Turok, Son of Stone had a continuing story arc of sorts that ran through its first few issues in the 1950s, but it soon fell into a pattern of each issue having one or two self-contained stories, with little continuity between issues. This isn't a criticism, by the way. Turok is statistically tied with Scrooge McDuck as the most purely awesome comic book character in the history of the medium, so it all worked out okay.
But Turok #84 (May 1973) broke the usual pattern, temporarily introducing a new travelling companion for Turok and Andar in for what would turn out to be a trio of interconnected stories running through a total of three issues.
Also, Turok almost hooks up with a girl.
It all begins when Turok and Andar are hit by drug-tipped blowgun darts and are temporarily paralyzed. They are taken to a town protected from dinosaurs by a thick stone wall. They are amazed at what they see. There's a pyramid in the town and the inhabitants have something called "writing" on which they can record information.
I still remember my amazed reaction when I read the above panels as a little 'un. Turok was (and still is) one of my all-time favorite comic book characters, in large part because he is obviously intelligent and always able to keep his head in dangerous situations. He could improvise clever plans and never stopped thinking. But with this issue, I learned that he couldn't read and, in fact, did not understand the concept of reading.
But the skillfully constructed story (the script is uncredited and the art is by Angelo Todero) doesn't not present Turok as dumb because of this. He's simply running into a skill set that his own people had not yet developed. After reading this issue, Turok was still one of my favorite characters. (And, once again, still is.)
Turok and Andar soon recover from their paralysis and make friends with Hutec, who explains that his people--the Tolnacs--migrated into Lost Valley years ago to escape a natural disaster. I googled "Tolnac," by the way. This is all the research I did, so it's hardly definititive, but I couldn't find any reference to them. I'm assuming the name is a ficitonal one, though they are obviously meant to be a part or offshoot of the Aztecs, with pyramids, Aztec battle axes and a written pictograph language.
Turok soon learns that a disease has killed all but one of the women of the tribe. A warrior named Xan plans to take the last woman as his wife, but she obviously doesn't care for him. When Turok tells Xan to stop bothering the lady, he ends up in a duel. When he wins this fight by disarming Xan, the chief hooks him up with the woman. This actually makes sense from the chief's point-of-view. The girl is too closely related to the other Tolnacs to safely bear children from them, so some fresh blood is necessary.
Turok seems ameniable to this, though Andar is very unhappy with the idea of giving up their quest to find a way out of the valley. This works out, though, as we soon find out that Turok is just playing for time while looking for a way to escape. Oh, Turok, you dog of a ladies' man, you.
Xan tries to off Turok, but ends up getting crushed by a T-Rex for his troubles. But disaster stricks when a panicking herd of triceratops breaks through the city walls, allowing big meat-eaters to get in as well.
This leads to a desperate last stand atop the pyramid. When the dust settles, only Turok, Andar and Hutec are stll alive. Hutec gathers up the scrolls that contain the history of his people and perhaps information to find another group of Tolnacs that might be in the valley or even a way out.
Hutec is a bit too blaise about having just watched everyone he ever knew die violently, but other than that we have a extremely well-written story with great action and a number of nice character moments. I don't know why the writers and/or editors at Gold Key decided to run with a continuing story arc. But, as we'll see as we return to look at the remaining two parts of the story arc, they apparently choose wisely.
We'll return to Turok, Andar and Hutec in two weeks. Next week, we'll find out just how anthropomorphic cats and dogs can survive in an unforgiving desert without any water.
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