Turtles, Meet Dinosaurs; or, The Most Accurate Paleoart in 2014 Comics

As LITC's senior comics correspondent, it pains me to say that 2014 has been a fairly forgettable year for dinosaurs in comics. Devil Dinosaur continues to be inexplicably denied an ongoing series. DC's The War That Time Forgot never quite took off, and Brett Booth is busy drawing cluttered superhero costumes instead of elaborate archosaurs. Even Dynamite's relaunch of Turok, a title that should be a showcase for prehistoric mayhem, is saddled with an artist uninterested in creating animals that are accurate, interesting, or well characterized. (It should be impossible to make anachronistic Crusaders riding raptors boring, but apparently miracles happen. Deadly dull miracles.)

Disgraceful. In general, it was starting to look as if we were going to have to wait for the inevitable tie-in to Jurassic World to get our fix. 

And then this happened. 

That's right. The most accurate and energetic dinosaurs of 2014 are appearing in, of all places, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. 

For anybody who's been living under a rock since the 90's, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are exactly what they sound like; a quartet of mutated, ninjitsu practicing reptiles. They got their start in underground comics as a straight-faced satire of Frank Miller's Daredevil and Claremont's X-Men, and through a mixture of novelty and savvy marketing ended up becoming the biggest thing in the 90's. They haven't gone away since. In fact, the franchise is still going strong, with a solid animated show on Nickelodeon, an upcoming (and worrying looking) reboot produced by Micheal Bay, and a set of ongoing titles from IDW comics. 

Here's what you need to know. The leader, Leonardo, has a blue mask. Donatello, in purple, is the team's tech guy. Michelangelo, orange, is the jokey little brother. The red mask is Raphael, who's very angry, all the time. (He's the one punching the Velociraptor in the face.) The plot here is simple; an incompetent time traveler has accidentally sent the Turtles back in time, where they discover aliens riding dinosaurs.

It's comics, Jack.

Anyway, lets take a closer look. The art in TMNT: Turtles in Time #1 was done by Sophie Campbell, (Glory, Wet Moon, and Water Baby) and while his work has always been exaggerated, here it has the bright, cartoonish look that ties nicely in with the aesthetics of the Nickelodeon show. That extends to the dinosaurs, who are presented here with explosive energy and smooth, animated lines. The cell shaded coloring can't match the kind of intricate patterns used by someone like Julius Csotonyi, so it doesn't really try; the background dinosaurs rely on linework to standout, and the colors are restrained to let the main characters--the turtles--pop.

But what's really impressive here are the designs. Let's take a moment to appreciate that Campbell puts feathers or feather-like barbs on all of his dinosaurs as a matter of course, a choice that makes the paltry quills that (occasionally) show up in other comics look down right lazy by comparison. Even the tiny ceratopsians get little burst of quills on their little tails. The T.rex is burly, with an exaggerated beard of plumes and tiny clusters of barbs. The velociraptors are given expressive manes of feathers. The result feels imaginative and fun, even if it may not be strictly accurate. 

There's also a pretty incredible amount of dinosaurs on display in the big stampede, suggesting that Campbell may have wanted to stretch his paleoart muscles a bit. I'm especially impressed that he manages to work a therezinosaur into the comic (given that the last time we saw one it didn't actually show up beyond the cover.) 

There's also an Azdarchid, and a pretty nifty one, too. It has a quadrupedal posture and feels appropriately proportioned, more or less, and that instantly makes it the most life-like pterosaur to show up in mainstream comics this year.

All told, it's pretty good stuff. Sophie Campbell just threw down the gauntlet for the rest of corporate comics, and honestly, he makes it look easy. The result is a cool, clean-looking, and imaginative feeling rendition of prehistory. It's a comic that you can hand to a kid who likes dinosaurs without worrying about exposing them to naked reptilian flesh. Basically, it's pretty great. Head on down to your local comic shop and pick up a copy, if you like. I don't think you'll regret it. 

Where fibreglass dinosaurs go to die

One further indulgence in the world of ugly life-sized models before our illustration-reviewing service resumes (Asher's got a corker coming up by the look of it, and I'll probably be able to squeeze a VDA out in the near future, too). Earlier in the year, Niroot and I visited Blackgang Chine to gawp at their newly mobile dinosaur collection. While a few of the old stodgy static models do remain, we did wonder - what happened to the rest, not least that most memorable of mascots, The World's Derpiest T. rex?

Well, Arron Swaffar, aka The Nutters Productions, found out...

One would've thought that Blackgang wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to make a crafty few quid by auctioning off bits of their beloved old dinosaurs, but no - here they are, broken up and heaped on a cliff top out of sight of the public. The film doesn't need disconcerting music and echoing voice samples to shock - for any fan of Blackgang and/or ugly '70s dinosaur models, this is heartbreaking stuff.

By the way, there really is an abandoned house in an area owned by the park - long since left behind in the face of unstoppable coastal erosion. And now it's haunted by a caveman family. Brrr...

Rise of the Robosaurs at Marwell

Marwell Zoo is a marvellous (Marwell-vellous?) wildlife park located in Hampshire, in the south of England. Its vast, open acres are home to perhaps the widest variety of (very happy-looking) exotic ungulates in the UK (and much more besides, of course). For me, at least one visit per year is a must, but this summer the park has also installed sundry robo-saurians about the grounds as part of what it's calling 'Rise of the Dinosaurs'. To quote a famous delivery boy: "Just shut up and take my money!"

Photos mostly by Niroot (marked NP)

Given my recent experiences of robo-dino exhibitions, I must admit that I wasn't expecting a great deal from this one. Unfortunately, you'll find some of the worst stereotypes of cartoonish rubberiness, reading comprehension failure, and outdated, monsterised anatomical atrocities on show at Marwell. Nonetheless, there are a few pleasant surprises thrown in, and the quality of the models does vary considerably (many, if not all, are based on recycled Dinamation moulds).

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Marwell's robosaurs are scattered around the park, and guests are issued with 'adventure trail' guides that point to their various locations. Many of the models are smaller than life size, and this is nowhere more obvious than with the sole sauropod of the bunch, which is labelled "Brachiosaurus" for whatever reason. Arguably, it more closely resembles a mamenchisaur of some sort, although that rather nondescript blob of a head ain't helping.

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Other shrunken versions of staple herbivores include a no-neck Stegosaurus and a group of juvenile Triceratops, the largest of which is definitely an old Dinamation mould; its peculiar 'look', with exposed guminess and misplaced earhole, is very distinctive. The babiest babies are depicted rolling around a nest, which helps ramp up levels of cute beyond what might otherwise have been expected for a bunch of horned, scaly things.

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There's a Parasaurolophus, too, which is again an old Dinamation mould. Its judicious placement in front of the park's stately home centrepiece allows for some excellent, and rather unusual, photo opportunities. It's not so bad, for a model from the late 1980s/early 1990s...which, of course, is exactly what it is. It also emits a surreal, echoing honk that sounds like the earliest warning of an extraterrestrial invasion. The odds of anything coming from the Cretaceous are a million to one...and yet still, they come!

The park's herbivorous dinosaur collection is completed by a surprisingly-not-that-bad Edmontonia, which also benefits from not being drastically undersized. While I'm not familiar with this one from the, er, Dinamation literature, the cheekless mouth certainly hints at a shared ancestry. In direct violation of the law on dinosaur sound effects (i.e. they must sound roughly like their perceived modern-day mammalian equivalents), this brightly-coloured ankylosaur growls like a cougar. It's all rather disconcerting, which I happen to really like - because after all, dinosaurs should seem unfamiliar, and heavily-built quadrupeds studded with stabby osteoderms should have a slightly frightening presence. Damn it.

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Then there are the theropods. As I mentioned previously in my post on Blackgang Chine's new robo-menagerie, carnivorous dinosaurs have a certain reputation to live up to, and therefore tend to suffer more than the herbivores when it comes to monsterising. Fortunately, the star attraction of the exhibition - a life-sized Tyrannosaurus-o-matic - is considerably better than Blackgang's, although that's probably because - you guessed it - it's an old Dinamation model. It even benefits from a particularly snazzy and fetching colour scheme. Unfortunately, certain changes to its anatomical proportions - the result, I can only imagine, of the inherent need for the thing to balance well - result in a rather dumpy, pot-belled, stumpy-legged appearance.

 

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At least they crushed a golf cart. I'm sure we can all appreciate that. Bloody golf.

Elsewhere, the old Dinamation Dilophosaurus - it of the unexplained water jet - has received an unconvincing head (perhaps even torso?) transplant, and now masquerades as Baryonyx. That's right - a Baryonyx that sprays copious amounts of water. Whatever, it's fun - and they didn't stick two crests on it. Bonus points for that.

Given the, shall we say, vintage nature of these creations, you may well be expecting a naked, zombie-handed dromaeosaur to show up. And you'd be right. What you might not correctly guess is exactly how naked. Marwell's Deinonychus has been stripped not only of feathers, but also of skin, revealing that dinosaurs are really just black metal armatures and pneumatics underneath. Those lying palaeontologist gits.

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It is, of course, a nerd-rage inducing heresy for dromaeosaurs in 2014 to look like they've stepped straight out of the Normanpedia. Next to that, the bafflingly tyrannosaur-shaped silhouette used to illustrate Deinonychus on nearby informational signage is just surreal.

I'd like to end on a high note, and so I must interrupt the theropod parade in order to bring you...a pterosaur. Of all the models in the park, this one perhaps provides the cruellest tease to us palaeo-nerds. Its considerable height means that one is able to sight its head looming above the foliage from some distance away. Is that...could it be? Yes! It's an azhdarchid pterosaur! And hey, the head indicates that they've done at least a cursory amount of research! Maybe they've modelled it in terrestrial-stalking, quadrupedal mode? Yeah, right.

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 Good grief, what happened? Come on, you were on the right track with the head and torso! What the hell happened to the wings? Why is the pteroid bone pointing straight up? Why, why why?! And why does it resemble Rodan impersonating a Rolls Royce bonnet adornment from the side?

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I bet you can guess what they did on the informational sign for this one. (Never mind the silhouette - read the text.)

My thoughts are surmised eloquently in the following clip:

I blame Mark Witton for this, you know. He just had to go and popularise azdharchids, didn't he? And now look what's happened. I hope you're happy, Mark. Tch.

Once you've taken a quick break to relieve your blood pressure/neck a stiff drink, I feel I should finish with perhaps the most welcome surprise of the whole exhibition. Marwell's Deinonychus might be several shades of wrong, but they have another maniraptor on show - a Citipati. And it's feathered. And its hands are in the neutral position. And it's well-proportioned. It even has a wonderful speculative barbed tongue, as some extant dinosaurs do. Granted, it's missing its hand feathers, and its appearance is a little cartoony, but all things considered this is an excellent model. It even effectively provoked the appropriate level of puzzlement and fascination in park guests - this wasn't what they were expecting to see!

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Wonderful stuff. More of this sort of thing, please!

This model receives Niroot approval.

Rise of the Dinosaurs might be a mixed bag o' bots, but I still can't recommend visiting Marwell highly enough - it's a really fantastic zoo, and always a pleasant day out. Its expansive layout means there's always somewhere you can go to get away from the crowds, and you'll never run out of interesting (and often very rare) animals to see. If you're disappointed with the robosaurs, you can always check out the park's many real dinosaurs, both resident and visiting. Give it a go, if you can!

Dinosaurs of Brussels

Brussels is an intriguing city - home to the European Parliament, breathtakingly stunning buildings, more recent, butt-ugly buildings, fantastic beer, busy but untalented graffiti artists, and countless gift shops stuffed with tiny statuettes of a young boy taking a leak. It's also home to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences*, also known as the Museum of Natural Sciences, and confusingly promoted about town using just the word 'museum' (often, but not always, accompanied by a John Sibbick-aping Iguanodon logo). The RBINS boasts the largest dinosaur gallery in Europe, occupying some 300 square metres. Fortunately for all concerned, it's a completely wonderful piece of work, packed with far, far more than the spiky-thumbed ornithopods you were expecting.

Even so, dinosaurs are the stars of the show here, and none more so than Iguanodon bernissartensis, that most quintessentially Belgian of stab-happy ornithischian herbivores. And quite right, too. The logo besides, visitors to the museum are greeted with a giant wooden statue of an Iguanodon in Louis Dollo-style, tail-dragging pose, positioned right outside the entrance. It's a welcome taster for what's inside...

Most natural history museum visitors will be used to seeing a single Dollo-style Iguanodon, a seemingly obligatory inclusion for its historical significance, and often maintained with its classic 'tottering tripod' posture. In Brussels, however, you'll gaze upon a whole herd of the brutes, beautifully presented inside an enormous glass box. A Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis is thrown in for good measure, too (see bottom photo above). It's a positive embarrassment of Iguanodon, and a really fantastic sight. But they're inaccurate, right? Shouldn't the museum point out that heroic Dr David 'Dinosaur!' Norman swept away this vision of Iguanodon back in the '80s? Don't worry, they've thought of that.

It would have been quite easy for the museum to explain it all away on a plaque, so a full mounted skeleton (or nearly full - it's a bit tail-less) is a wonderful inclusion. It maintains the link to the museum's history, while also providing a none-better illustration of how our views about these animals have moved on. Furthermore, it's actually quite rare to see Iguanodon mounted in this more accurate, quadrupedal fashion, and it radically transforms one's perception of this animal - from comedy waddling thumbs-upper to striding ornithopod powerhouse.

In most other museums, the Iguanodon would completely steal the show. Here, they must compete with a panoply of other saurians. On the theropod side, we of course have that most usual of suspects - a mount of the Tyrannosaurus known as 'Stan', or as I prefer to call it, 'Captain Dangleteeth'. Still, it's a nice mount. Gastralia! Vestigial metacarpal! Furcula! Yippee!

Mounted alongside Rootin' Tootin' Rexy is Velociraptor, thus prompting every museum visitor's girlfriend to ask - "How come they were so big in Jurassic Park, then?". (Clearly, I haven't been working hard enough.) There's even an Archaeopteryx In A Box - a rare example of a 3D mount of this dinosaur. While it's lovely to see handsome mounts of the famous names - and especially lovely that one can walk around and admire them from every angle, without any glass screens to get in the way - the museum does also cater for more...unusual tastes.

...Although having said that, Cryolophosaurus is pretty well-known these days. The skull on this cast is more Allosaurus-like than is now thought likely, but this is still an impressive mount,  stressing the surprisingly large size of this quite early dinosaur. Again, the opportunity to examine and take photos of this cast from every angle - the front, sides, even from the balcony above - is to be applauded. Nearby, an interactive display explains the story of how Cryolophosaurus was found.

Cryolophosaurus was one of many 'firsts' for me in Brussels, as was Eoraptor, the basal saurischian that the fossil record seemingly regurgitated purely to bring about an intense furrowing of brows. This mount is easily missed by those running around gawping at the big spectaculars, but is an ideal inclusion in an exhibit that looks at where dinosaurs came from and their continued evolution. It's also a celebration of their massive diversity, and that's where poser sauropods come in.

As someone who grew up with the Natural History Museum in London, I am used to viewing Diplodocus as a stately behemoth, a noble beast to be presented in a solid standing posture on a highly polished plinth, like some mighty military figure of the Jurassic. The RBINS' more modern approach is, therefore, a real delight to behold - here, the traditionally stoic Dippy clambers over the top of the gallery's displays and peers down at a chicken. It's a fantastically playful mount. (NHM veterans may also wish to note the single claw on the hand, a tell-tale sign that this is a much more recent creation.)

Ornithischians (other than Iguanodon) do get their due, too. Near Sir Dodgy Dentures, several of them are clustered together on one base, all the better to compare their various bodily proportions. Perhaps the most famous of the bunch is Olorotitan, and a beautiful cast shows just what is currently known of this animal (although a display nearby promises more to come).

There's also a mount of the lesser-known Amurosaurus, a contemporary of Olorotitan. Here, the incomplete skull cast allows a fantastic glimpse at the animal's frankly absurd dental battery. Again, accompanying displays offer details on the animals' discovery and research conducted by RBINS scientists, which is always a welcome inclusion.

The gallery's spacious interior also leaves plenty of room for this hadrosaur, never knowingly depicted without a nest...

...And a certain spiky-tailed thyreophoran. Actually, I was very excited about this one - it's the first full Stegosaurus mount that I've seen (there aren't any in the UK that I'm aware of). I'm sure there's nothing particularly remarkable about it (in fact, I'm quite certain that this cast is on display in a number of museums in the States in particular), but it provided a heart-warming moment of geekery for me, at least. At last, here was the fancy-backed one in all its chunky-limbed, pin-headed glory...something I've wanted to see since my childhood.

That other great herbivorous dinosaur staple, Triceratops, puts in an appearance too; it's a fittingly dynamic pose, even if that frill looks a bit iffy (or is it just me?). Observant readers may have noted the small models placed beside the skeletal mounts - unfortunately, most of these aren't especially good, with the Triceratops being particularly derpy.

Oh dear. But never mind that; this remains one of the greatest dinosaur galleries I have ever had the pleasure of visiting in a natural history museum (although I'll admit to not having seen so many). It's so enormous, the RBINS can cram in numerous large dinosaurs and still leave room for terribly bored significant others to pace about and shrug, and for children to run around shrieking and generally being a nuisance, as they are wont to do. Although there is a clear route around the exhibits, one is free to wander off, explore, and analyse the specimens from every angle. There are even gorgeous wrought iron staircases and balconies. In short, it's the perfect space to display dinosaurs, and it's utilised brilliantly.

All this, and I haven't even got to the best part. Whereas certain other museum dinosaur galleries shy away from declaring birds to be Actual Living Dinosaurs, the RBINS makes no bones (arf) about it. The place could be dubbed Feduccia's Nightmare. Not only is the message stated explicitly, it's delivered in the most deliciously subtle way through the judicious employment of stuffed birds throughout. While those standing by the skeletons are obvious, I completely missed the numerous specimens hanging from the ceiling at the gallery's entrance, and, well, there's a reason for the chickens. What's more, Cenozoic bird specimens (real ones!) are presented as evidence of the dinosaurs surviving the K/Pg extinction. Presenting: Messelornis, from over 45 million years ago.

Beautiful. I'd love to write more about the RBINS, but my tour was a little whistle-stop. Nevertheless, I think the new mosasaur room deserves an airing, so I'll try and cram in a post about that soon (there are a lot of very cool original specimens in there). But this weekend, I'm off to see more dodgy robosaurs...


*Dutch: Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, French: Mus�um des sciences blahblah something