"How can you carry knowledge like meat or weapons?" (The Hutec trilogy, part 2)

cover art by George Wilson

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at Turok Son of Stone #84, in ends with Turok and Andar team up with Hutec, the only survivor of an Aztec-like tribe that had also once wandered into Lost Valley.

Turok #85 (July 1973) continues this story arc, with Angelo R. Todaro continuing to do the artwork. The unknown writer actually manages to generate tension in an interesting way. There are the usual encounters with dinosaurs, which are always highlights of pretty much any Turok story. But the bulk of the tension comes from the fact that Turok and Andar are completely unfamiliar with the concept of a written language.

So when Hutec insists on weighing himself down with a satchel of scrolls and several times risks his life to keep those scrolls safe, Turok and Andar begin to wonder if he's just nuts.

But Hutec's scrolls do seem to somehow tell him things--most importantly, it leads the trio on a route that will eventually show a way out of the valley. Hutec finds one landmark after another and even manages to save them all from an unfriendly tribe of cavemen as well.

Eventually, Andar begins to trust Hutec. Turok is a bit harder to convince, though Turok is wise enough to follow Hutec's lead and acknowledge that pride or jealously might be affecting his feelings. And, eventually, it is Turok who interprets a clue from the scrolls properly to keep them on the right path.

But then they come to a dead end when they find a rock marker has broken loose from the edge of a stream. This means Hutec can't measure the proper angle to figure out what direction to go in from there. The three have finally come to trust each other, but they scrolls have taken them as far as possible without leading them out of the valley.

I really like this one. Hutec is a great character. He'll only be around for one more issue and I think it was wise not to make him a permanent addition to the book. But he is serving his purpose here, challenging Turok and Andar with new knowledge and new ideas. This is the second issue in a row in which Turok is stymied by the idea of a written language, but the script continues to hit the right balance. Turok never comes across as dumber than Hutec because writing is a new thing for him. We get that this is a result of growing up in a non-literate culture and has no bearing on his sharp intelligence and ability to think & improvise under pressure. In the end, Turok demonstrates his intelligence by showing that he's eventually capable of understanding something that was totally outside his experience.

We'll finish up the Hutec trilogy in two weeks. Next week, we'll zip off into space and visit the Space Canine Patrol.