Jurassic Park: Raptor #1&2 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Topps Comics was an experiment from the beloved baseball card manufacturer Topps. Seeing the potential of comics due to the ominous presence of speculators, Topps joined the already crowded comic book marketplace. Marvel veteran Jim Salicrup was selected as the company editor in chief. His clout helped to recruit an impressive roster of talent including Steranko, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Tony Isabella. 

Topps pulled off a coup securing rights to a number of impressive franchises. The Kirbyverse was a number of quasi-interconnected books based on abandoned ideas and projects created by the King, Jack Kirby. Salicrup was able to obtain the rights to produce new adventures of beloved titles like Cadillacs and Dinosaurs as well as classic characters such as Zorro. Being able to obtain the much coveted rights to adapt Francis Ford Coppola's version of Dracula really put Topps Comics on the radar of the comics industry.

Once Bram Stoker's Dracula was secure, Topps Comics was able to draw in popular franchises such as The X-Files, Friday the 13th's hockey mask wearing antagonist Jason and a comic book reboot of Topps' notorious Mars Attacks trading card set! Eventually Topps managed to secure the rights to publish works based on the most movie of the year 1993, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.

Topps Comics first released a 4-issue adaptation of the film. Walt Simonson scripted. Pencils were by Gil Jane with George Perez inks. A special edition issue #0 was a prequel to the movie, exploring how the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar were created.

Immediately after the success of the film, movie viewers demanded a sequel. Fans of the 1990 novel were already begging author Michael Crichton for a second volume. Spielberg's movie magic added millions of voices to that request. While Crichton would agree to begin writing the official sequel novel in 1994, Topps Comics beat the Jurassic Park creator to an officially authorized comic book with 1993's Jurassic Park: Raptor.

The 2-part Raptor takes place just 3 days after the events of the film. With the help of the United States military, Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler are wrangling up the dinosaurs that escaped their enclosures during the tropical storm. Officials are convinced that all of the raptors have been killed by the park's T-Rex. But Alan Grant isn't so sure. 

Not finding any evidence of a raptor nest, Grant is convinced that some of the raptors escaped their pen and laid eggs elsewhere on the island. So the paleontologists travel to a less populated area. The perfect spot is a series of caves that are protected by high tides. Along with finding the missing baby raptors, Grant and Sattler discover an expert poacher is on scene, hired by an unknown entity to capture the infant reptiles.

Jurassic Park: Raptor was the first of a miniseries of trilogies that continues the saga of Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park: Raptors Attack and Jurassic Park: Raptors Hijack finish out the official comic book sequel. The trilogy was written by Steve Englehart, spanning a total of 10 issues. Issue #2 of Jurassic Park: Raptor ends with a 'to be continued blurb' which is really confusing as the cover proclaims that the second book is the last chapter of a 2-parter. Eventually, Topps Comics would release Jurassic Park Adventures, which would collect all 10 chapters of the Raptor Trilogy into a single, sequential series.

Pencils for issues #1&2: Armando Gil.

Inks by Dell Barras.

Covers by Michael Golden.

Worth Consuming!

Issue #1: Rating 10 out of 10 stars.

Issue #2: Rating 8 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #42 (Comic Book Starting With the Letter J) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Jurassic World

    On the same day that the film became the 3rd highest grossing movie of all-time and that it was announced that a sequel was now in the works, I finally saw Jurassic World. I am a huge fan of the movie and an even bigger fan of the original novel by one of my favorite writers, Michael Crichton. Oddly enough, out of all 4 films in the Jurassic series, this was the first one I saw in theaters. 

    Jurassic World takes place some 20 years after the first film. The dream of John Hammond has finally been realized and Isla Nublar has been converted into the technological theme park marvel, Jurassic World. The park is run by super-efficient park manager Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who has trouble seeing the human side of things. Her nephews are visiting the park for the week, but she doesn't even have any time for them as she is super busy wooing prospective corporate sponsors for the park's newest coming attraction- the Indominus Rex.

   This hybrid dinosaur is super stealthy and wicked mean. It's proof of what Jeff Goldblum's character, Ian Malcolm, in the first film advises- 'Man should not play GOD!' When the hybrid manages to break loose, it's up to ex-Navy Seal Owen (Chris Pratt) to save the day. He's been working on a super secret project with Jurassic World's genetic research parent  company InGen involving the training of velociraptors as army weapons. 

    During the melee, Claire realizes that her nephews are unaccounted for and seeks Owen's help to rescue them. While on their rescue mission, they see first hand the carnage of the Indominus Rex, who isn't killing for food but sport, setting itself up to become the dominant thunder lizard of the park. However, there are several species of dinosaur ready to challenge the Indominus as alpha dog as the giant creature destroys park attraction after park attraction and unleashes a hell on the visitors of the park some 65-million years in the making. 

    Jurassic World was an excellent film. It's no Jurassic Park and it doesn't really try to be. However, there are several easter eggs that elude to that classic film and it pays a respectable homage to it without being gaudy or flashy. 

    Yes, there are a few plot devices that were borrowed from the original film and some cliches were telegraphed from the beginning. Particularly as you could tell from when certain characters were first introduced in the film that they would become dino-chow by the time the credits roll. However, the film was a fresh take on a film series over 2 decades old and I didn't feel like I've seen this movie before. (Well, there was one scene in which a flock of flying dinos terrorize the park. I remember leaning over to my wife and saying 'Where's Ian Zeiring (of the Sharknado films) when you need him?")

    The acting was quite good and both Howard and Pratt steal just about every scene they are in which is saying something as there are dinosaurs in just about everyone one of those scenes. Without giving away too much of the end of the film, I will say that I am glad both are set to return in the sequel but I really haven't the foggiest clue how they are going to be able to do a 2nd (technically 5th) film after the amount of dino-destruction Jurassic World occurs.

    A fun 2-hour ride that really puts you in the film. I didn't see the movie in 3-D as that technology gives me massive headaches. But I could see how many would think this movie was made only to be seen in that format. It should be noted- if you see the film in regular 2-D, some scenes will look grainy and I think that is because those scenes were particularly shot to be viewed in 3-D.

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.