Turok is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

who first appeared in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by Western Publishing through licensee

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

. He first appeared in ''

Four Color Comics ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

'' #596 (October/November 1954). After a second ''Four Color'' appearance (#656 October 1955), the character graduated to his own title – ''Turok, Son of Stone'' (#3 March–May 1956) — published by both Dell and then Gold Key Comics from 1956 to 1982. Subsequently, he appeared in titles published by Valiant Comics,

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

and

Dynamite Comics Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptations ...

. The character also inspired a popular video game series, starting with '' Turok: Dinosaur Hunter,'' published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1997. Several sequels would be released in the following years for various gaming consoles.

Publishing history

Western Publishing

The original comic, titled ''Turok, Son of Stone'', was illustrated by Rex Maxon. The writer-creator credit for the characters of Turok and Andar is disputed, with historians citing Matthew H. Murphy, Gaylord Du Bois, and

Paul S. Newman Paul S. Newman (April 29, 1924 – May 30, 1999) was an American writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s. Credited in the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' as the most prolific comic-book wr ...

as the feature's earliest writers. The Western Publishing version of Turok was a

Pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the Migration to the New World, original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, w ...

Native American (identified as

Mandan The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still res ...

in the first issue, on page 21 and 32 of ''Dell Four Color'' #596) who, along with his brother, Andar, finds himself lost in an isolated valley populated by

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. Turok refers to many of the prehistoric animals as "honkers" or by their most obvious characteristics (

tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

are called "runners",

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

s are called "flyers",

velociraptors ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the pa ...

are "screamers", plesiosaurs are "sea demons", ''

Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivore, herbivorous Chasmosaurinae, chasmosaurine Ceratopsidae, ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period, about 68 m ...

'' are "rammers", etc.). The Du Bois stories involve Turok and Andar seeking a way out of the valley. Du Bois was influenced by his visits to

Carlsbad Caverns Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natura ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, and developed the "Lost Valley" from his visits to the area. After two appearances in ''Four Color'' #596 and #656, the title ran 27 issues (#3–29) published by

(1956–62); then issues #30–125 (1962–80) from Gold Key Comics; and finally issues #126–130 (1981–82) under Western's Whitman Comics imprint. The first Turok one-shot (''Four Color'' #596) was originally written by Du Bois as a ''Young Hawk'' story. ''Young Hawk'' was an earlier Native American comic book feature Du Bois created, which appeared in Dell's '' The Lone Ranger'' comic book series. Although the artists had long since established Turok as an adult, Du Bois's last scripts for the series (''Turok'' #8) still introduced stories by describing Turok and Andar as "youths", more befitting Young Hawk than Turok (though Andar was depicted as a youth). The first story in that issue begins as "Turok and Andar, Indian youths, have found their way into a strange network of deep canyons in the Carlsbad area, where ancient forms of life still exist... They have found no way to get out". The second story begins where "trapped in a deep canyon in the Carlsbad area of New Mexico, Turok and Andar, two Indian youths, have met ancient forms of life which have disappeared from all other parts of the world". In Du Bois' last Turok story (issue #8, "Turok Seeks the Trail to Freedom", in which Turok encounters a herd of horses, which he calls "slim-legged creatures", having no word for them, as the horse had not yet been reintroduced to the Americas by the Spanish), Turok scales the cliffs, and escapes the Lost Valley. However, he returns for Andar, who was left behind after being injured. Soon, an avalanche permanently seals the way out and the series begins anew.

began writing the Turok stories afterward.

Valiant Comics

In 1992, Valiant Comics introduced a revamped Turok, debuting him in '' Magnus: Robot Fighter'' #12. With this version, the concept and setting were altered. Turok and Andar were now 18th-century Native Americans. The isolated valley became "the Lost Lands" — a land where

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

s and

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

s flourish and where "time has no meaning". A cosmic anomaly causes time in the Lost Lands to move in a self-contained loop (which means that while millions of years pass outside of it, inside it, time barely moves at all). "

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

", a line-wide Valiant Comics crossover storyline, altered the concept even further. The crossover's main villain, a psychotic superpowered being known as

Mothergod Mothergod (Erica Pierce) is a fictional character from Valiant Comics. She was exposed to the same energies that turned Phil Seleski into Solar, and she gained the same energy and matter manipulation powers. Driven mad by the destruction and impe ...

, uses the Lost Lands as her base of operations. She outfits dinosaurs with intelligence-boosting implants, turning them into "bionisaurs". In the aftermath of the final battle between Mothergod and the Valiant Universe heroes, the Lost Lands begin to disappear. Turok and Andar are tossed into a post-apocalyptic future Earth, and a group of bionisaurs make it to Earth along with them. Following this, they become ruthless hunters trying to contend with the demons and aliens that exist in the future world, as well as various Lovecraftian abominations and high-tech future warriors. Mothergod seizes power in this future and begins to rebuild her empire and attempts to hunt down and kill Turok and Andar. A new volume of Turok's own comic, ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'', was launched in 1993. Valiant published 53 issues before Acclaim purchased the company, including ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'' #0–47, ''Original Turok: Son of Stone'' #1–2, ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Yearbook'' in 1994, and the two-issue miniseries ''Turok the Hunted'' in 1996. ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'' #1 was the sixth best-selling comic of the month of June, surpassed only by the first five installments of "

Reign of the Supermen! "The Death of Superman" is a crossover story event featured in DC Comics' Superman-related publications. The crossover, which originated from editor Mike Carlin and writers Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, and Karl Ke ...

Acclaim Comics

A new Turok series, titled simply ''Turok'', was published by Acclaim Comics in 1997 and 1998. In the revamped Acclaim Comics universe, Turok is not the character's name, but rather a title meaning "Son of Stone". The Turok must protect the barriers between this dimension and the others—the axis of all worlds being the Lost Lands, a place where creatures from across time and space had been dragged and where "time has no meaning". Joshua Fireseed, the latest Turok, must travel between alternate universes stopping those who would try to conquer the Lost Lands, and thus all of the multiverse with it.

Dark Horse Comics

A new Turok series, again titled ''Turok: Son of Stone'', was launched by Dark Horse Comics, under license by Classic Media in 2010. The title was written by former Valiant Comics writer

Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comic ...

and illustrated by Eduardo Francisco. This was one of a series of titles released by Dark Horse that year based on classic Gold Key Comics properties. The entire line, including Turok, was short-lived, with Turok lasting only four issues.

Dynamite Comics

Dynamite Entertainment launched a new Turok comic series, titled ''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'', as well as books based on other Gold Key Comics properties, as part of a licensing deal with DreamWorks Classics. The creative team on the title was

Greg Pak Greg Pak is an American comic book writer and film director. Pak is best known for his work on books published by Marvel Comics, including ''X-Men'' (most notably '' X-Treme X-Men''), several titles featuring the Hulk (including ''Planet Hulk'', w ...

and Mirko Colak. This comics series was released in 2014. The series ended after 12 issues. In 2016, Turok appeared in a five-issue miniseries called '' Gold Key: Alliance''. Written by Phil Hester and illustrated by Brent Peeples, the book starred heroes from multiple Gold Key Comics titles. Dynamite published a second Turok comic series titled ''Turok'', written by Chuck Wendig and illustrated by Álvaro Sarraseca in 2017. It also featured backup stories starring fellow Gold Key character Doctor Spektor.

Fictional character biography

Turoks have included, in chronological order from earliest to most recent: * Turok: Native American warrior trapped in the Lost Valley. Hero of the original comics, Dark Horse Comics series, Dynamite Entertainment series and animated film. * Tal'Set: Saquin warrior who became Turok in the 1800s and is hero of '' Turok: Evolution'' and '' Turok: Dinosaur Hunter''. * Carl Fireseed, uncle of Joshua Fireseed, Turok from 1982 to 1997. * Joshua Fireseed, nephew of Carl Fireseed, Turok since 1997, hero of the Acclaim Comics and '' Turok 2: Seeds of Evil''. * Danielle Fireseed and Joseph Fireseed, younger sister and brother of Joshua Fireseed, heroes of '' Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion''. * Joseph Turok,

Half One half ( : halves) is the irreducible fraction resulting from dividing one by two or the fraction resulting from dividing any number by its double. Multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by two, or "halving"; conversely, ...

Kiowa Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...

Space Marine and hero of '' Turok''.

Collected editions

In 2009,

started an archive series to reprint the original comics: *''Turok: Son of Stone Archives'': **''Volume 1'' (collects ''Four Color Comics'' #596 and 656 and ''Turok'' #3–6, 224 pages, March 2009, ) **''Volume 2'' (collects ''Turok'' #7–12, 224 pages, July 2009, ) **''Volume 3'' (collects ''Turok'' #13–18, 224 pages, August 2009, ) **''Volume 4'' (collects ''Turok'' #19–24, 224 pages, November 2009, ) **''Volume 5'' (collects ''Turok'' #25–30, 224 pages, March 2010, ) **''Volume 6'' (collects ''Turok'' #31–35,37, 224 pages, July 2010, ) (#36 reprinted issue #14) **''Volume 7'' (collects ''Turok'' #38–43, 216 pages, November 2010, ) **''Volume 8'' (collects ''Turok'' #44–50, 232 pages, April 2011, ) **''Volume 9'' (collects ''Turok'' #51–53, 55–56, 58–59, 232 pages, November 2010, ) (#54 reprinted issue #26 and #57 reprinted issue #17) **''Volume 10'' (collects ''Turok'' #60–67, March 2012, )

Additional collections

*''Turok: Son of Stone'' (by

Tony Bedard Antony J. L. Bedard is an American writer and editor who has worked in the comic book industry from the early 1990s through the present. He is best known for his work at CrossGen Comics, where he was under exclusive contract, and for his run writi ...

, 88 pages, September 3, 2008, ) Adaptation of the 2008 DVD film. *''Turok: Son of Stone Volume 1: Aztlán'' (by

, Eduardo Francisco, and James Harren, 96 pages, December 21, 2011, ) Collects the four-issue 2010 Dark Horse Comics series. *''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Vol. 1: Conquest'' (by Greg Pak, Mirko Colak, and Cory Smith, 128 pages, September 9, 2014, ) Collects issues #1–4 of the 2014 Dynamite Comics series. *''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Vol. 2: West'' (by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, 120 pages, April 22, 2015, ) Collects issues #5–8 of the 2014 Dynamite Comics series. *''Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Vol. 3: Raptor Forest'' (by Greg Pak, Paul Tobin, Lee Ferguson, Ruairi Coleman, Stephen Downey, and Felipe Cunha, 128 pages, August 12, 2015, ) Collects issues #9–12 of the 2014 Dynamite Comics series. *''Turok Vol. 1: Blood Hunt'' (by Chuck Wendig and Álvaro Sarraseca, 140 pages, May 16, 2018, ) Collects issues #1-5 of the 2017 Dynamite Comics series.

In other media

Video games

The first ''Turok'' video game, titled '' Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'', was released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64 console. The game was followed by numerous sequels, released for Nintendo 64,

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

, PC,

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

and the Game Boy Advance. In 2008, the game '' Turok'' was released for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

, PC and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

Mobile games

The initial mobile game was developed by Disney's Living Mobile Studios and released by

Touchstone Touchstone may refer to: * Touchstone (assaying tool), a stone used to identify precious metals * Touchstone (metaphor), a means of assaying relative merits of a concept Entertainment * ''Touchstone'' (album), a 1982 album by Chick Corea * T ...

in 2008. In it, Joseph Turok is a member of the Whiskey Company's elite squad. Turok survives an airplane crash, and must fend off dinosaurs.

Books

After the success of the Turok video games, a series of non-canon Turok novels written by Michael Teitelbaum was released, dealing with the same storyline as the games. The first book was titled ''Way of the Warrior''. The second and third books, ''Seeds of Evil'' and ''Arena of Doom'', concerned Joshua Fireseed's fight against the Primagen and the Campaigner, respectively. A fourth novel, ''Path of Destruction'', was published in November 1998.

Animated DVD

In early 2008, a 70-minute animated DVD titled '' Turok: Son of Stone'' was released by Classic Media. The screen story was written by Evan Baily and Tony Bedard, with a screenplay by Bedard. In this version, Andar is Turok's nephew, not his brother.

Adam Beach Adam Beach (born November 11, 1972) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Victor Joseph in ''Smoke Signals'', Frank Fencepost in ''Dance Me Outside'', Tommy on ''Walker, Texas Ranger'', Kickin' Wing in ''Joe Dirt'', U.S. Marine C ...

provides the voice of Turok, with

Irene Bedard Irene Bedard (born July 22, 1967) is an American actress, who has played mostly lead Native American roles in a variety of films. She is perhaps best known for the role of Suzy Song in the 1998 film ''Smoke Signals'', an adaptation of a Sherman ...

as the voice of Catori (the wife of Turok's brother, Nashoba),

Robert Knepper Robert Lyle Knepper (born July 8, 1959) is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell in the Fox drama series '' Prison Break'' (2005–2009, 2017), Samuel Sullivan in the final season of the NBC series ''Heroes'' (2 ...

as the villain Chichak, and

Cree Summer Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) is a American-Canadian actress and singer. She has worked extensively in animation, voicing long-running characters such as Susie Carmichael in ''Rugrats'' and Elmyra Duff in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' and r ...

as the voice of Sepinta. Curt Geda, Dan Riba, and Frank Squillace each directed a third of the movie. Ex-Disney (''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

'' and '' Hercules: The Animated Series'') producer Tad Stones was the supervising director.

Film

Actor

, who had voiced the character in the animated film ''Turok: Son of Stone'', said he was involved in a planned Turok live-action film, and that the script was being written. There has been no updates to this since 2008.

References

External links

''Turok, Son of Stone''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on September 9, 2015.

at the International Catalogue of Superheroes * * *

at The Comics Chronicles {{Valiant 1954 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1954 Dell Comics characters Dynamite Entertainment characters Dell Comics titles Dinosaurs in comic books Fantasy comics Fictional archers Fictional Kiowa people Characters in fantasy literature Gold Key Comics titles Jungle (genre) comics DreamWorks Classics franchises Time travelers Valiant Comics titles Video game characters introduced in 1997 Video game franchises Fictional hunters Fictional Native American people Fictional Native American people in video games Comics set in prehistory Comics adapted into video games Male characters in comics Lost world comics