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"Strange Marauders"
Valley of the Dinosaurs #2 (Charlton)
Writer and artist unknown (but story and art, including covers,
for the series were by Fred Himes, according to
Toons of Festology). |
What manner of creature is stealing supper
from Gorok's family and
the Butlers?
Story Summary
Kim and Katie find that the group's supper,
cooking in the nearby hot spring, has been stolen for the third
time in a week. That night, John and Gorok set a trap for the
thief and find it is a group of apes taking the food. They
follow the apes to a cave in the mountains and see the apes
offer the food to a giant troglodyte, who punishes them anyway.
Continuing to observe as the troglodyte
forces the apes to build a fortress, the beast eventually
notices the two humans spying on the work and gives chase. John
and Gorok trick the troglodyte into an encounter with a
Dimetrodon and a fierce battle ensues, with the two
creatures rolling off a cliff into the river. The troglodyte is
able to break off from the lizard in the fall and pulls himself
out of the river, but Gorok knocks him back in. Exhausted, the
primitive man is carried away from the valley by the swift river
currents.
The apes seem to realize who has saved them
from their tormentor and instead of stealing food from the
combined modern and cave-dweller families, starts leaving food
for them.
THE END
Notes from the Valley of the
Dinosaurs Chronology
The opening narrative paragraph of the story starts out with
"The castaway Butler family quickly adapts to life in the
mysterious prehistoric valley which is now their home..." This
may imply that this story takes place not long after the
family's arrival.
Didja Know?
This story is also reprinted in
Valley of the Dinosaurs #1, a giant-size one-shot issue
published by Harvey Comics in 1993.
The cover of this issue is signed by Fred Himes.
The pterosaurs seen on the cover of this issue appear to be
Pteranodons.
On page 1, panel 1 of the story, a Brontosaurus and
Pteranodon are seen in the background.
On page 3, panel 1, Katie complains to her father that it's
hard boiled eggs for dinner again since the thief has once
more stolen
the main course. John and Gorok decide to set an
irresistible trap for the thief that night...using
fresh-cooked meats, fruits, and vegetables! So why don't they
just eat some of that themselves??
What appears to be the silhouette of a
Pteranodon is seen in the night sky
background in panel 4 of page 3.
The mountain simians who are found to be the food thieves
are seen to be capable of harnessing and riding a
duck-billed dinosaur John refers to as Trachodon.
The
Trachodon
genus is now considered dubious, as the original
identification from fossilized teeth in 1856 is now known to
have been mixed with ceratopsid teeth, not just hadrosaurid.
John states that simians don't eat meat, but that's not
entirely true. Though they mostly eat fruit, seeds, insects,
etc. some, especially chimpanzees, are known to eat meat
when they can get it. In fact, humans are also of the simian
infraorder and we certainly can't deny that most humans eat
meat!
The simians portrayed in this story might almost be
considered proto-humans themselves, considering they are
intelligent enough to harness and ride a dinosaur and build
a sort of fortress for their despotic ruler.
Gorok refers to the primitive man worshipped by the apes as
a troglodite (a misspelling of "troglodyte").
"Troglodyte" is a popular generic term
for a caveman or -woman. Oddly, the troglodyte depicted here
has pointed ears.
The dinosaur seen in the river in panel 3 of page 6 of the
story appears to be a brontosaur.
Seeing that the troglodyte is forcing the apes to build a
fortress for him, John says, "We've had tyrants like that
back home...we called them Nazis!" But "Nazis" are a much
more specific type of tyrant personality. Wouldn't it be
more accurate of John to just call them "tyrants"?
In panel 5 of page 11 of the story, a
Pteranodon is seen swooping over the river.
Unanswered Questions
Did the troglodyte survive his unexpected journey down the
river?
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