Turok

Popular Comic Characters & Their First Appearances (152 items)
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Turok was a pre-Columbian Native American (identified as Mandan in the first issue, on page 21 and 32 of Dell Four Color #596) who, along with his brother Andar, became trapped in an isolated valley populated by dinosaurs, which they refer to in general as "hoppers", "monsters" and more often than not beginning in Dell issue number 9, page 35 as "honkers", as well as by their most obvious characteristics (Tyrannosaurs are called "Runners", Pterosaurs are called "Flyers", Velociraptors are "Screamers", Plesiosaurs are "Sea Demons", Triceratops are "Rammers", etc.). The Du Bois stories involve Turok and Andar seeking a way out. Du Bois was influenced by his visits to Carlsbad Caverns New Mexico and developed the "Lost Valley" from his visits to the area.


Gold Key and former Dell character also published under licence by Whitman, Valliant, Dark Horse, Acclaim and Dynamite. Turok and his friend Andar were stranded in the "sewer of the universe" known as the lost land. A land inhabited by dinosaurs and savage barbarians. The duo are constantly pursued by a giant honker (their word for dinosaurs).


Origin

Turok and his friend Andar were Plains Indians, specifically from the Mandan tribe. It isn't known how two Mandans (whose tribe originated in the East and then settled in the Dakotas) ended up in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns area. It is here however, that they discover a lost sunken valley with prehistoric creatures still in abundance.

Turok and Andar find themselves pitted against the terrifying creatures from Earth's distant past armed only with thier courage, wits, and a newly discovered secret for applying poison to their arrowheads. From this point on Turok and Andar have a life of adventure and peril.

They spent a great deal of time both battling dinosaurs or "Honkers" as they call then and Cavemen al the time trying to return to their home by escaping the Lost Valley. Turok does indeed find a way to escape at one point but must return to rescue his friend. After returning however, there is a seismic event that seals the path and traps Turok and Andar.

Major Story Arcs

Valiant Universe

Turok is a Kiowa warrior from the Dakotas. He is an expert Archer and wields a bow of future technology. He also ages very little from living in the Lost Land, hunting dinosaurs. Turok is a warrior with ancient wisdom and futuristic technology. He is known as the “Son of Stone” for his level-headedness, stoicism and lack of emotion.

Turok and his friend Andar are Kiowa Native Americans who find themselves lost in a cosmic oddity called the Lost Valley or the Lost Land. While hunting north of the Rio Grande, the friends fell through a sink hole into a cavern that opened into a place where "time no longer held much meaning!" The Lost Valley was populated by both Dinosaurs, which the friends referred to as "Honkers," and the warriors of the Lost Land, a race of primitive men who were "taciturn" and "strong."

Later Mothergod Erica Pierce with a lot of robots from the future invaded the Lost Valley and began to take over by raising a city and corrupting the environment. Turok and Andar led the cave men warriors against the robots unsuccessfully for some time until Magnus, the robot fighter arrived in the Lost Land and helped to turn the tide, see Magnus Robot Fighter #12 (Valiant).

Magnus was followed not long after by a Cosmic being called Mothergod. Mothergod’s promises to restore harmony to the Lost Land led Turok and Andar to swear allegiance to Mothergod. Mothergod in turn outfits them with super hi-tech bows as well as well as cybernetically enhancing the local dinosaurs making them bionisaurs. But more and more strangers entered the Lost Land to stop Mothergod and Turok soon discovered that she was not the benevolent goddess he had thought.

He joins the ranks of XO Manowar, Shadowman, Solar and Rai against Mother god and her bionisaurs. In the war against Mothergod, Andar disappeared and Turok’s adopted tribe had been slaughtered by a team of bionisaur assassins. This prompted Turok to accept Andar as being lost and vowed to take the life of the assassins' leader Mon-Ark.

Upon the demise of Mothergod the Lost Land dissolved and both Turok and the remaining bionisaurs escaped to Earth. Equipped with his futuristic weapons, Turok hunts down the remaining bionisaurs throughout South America and the South Western United States. Turok also went on to be Native American struggles, fighting cloned dinosaurs, and the Spider People; a tribe of warriors from the Lost Land.

Now throughout history, a Native American hero by the name of Turok has secretly protected Earth from the invasion of a race of evolved dinosaurs from a world of evolved prehistoric creatures known as the Lost Land. Typically Turok is a mantle passed down from one generation of the Fireseed lineage to another, the eldest son of the previous Turok typically honored with the title and its duties.

The Turok Lineage

Turok, Son of Stone
Tal'Set
Carl Fireseed
Joshua Fireseed
Danielle Fireseed
Joseph Fireseed
Yanik,The Fragment Son
Sgt. Turok,The Warslave
Ka'Dahn, The Softwind

Power and Abilities

Turok is a Master archer and marksman.
He is an adept combatant with traditional Native American weapons (clubs, tomahawks, war axes, bows, knives, etc.).
He is a herbalist and novice shaman, knowing many healing poultices and poisons. He also has almost complete control of his emotions, allowing him to dismiss fear or conversely go into a frenzied berserker rage which seems to slow down time for him allowing him to react faster and grants a greater blood lust.
Turok ages incredibly slowly due to his time in the lost land (time here has confused his cells and as such they just continue to multiply indefinitely preventing aging).
Turok is a master tracker and hunter, able to follow tracks that are days, even weeks old.
Turok is a master of stealth, and assassination.

The Lost Land

The Lost Land is an interdimensional "Sewer of the Universe" which acts as a collected by a floating Universe-Wide temporal wave. Time, place and dimensions are followed by different rules in the Lost Land. The inhabitants call it the Galyanna.