Customer Reviews

Turok: Son of Stone Archives Volume 1

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Turok, Son of Stone was always one of my favorite books. As a younger collector, I would read the Gold Key reprints, and evey now and then, an 'original'.

Written by Gaylord DuBois, Paul S Neuman, and illustrated by a variety of Tarzan artists (Rex Moxon, Bob Corea), the stories were perfect for the explorative reader. By that I mean, readers who wanted to explore, and ask the question "What if I ..." Each story followed each other, and one cavern, one cave, one river led to another escape and/or discovery. Conflict? How many ways can a dinosaur attck Turok and Andar? For readers who loved dinosaurs, this series was heaven sent. Where else could you read about dinosaurs, and read comics at the same time. I can imagine that teachers of the 1950's probably approved of this book.

Volume One reprints Four Color 596, 656, #3, #4, #5, and #6, cover to cover, without ads. The artwork reproduction is amazing, and the new color is remarkable. Of all the pages, I only saw a few glitches, two or three b/w pages, which look great in b/w, and one scan of a page that was stained.

I highly recommend this book for any Turok fan. 1954 to present...55 years and going strong!

Tim Lasiuta

As a child, dinosaurs enthralled me. I first discovered Turok Son of Stone probably in late 1957. I was definitely reading this Dell comic in 1958, always begging my parents to buy me any issue I spotted on the news rack. By then, the comic's format was set. Turok and Andar were trapped in Lost Valley without friends and killing honkers with their lethal poison arrows and facing threats from enemy cavemen. This Dark Horse volume 1 reprints the very first six issues of the Turok comic - stories I never read from 1954-1957. The format was not yet set. Turok and Andar had cavemen friends and there were multiple Lost valleys interconnected by caves. The duo not only encountered dinosaurs (called "Hoppers"), but numerous prehistoric mammals. I always used to wonder how Turok got trapped in Lost Valley never thinking the answer would come to me over fifty years later.

I found this volume a total delight. The color pages are printed on bright white glossy paper superior to the dull paper Dell used to run in the original comic. Dell would run stories right through to the back cover with the inside back cover panels always published in black and white. This is correctly reproduced in this volume. William Stout's fine introduction gives background information on the comic book. This is a quality product. I look forward to volume two.

Very nice book, intend to purchase the next ones in the series. Coloring is a little murky compared with original comics but nothing I can't live with. Don't look for an exact reproduction, as the archive volumes are printed on glossy paper, which has different characteristics from those of the original pulp paper. Wish the credits were more specific. Lots of neat Charles R. Knight and Rudolph Zallinger swipes in the dinosaur art.

Taking the adventure themes of Tarzan (several Tarzan artists' work is here in this collection), Turok transports two Native Americans to a land where prehistoric monsters roam free. This is the kind of comic that ran rampant in the Golden Age of the industry, entertaining millions of readers (mostly boys) with its far-fetched yet imminently readable escapades. That Dark Horse has brought it back in a handsome hardcover edition is not only a treat for longtime comics readers but also a boon for anyone interested in seeing what these books were about.

To be sure, Turok won't exactly win any points for being progressively PC, but it's surprisingly more enlightened than you might suspect at first glance. Turok had a long history, first debuting in the mid-'50s under Western Publishing and later moving on to Gold Key and Valiant. This volume takes the Western Publishing version, which features two young men living in the American Southwest before Columbus ever reached America's shores. (Later editions moved Turok into the 18th century.) Turok and his brother, Andar, become trapped in a subcavernous world where dinosaurs (they call them "honkers") are alive and well and must fight for their very survival. They're also being hunted by the savage people they find in this odd land, so there's never any rest for Turok and Andar.

The stories in Turok often contradict each other (most notably in the ages of Turok and Andar, who vary wildly from youthful to adult), but Turok is escapist adventure of an oldtime variety.

-- John Hogan

Im sure at one time or another,throughout the 1954 to 1982 period, every one of these stories seen reprinting, but this book, is even cheaper then what those reprints go for on ebay. IF one can find a copy of these original issues from the 1950s, your talking several thousand, and its clean stuff, great for a dino loving kid. there will be at least another 20-25 volumes collected IF this one sells good.