Feb
2021
Dinosaur Hunter Diaries #114: Outlaws of Lost Land
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #39
Hunting season in the Lost Land.
In the late 1700s, the Shawnee citizens of Chillicothe evacuated to avoid the
incoming wrath of white raiders, leaving them to find only a scorched village...
and a few droplets of silver. Legends sprouted around the whereabouts of the
mysterious missing treasure, but no one dared to consider: was it no longer even
on Earth...?
In present day, the Lost Land finds itself a new visitor: Longhunter! The great white bastard
evidently caught wind of these new hunting grounds, and recruited the
time-displaced escapee, Pilot, to lead him in for a shooting spree. Pilot was
last seen ferrying Professor Challenger and the decimated film crew back home in
issue #33, and still hasn't gotten an actual name in the interim. Longhunter
fancies bagging himself one of the biggest birds...
... and because the Valiant universe is nothing but convenient coincidences,
they target the same one that Turok, Andy and Regan hitched when they escaped
the Nazi stronghold. Remember that craziness? Read last issue again if you
haven't in the past hour. Pilot holds no ill will towards the trio;
after all, anyone who saved him from being dissolved by some titanic goop
monster's has gotta be on the level. Longhunter's not so considerate, and sends
them plummeting to earth after nailing their pteranodon with a headshot.
The hunters land to go claim their prize, though Pilot's quick to assert he's
got no beef with these guys. Well, Longhunter's got beef in spades, and he's not gonna put up with anyone who's not as invested in murder as he is.
Turok proves he's the better hunter by getting the drop on them both, with Andy
and Regan doing their damnedest to keep Pilot disarmed. It's a one-sided slobberknocker
for Turok, with Longhunter's rifle stolen and used as a blunt instrument
against him...
... but Turok's unwillingness to shoot a man on his knees is all it
takes for Pilot to get the upper hand. Pilot's still not crazy about all this,
but a paycheck's a paycheck. Longhunter's all geared up to
pop these bozos and make sure they'll no longer be a thorn in his side.
Then another party enters the mix! Longhunter's not the only new face in the
Lost Land: here comes Captain Johnny O. Landsdale and his Confederate cavalry,
along with the tracker Lake and time-displaced samurai Ryu Sho. They clearly win
the arms race on account of all their arms, so nobody's inclined to make any
sudden movements...!
Not exactly a Turok focused episode, with even more baddies coming out of the
woodwork, but I love how the end of every story so far has me wheezing with
laughter. What other rejects of history will wind up in the Lost Land? Will
Turok ever be free of fucked up white supremacists?!
Longhunter still sucks. It's nice of Pilot to serve as foil for him to bounce
off of, but of all the villains to make recurring appearances, it's gotta be this guy...?
To be fair, you can rest easy knowing he's still lurking out there; sure, he's a
hunter, but at least he's a magnet for other opportunistic slime to weed out as
necessary. You'd hardly want Campaigner or Mon-Ark to slink away after their
defeat to terrorise another day.
One notable little aside: after crashing their pteranodon and losing their
machine gun, Turok resorts to using the local berries to concoct a poison for
his arrowheads. He sadly doesn't get a chance to use it, but it's a nice little call-back to the Son of Stone
days, showing the old ways haven't been completely forgotten.