collector’s Guide: From Worlds Unknown #2; Marvel, 1973. L. Sprague de Camp wrote eight more stories about protagonist Reginald Rivers and his time safaris, collected in the book Rivers of Time.

Trapped in the Twilight World with Jack Kirby!

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Amazing Adventures, Amazing Adventures 1961, dimetrodon, dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Jack Kirby, Smilodon, tyrannosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex

Jack Kirby kicks out the prehistoric jams in “We Were Trapped in the Twilight World!” Nothing beats using a torch to fight a dimetrodon — unless that dimetrodon is also trying to eat a cute, helpless baby. Truly demented!

Featuring a smilodon, a cro-magnon man, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Twilight World has no sense of actual pre-history – but it sure is a lot of fun!

Collector’s Guide: From Amazing Adventures #3; Marvel, 1961. Reprinted in the Amazing Fantasy Omnibus #1; Marvel, 2007.

Marvel published multiple series entitled “Amazing Adventures.” Don’t get this one confused with the 1970 Amazing Adventures. That was the one Kirby kicked off with stories about the Inhumans.

Sinclair and the Exciting World of Dinosaurs!

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ankylosaurus, brontosaurus, corythosaurus, Dinoland, dinosaur, Matthew Kalmenoff, ornitholestes, Sinclair, Sinclair and the Exciting World of Dinosaurs, Sinclair Dinosaurs, Sinclair Oil, Smilodon, stegosaurus, struthiomimus, trachodon, Triceratops, tyrannosaurus

Today’s gallery showcases the complete 1967 booklet “Sinclair and the Exciting World of Dinosaurs.” Another one of Sinclair‘s famous free dinosaur promos, this one’s packed with great paintings on every page.

Since 1967, paleontology has updated our vision of these magnificent creatures. In 2005, for example, we found evidence of feathers on the tail of a tyrannosaur. William Stout included this incredible update in his tyrannosaur mural at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Now we conceive of their tails not dragging heavily on the ground, but in far more alert and active poses. Still, these 1960s paintings are a lot of fun.

Thank you to reader Edward Dietrich who, in 2017, told me of an earlier printing of this booklet dated 1964, released for the Sinclair Dinoland exhibit at the New York World’s Fair, 1964-1965. He sent the following three images, which are that edition’s cover and two additional pages illustrating the exhibit.

Sinclair Dinoland Edition – cover

Have you seen my scans of photos from Sinclair at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair?

Thank you to reader Mark Menendez who, in 2012, used the power of enlargement to find the artist’s signature in these images and identify him: Matthew Kalmenoff. The American Museum of Natural History says:

Matthew Kalmenoff (1905-1986)

“Kal,” as he was known to his fellow artists, was employed at the AMNH from the 1950s through the early 1970s. His work can be found in the Hall of North American Forests, the renovated Hall of North American Birds, and in the Small Mammal Corridor of the Hall of North American Mammals.

Reader Edward Dietrich adds that Kalmenoff also contributed color illustrations to a wonderful Golden Stamp Book book I loved when I was a kid: Animals of the Past. Thank you for reminding me off this forgotten treasure, and revealing its connection to the Sinclair booklet! Collectors and prehistoric animal enthusiasts can sometimes find this book on eBay and Amazon.

cover art by Charles McVicker

Smilodon! by Matthew Kalmenoff

Kalmenoff’s paintings from this 1970s book, along with black and white line drawings by Robert Gartland, appear to be recycled from a 1950s edition called The Golden Play Book of Animals from the Past Stamps. You can find scans of many of that edition’s interior pages and stamps at the blog Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs.

a page of Kalmenoff’s stamps from the 1950s edition

a page from the 1950s edition

Kalmenoff’s painted mosasaur stamp rocks my world. I want a wall-sized version. And how can you not love the Skull of Uinta Beast? It’s a doom metal album cover! This is a charming book even if it makes numerous outdated statements about dinosaur biology, such as depicting brontosaurs spending all their time in water. For a more current take on brontos, you’ll need Ted Rechlin’s awesome graphic novel, Jurassic.

And now, without further ado, please enjoy the complete 1967 edition of “Sinclair and the Exciting World of Dinosaurs!” Featuring brontosaurus, struthiomimus, trachodon, tyrannosaurus, triceratops, ankylosaurus, corythosaurus, ornitholestes, and stegosaurus.

WOW! If, after all that, you are dying to see more paleoart from Matthew Kalmenoff, you’ll dig his black-and-white drawings from the 1956 book, All About Strange Beasts from the Past (written by Roy Chapman Andrews). Yes, you can find it on Amazon. But for samples of the interior, visit DinosaurHome, where we got the following images. If you thought Kalmenoff’s “Skull of Uinta Beast” stamp was doom metal, then check these out!

 

 

 

 

Jim Lawson’s Paleo: Loner!

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dinosaur, dinosaur comics, Jim Lawson, Loner, Paleo, Paleo Loner, Paleo Tales of the Late Cretaceous, tyrannosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex

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.

Dinosaur Stamps and Prehistoric Mammal Stamps!

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brontosaurus, dinosaur, dinosaur stamps, eohippus, mail, mastodon, postcards, prehistoric mammal stamps, prehistoric mammals, pteranodon, Smilodon, stamps, stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus, Wooly Mammoth

USPS unleashed this set of dinosaur stamps in 1984, and the prehistoric mammal stamps in 1994. We haven’t checked post card postage rates recently, but you could probably mail one of our Mark Schultz Dinosaur Postcards with them today.

Too bad the artists are not credited on the stamps. Nice work here!