Review by Win Wiacek

There’s an irresistible, nigh-visceral appeal to dinosaurs. Most of us variously – and too often haphazardly – over-evolved apes seem to be irresistibly drawn to all forms of education and entertainment featuring monster lizards of our primordial past. In 1993 respected Hollywood storyboard artist Richard Delgado exploited that desire by issuing an incredibly detailed and imaginative four chapter graphic novel of life and death conflict between dinosaurs in the Mezozoic era. Tribal Warfare was successful enough to generate this five chapter sequel. This time then-Disney chief Thomas Schumacher offers his observations in the attendant introduction.

Tribal Warfare brought home the precarious nature of life when power was all. Survival was a battle of speed and manoeuvrability, but generally the biggest beast was victorious. That theme is further explored in The Hunt, which focusses on the eat-or-be-eaten travails of a mother Allosaurus ending only after she dies defending her baby. The culprits are a determined and scarily-organised pack of Ceratosaurs who latterly expend a lot of energy trying to consume the carnosaur’s kid amidst scenes of staggering geographical beauty and terrifying magnificence. Their failure leads to the beast’s eventual return and a bloody evening of the score. Think of it as Bambi with really big teeth and no hankies required!

As before, the astoundingly rendered and realised scenery and environment are as much leading characters in the drama as any meat and muscle protagonists. Delgado has an unquestioned love for his subject, a sublime feel for spectacle and an unmatchable gift for pace and narrative progression. Coupled to the deft hand which imbues the vast range and cast of big lizards with instantly recognisable individual looks and characters, this always ensures that the reader knows exactly who is doing what.

The brilliantly simple forthright, primal drama is continued in The Journey, never issued as a standalone graphic novel, but included with this in the Age of Reptiles Omnibus.