Tark, Questar's brother, is blasted off a clifftop by a telepathic shot from Questar in their confrontation at the end of the previous issue, and plummets into the Mist Valley below. His Viper scouts report to Krulos that the Valorian survives despite suffering multiple compound fractures and lacerations. Krulos, intrigued by his hardiness, hands him over to Rasp.
In the Rulon laboratory, Tark is strapped to a machine while Rasp reveals his plan: to fuse Tark's Valorian genetic structure — uniquely malleable, Rasp claims — with dinosaur DNA, creating a super-warrior who will be brain-boxed, under Rasp's control, and used first to destroy Krulos and then to annihilate the Valorian Dino-Riders. Tark refuses and tears himself free from the apparatus just as the genetic transformation completes, unleashing a blinding flash of energy.
When the smoke clears, Tark has been transformed: massively muscled, scaled, skullfaced, with the strength, speed, heightened senses, and near-invulnerability of a dinosaur. Rasp tries to shoot the creature, but Tark moves faster than the eye can follow and disarms him. He batters Rulon soldiers, laughing off their particle beams, and smashes through the hull of the Rulon ship. Outside, Krulos orders Sidewinder to activate the ship's energy field; the damaged deflectors can barely hold. Tark hurls a brain-boxed stegosaurus directly at the vessel — its impacts shake the hull to the breaking point. Pressed to the limit, Krulos sends Rasp outside as cannon fodder. Tark swipes Rasp aside, declares he will not be used to destroy his own people, and vanishes into the jungle.
Excelsioring your collection
Story #2Lord of the Dinosaurs
Writer:
George Caragonne.
Penciler:
Kelley Jones.
Inker:
Danny Bulanadi.
Colorist:
Nel Yomtov.
Letterer:
Ken Lopez.
Synopsis
Perched atop a needle of rock above the prehistoric jungle, Tark narrates his own story: shot off a cliff by his brother Questar, found near dead by the Rulons, subjected to Rasp's experiment, and transformed — half Valorian, half dinosaur. His telepathic senses, now sharpened to an animal's keenness, have sent his lament echoing across the wilderness, and they are answered.
A young triceratops approaches Tark, having sensed a kindred presence in this creature that is the link between two worlds. The pup leads Tark to its mother, mortally wounded on the jungle floor. Tark uses his new telepathy to coax the story from the dying animal: a Tyrannosaurus rex attacked the herd, the mother fought it and lost, and then the Rulons captured the wounded rex for their own purposes. He consoles the triceratops pups and promises to protect them.
Tark's enhanced hearing detects Rulon blasters upwind. He races through the undergrowth and finds a Rulon patrol pursuing Questar, Serena, and Mercury. Krulos has ordered the squad to take Questar alive. The Rulons open fire; Serena throws herself in front of a blast aimed at Questar and is knocked unconscious. Tark knocks out the Rulon who shot her with a boulder, then smashes the brain box off the captive T. rex with a precise strike. The now-free rex turns on the Rulons and chases them off.
As Questar cradles the stunned Serena, Tark watches from the shadows. He whispers her name but does not step forward — he cannot let her see what he has become. Before he can act, the T. rex returns and turns its attention to Tark. Their duel is spectacular: the rex bites him and discovers, to its pain, that Tark's new body is not entirely invulnerable. Tark hurls the beast aside. A crowd of free dinosaurs gathers around him. Standing over the defeated rex, Tark claims the title: Lord of the Dinosaurs.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Mercury, Serena, Tark, Valorians.