August
2020
Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #062: Serenity's Boys
X-O Manowar #43, Geomancer #7
Turok crashes a party.
It's been over a year since Turok and his pal Aric have seen one another. What's
the X-O Manowar up to these days? Oh, you know. More boring businessman stuff.
More fights against the Spider Aliens. The usual. Aric's attending another
stuffy do at Orb Industries, when he's told of a surprise guest.
The boys are back in town.
Turok's only here for a quick visit; he has a notion they may not see each other
for some time, and wants to make the most of it. Aric's not one for cryptic
omens, but he is all about that tizwin.
The ball is
suddenly under attack by multiple incoming dropships, with assassins in bright
green combat suits parachuting out of them. In an open-air event you'd think
this might have been noticed a little sooner. Maybe you had to be
there.
Turok, Randy, and Aric's more capable companions take up arms and fight off the
invaders, while he himself takes the X-O suit and just freakin' bonks the
dropships into each other.
The threat is neutralised and all that's left is to clean up this mess. The
attackers, Sister Serenity and Serenity's Boys, didn't exactly broadcast their
intentions... but amidst all the ruckus, they got exactly what they came for:
Ken Clarkson, Aric's right-hand man. With him captive, their contractor's plan
can begin...
... but Turok won't be around to see it. He's got places to be — like New
Mexico, for his appearance in Geomancer #7!
Clay McHenry asks for Turok's assistance in channelling images through a bonfire
— it's the image of Elyot Zorn, Clay's cousin... at least, his new, corrupted
visage. Elyot also had the gift of 'sight' associated with the Geomancer
bloodline, but was salty his corrupt cop cousin got picked for the job over him.
Geomancer #4 (Feb 1995)
The two came to blows a while back as Elyot fought for the book of Geomancers,
but Clay kicked his ass and left him bleeding... unaware that he'd left behind a
cloak he picked up in Egypt. This wasn't just any old cloak — it belonged to the
very first Geomancer, Khanit, who served the earth until immortality drove him
to corruption, forcing his own son to slay him and take the mantle. The cloak
has since manifested throughout the ages, resurrecting the dead and corrupting
anyone who wears it in its war against the Geomancers. In Zorn's hands, it's
granted him immense power which he'll no doubt be using irresponsibly.
Anyway, this is another fight Turok and Andy will have to miss out on.
Zorn has his eye on Clay's ex-wife, so that makes it personal.
This is among the last crossovers we'll see during the Valiant run
of Turok, and as usual, the dinosaur hunter is mostly here to provide
moral support before the title characters embark on their upcoming story arcs.
While the shared universe is a fun concept, allowing for threats and story
threads to bleed over into different comics, it's rarely done much to make Turok
feel invested in the world around him; he just kind of shows up when someone needs a
spiritual 'in'.
One tends to think crossovers should be like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: "two
great tastes that taste great together!" While it has got me reading and
enjoying both these comics, I don't know how many people are won over to Turok's
series by his appearances.
I should note the four crossovers I've covered this week and last were published months after issue #16, but this seemed the only logical place to put them; like Turok says, he won't be seeing his friends for a while. It does make for a continuity error regarding Andy's recent injury, and having to squeeze them in results in some downright bonkers location-hopping — first an unspecified coastal city in #15, Texas in #16, Brooklyn in Geomancer #5~6, then Manhattan to meet up with X-O Manowar, and a stop in New Mexico before travelling northwest to Wyoming for #17. Phew!