Jan
2021
Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #105: Monsters of the Legend
Turok: Son of Stone #55
More dangerous than a dinosaur, more terrifying than a pteranodon: hyperbole!
Turok and Andar find themselves captured once again by stranger-hating
ne'er-do-wells, because it's far easier to slaughter everyone who comes near
rather than, I don't know, put up a fence or something. A "no trespassers" sign
at the very least. Before the two are done in, one of the tribe, Mulg, begs for
their survival -- people like them saved his life!
Mulg regales the story of how just the other day he journeyed deep into the
cavern's tunnels, narrowly surviving many dangerous animal encounters, before
arriving in a lush, vast plains... one without honkers or monsters. In their
stead: deer! Buffalo! Indigenous peoples!
He was saved from a stampeding herd by
tall men with arrows -- just like Turok! -- but he belted it home rather than
stick around to thank them. The crowd just laugh at the whole story; Mulg's got a bit of
reputation for his tall tales, but Turok and Andar are the only ones to not laugh
at him -- as far as they're concerned, this guy might be their ticket home.
After saving the tribe from a fortuitous honker attack, the pair instantly earn
their respect and are free to go and sate Mulg's desire to show them he's not
full of shit. The wild storyteller leads them farther than the rest of his tribe
dare to venture, claiming the path to be treacherous and full of dangers... and
among his first encounters was a colossal man-handling hand!
Sadly, there's no reason to question this line of thinking -- is there an entire
giant buried under the cavern floor? Was the hand an independent organism with no
body to speak of? Did it just end at the wrist or was its arm a whole snake-like
entity unto itself? Because that'd be messed up, I tell you what. It's just a
regular old dino, though. Let's cut Mulg some slack; maybe it was dark?
I can't think of any other explanation why, while being throttled to death by a scaly cold-blooded lizard, your first
thought would be, "this must be what a giant hand feels like."
His next tale of daring survival: a fire-breathing honker! There's a lot less
extrapolation required for this one -- the cavern opens up into a hall of fiery
plumes, evidently from a deep lava well, which the dimetrodons take advantage of
by blowing towards them.
Is... is it possible to blow without lips? Have these honkers, living exclusively in this fire-filled domain, evolved lips for the
sole purpose of scorching would-be trespassers? If Andar were more
scientifically minded this probably the kind of crap he'd be thinking to justify
Mulg's tales being somewhat on the money.
Of course, then he says he was next involved in a life-or-death struggle against
spear-wielding pygmy warriors... when actually this is where all the kids come
to play with their toy weapons. Turok and Andar discuss Mulg's reputability;
there's some truth in what he says, but also a great hearty helping of
horse hockey. There's exaggeration, and then there's pretending to be a cool guy
by beating up children, which is a lot harder to forgive.
Matters aren't helped when they realise despite the muddy path, there's been no
sign of footprints this entire time -- if Mulg was here yesterday, he'd have
left two sets of tracks! This argument kind of falls apart when you realise the
tracks would also have warned them of the incoming honker that threatens to gore
them. Turok's more upset it's just a triceratops, and not the glowing,
eight-horned monstrosity Mulg described it as. He may call them all honkers but
he's still anal about designations, gosh darn it.
After a surprisingly drama-free chamber of fire, Mulg tells them of how he
totally killed a plesiosaur by wedging a log down its gullet... and indeed, in
the water's depths is a suitably sized skeleton. It's long past the chance to
perform an autopsy, especially when the cave begins to quake! Mulg assures them
they're not far from their destination...
... but alas, he comes a cropper to the crumbling chasm, and there's no hope of
saving him. The honkers, finally realising maybe there's better places to live
than in flame-filled death traps like this, beat feet with Turok and Andar as
riders. The cave tribe make their departure as well, fearing the whole mountain
will come down on their heads... and indeed, when our heroes return once the
tremors have ceased, there's nothing left of the cave, sealed behind a bed of
cooled magma.
Was Mulg really on the level? Were they truly a hair's breadth
away from freedom? They may never know... but at least they never actually saw a
glimpse of home. That'd just be a right tease, that would.
The series has been employing in medias res openings to its stories a lot
lately, and also seemingly relying on unreliable narrators to make for exciting
cover images. It's often felt like a cop-out, but this story actively makes it
part of the story, and the very crux of whether or not Turok and Andar can trust
their new companion. It's a fun twist on convention, and delivers on what I like
to see most out of Son of Stone: some bombass monsters and an ongoing mystery to
solve. It's a pity Mulg has to die, but so it goes, I suppose. Can't have stakes
without some unjust death!