Nov
2020
Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #083: The Land of the Plant People
Turok: Son of Stone #45
The Lost Valley has crummy courtroom dramas.
Turok and Andar pay witness to a manhunt: one man fleeing the wrath of a
veritable mob! Just when it looks like he's cornered himself against an
impenetrable maze of thorns, he applies a delicate touch that lets them grant
him passage! The thorns close over again before the mob can follow, even
whipping at them when they get close...
... but they still manage to brain the man with a thrown club. Our heroes climb
down from their steep cliff to check on him, but Andar finds himself at the
mercy of another form of malevolent plant β the man-eating kind! The man opens
the plant before Andar suffocates, revealing that only his tribe know the secret
of taming these giant plants... before drawing his last breath.
Welp, there goes their tour guide. And they're gonna need one: this land's full
of weird and wonderful plantlife, including ones that emit sleeping gas! Turok
and Andar awake to find themselves at the centre of a tribe's murder trial β who killed
the chief? Stanad believes Rodal, the next-in-line to become chief,
ordered the two outsiders to do the deed; Rodal, meanwhile, thinks Stanad
fancies the position for himself, and is trying to incriminate him. Our heroes
can barely get a word in edgewise; this isn't a court of justice so much as it
is a
shouting contest.
Court is adjourned when a big stinkin' stegosaurus interrupts the proceedings,
but they're in no danger; the plant people have clanging bell flowers as their
early warning system, and unseen beds of deadly thorns. T & A use the
distraction to clonk their captors and leg it, but are captured within seconds.
There's no way out without the secret of the plants, and Rodal believes their
only hope to prove their collective innocence is to face... the plant maze!
Why, the plant maze's flora can only be pacified by the touch of an innocent
man, or the tribe's medicine man! It's the most dangerous land within the
tribe's grounds, with flowers and vines capable of ending life in ways you never
imagined... but what better way to prove they didn't do it?
It's a pity Rodal fuckin' bites it instantly. That won't look good on the stand.
The plants don't just strangle and swallow things too; they shoot burning liquid
and stinging barbs, triggered even by their shadows! The thought of escape seems
pretty darn hopeless against traps like that... but by pulling a harmless tree
into the grasp of the people-eater, the whole system falls apart, with the
movement and commotion triggering all the traps at once. Time to book it!
They're out of the deadly maze but still in the plant people's domain, and
there's still no hope of exiting, not without their magic touch. They're in no
position to learn their secrets... but they can learn the plants'
secrets β namely, their rapid growth in proximity to light and fire!
The pair bargain for their release, otherwise they'll sic the plants against
them; you can clearly see which option the plant folk went for. After a thorough
manhandling by their own defence systems, the tribe finally cry uncle and let
them go, and our heroes are free toβ what do you mean those manhunters are
still lurking outside?!
Try burning grass on for size, you clowns. Get outta here. This isn't your
story.
This isn't the first time we've seen killer plants, and it won't be the last. Monstrous flora is one of those recurring tropes of primeval adventures and jungle stories, and every Turok story treats them differently; Valley of the Vines consisted only of strangling tangles, while this one focuses heavily on their alien defence mechanisms, done justice by Alberto Giolitti's art as always. It's easy to look down on plants for being saps (har har); getting done in by nature's set dressing feels like a chump way to go, but the many ways the natural world can wreck your shit without claws, fangs, or rippling muscles is worthy of respect in my book.
Also, this is a story that did not go the way I expected. Rodal freakin'
dies! I was half-expecting him to return, having faked his death to slink into
the shadows and make T & A prove their innocence without his help, but that plot
thread quickly sputters out. Given the three solid pages of tribal justice I was
expecting Turok and Andar to be more involved in their affairs, but when their
maze-mate bites the big one there's no way it'll end in their favour.
The pair make no discussion of the chief's death, their only concern is how this
effects them. Fair play; Turok's made repeated points of not getting involved,
so why change now? Just because the tribe's got a half-baked legal system
(does the plant maze serve as trial or penitentiary...?)
doesn't mean they're not backstabbing bozos.