Paleo: The Complete Collection

Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous

by Jim Lawson, Stephen R. Bissette (Introduction)

"This is a flat-out amazing collection. Absolutely the best book that I've read in the past year. I can't recommend it highly enough." — The Crabby Reviewer
Created by the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles artist, the groundbreaking Paleo series accurately depicts the hair-raising violence and drama of dinosaur life in the late Cretaceous period. This collection includes the six original and two new issues of Tales of the Late Cretaceous as well as a selection of brand-new tales inked by Lawson and written by Stephen R. Bissette ( Saga of the Swamp Thing ), who also contributes an extensive history of dinosaur comics.
Readers will encounter many different dinosaur species, all depicted in bold black-and-white illustrations that strive for the utmost accuracy. The prehistoric narratives range from the flight of an injured Albertosaurus from a Tyrannosaurus rex to an orphaned Stegosaurus's struggle for survival to views of a Cretaceous swamp from the perspective of a dragonfly. A masterpiece of comic art, this compilation will captivate dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages.
Exclusive Bonus Material
• Two new issues of Tales of the Late Creatceous
• Three all-original stories by Jim Lawson and Stephen R. Easy, Floater, and Loner

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dinosaurs, Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2016

About the author

Jim Lawson is an American comic book writer and artist best known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Lawson created the Rat King and also co-created the series Planet Racers with Peter Laird. He is also the writer/artist of the black-and white-comic series Paleo: Tales of the Late Cretaceous. For more than 20 years he was a writer and artist of TMNT comics, but in 2009 he announced that he would depart from TMNT following Peter Laird's sale of the property to Viacom.

Reviews

[Václav · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4,5 of 5 for awesome dino comics without unnecessary "humanizing" of the majestic prehistoric creatures)
I like prehistory, dinosaurs and the idea that the face of the Earth was completely different from today. And I can forgive any "artistic licence" for some good dinosaurs. There is some forgiveness with Paleo, but bit different from the others. Yes, the historical information and consensus now differ from the times of comics creation, that I expected. Creating the illusion of one era where all known prehistoric animals lived together is a bit annoying. Yes, it makes the content more attractive but the only place where it makes sense is Jurassic Park.
Well, that was my little bit of complaints so let's move on: The art is decent, but it fitted my taste, so I almost have no opinion on it. But the important thing is: these are short prehistoric stories. And Jim Lawson made each one entertaining but quite believable, especially in the eyes of rules of nature. Every end is satisfying, but not every end is a happy one. Rules of nature are simple and they're here from the very beginning. Jim Lawson stuck to that and the result is both entertaining and refreshing. Human-like acting prehistoric creatures are gone, here comes the call of nature. And I enjoyed it very much.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Paleo: The Complete Collection' collects all of the dinosaur comics by Jim Lawson. At least the ones there are so far.

A brilliant introduction by Stephen R. Bissette tells of the history of dinosaur comics. We learn that sometimes comics use dinosaurs as plot devices for heroes like Tarzan to find, or time travellers to run across. There have been good dinosaur comics among them, although sometimes the science has been off, or the dinosaurs mingle with different era dinosaurs. Then along came Paleo.

This is a series of vignettes about dinosaurs living and dying. There are no speech bubbles, but there is a narrative. There are a wide variety of dinosaur represented here. Some are about creatures who are at the top of the chain, and how they meet their downfall. Some fight for food in a herd. Some are devoured by water or nature.

Jim Larson worked on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and his art here is really good. The stories kept me interested and I really liked the whole collection. If you like dinosaur comics like I do, check it out.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Ευθυμία Δεσποτάκη]

Did not finish, σελ. 129

Θα ήταν απίθανο αν δεν είχε αυτήν την ενοχλητική αφήγηση. Σου αποσπά την προσοχή! Περίμενα κάτι σαν το αξιολάτρευτο Age of Reptiles Omnibus, Vol. 1, αλλά παρά που δοκίμασα να το "διαβάσω" χωρίς τα κείμενα, το μάτι ξεστράτιζε κι ασχολίομουν με τις λέξεις κι όχι με την εικόνα. Κρίμα.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Dinosaurs! I may have mentioned before that I have a soft spot for everything involving dinosaurs and that I'm unable to resist requesting dinosaur books from Netgalley. This was one of those books.

I was unfamiliar with this series, but a comic featuring dinosaurs (and more importantly not featuring humans) sounded awesome. In addition the dinosaurs behave in a way that dinosaurs might have behaved, not some kind of anthropomorphic kind of dinosaur. While this was a great idea, in execution it lacked for me.

Because basically every story in the collection was the same. The species of dinosaur differed, but almost without exception it features stories where in the end the hunter gets hunted by some thing bigger (which in some cases gets hunted by something even bigger). It just got repetitive really quick. The art didn't wow me either. I think there are quite some people who have nostalgic feelings about this comic, and they will probably enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paleo by Jim Lawson is a graphic novel, a complete collection, of what it life might have been like in the late Cretaceous period viewed through comic art. This book doesn't have any people or anything from any other time, just dinosaurs and animals that lived in that time period. The book gives a brief history of dino comic art in the beginning of the book which is quite interesting. The stories in this book are all drama, violence, and potential events that could have really happened at one time although we will never know, but with this book it is fun to imagine. The art work is astounding. Great job. I enjoyed it completely. The fact it didn't have people in it and more of a dinosaur book made it appealing to me. I received this book from NetGalley for a honest review and it in no way effected my rating or review content.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Cody S. Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certainly wasn't a bad read for people like me, who have a passion for paleontology. I would recommend it mostly for children however, as the plot sometimes seems to jump around and be rather playful, though there is some unnecessary amounts of violence in some scenes. Not a bad GN, but not the best in the world.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went into Paleo with high hopes due to the author, Jim Lawson's, pedigree. I didn't quite what to expect, however, because the concept was rather hard to wrap my head around. A three hundred page graphic novel focusing on real-life dinosaurs. No anthropomorphizing them. No applying human thoughts or attributes, or breaking from the likely reality that these massive creatures experienced. It's an easy enough concept but seemed like a doozy to make a lengthy storyline out of. It also seemed terribly, compellingly unique, so I jumped at the opportunity to see what exactly Jim Lawson has been up to and why the fans of this series were so ravenous.

Let's not bury the lede. Lawson keeps this book interesting by breaking it up into a series of vignettes. Each vignette focuses on a day, or series of hours, in the life of a single dinosaur. I was worried there would be a lack of drama but was very wrong. The line between life and death is only minutes, or even seconds, when the focal 'saur becomes the hunted -- even if they begin their day as the hunter. Likewise, Lawson avoids humanizing his subjects, but also narrates from inside their heads, letting us peek into what each dinosaur may be thinking. These are creatures you can empathize with and root for, which is no easy feat to pull off.

The art certainly helps. While I am partial to full color, the black and white sketches are well done and do a good job of setting the scene and allow us to settle into the pre-history before us.

All of that said, Paleo just wasn't for me. It is absolutely unique, and dino-fans will go ga-ga for it, but the side-effect of keeping the dinosaurs true to life is that the narration often feels like a National Geographic documentary. It's interesting, and some stories are better than others, but I often found myself returning to it just for the sake of finishing, not because I was consistently compelled by what I was reading.

This isn't a knock against Paleo. It accomplishes its goal with exceptional grace and style. Graphic novels just aren't the medium I turn to for that type of story. I'm happy to have read it, but caution new readers that this is a truly different type of story for the medium. Whether that's a plus or minus depends entirely on you.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow.

I am impressed. I didn't expect this to be so interesting. So full of action. To get caught up in these stories of survival.

Don't be taken in by the cartoony cover. The inside is a harsh look at what life with the dinosaurs might have really been like.

But then survival isn't always easy to look at.

As one of the intros suggests, "A seemingly cruel, savage world…"

It's interesting how Lawson gets into the mind of these animals. Of course, they aren't overtly thinking these thoughts, but it feels like he's getting to the heart of heir instincts with his writing.

Plus he captures these dinosaurs in amazing ways. I'm sure we don't know exactly how they acted with full muscle, tendon, skin, and scale. But Lawson makes a good, believable try at it.

Some of it is a tad confusing - like it’s missing panels. I’m not sure what happened in Book 5 between the Tyrannosaur and the Albertosaurus.

And the creativity with some of these things is interesting. The dragonfly of Book 6. The short story drawn on shadows after book 6.

I was trying to decide what age could read this. And then I got 2/3 of the way through the book. To the story, Easy.

OMG.

Yeah; this one needs to be for a little bit older.

I'm almost blushing. And at the same time horrified.

And Floater was intense!

Overall, an interesting graphic novel. Worth reading.

But not for the squeamish.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dover Publications for a copy in return for an honest review.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read a dinosaur comic as such – by which I mean the human-free, voice-less narrative concerning prehistoric life, and not some weird Raquel Welch film rip-off. From the knowledgeable introduction courtesy of one of the purveyors of the form, and with Dover reprinting this massive collection, you feel you have found the peak of the genre straight away. A couple of the pages prove their variable source and haven't scanned in nearly as sharply as others, but what you get is fine. A few things are debatable – the description of 'voices' and so on, the gait of the heroine of the first book here – but on the whole it all looks great, and the creator knows which cinematic angle to use to show his dramas off in the best light. The fact this book has been presented before now as a 'Complete Edition', only for this volume to present even more, newer works, really does show it as essential. The only thing marking it down has to be the fact these stories aren't terribly long, or complex – and that the new works include two large pieces which are both quire dire indeed, and manage to put a 12 age certificate on things, when (but for some quite bluntly portrayed deaths) it was looking like an all-ages classic. Still, Dover need to be lauded.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are into dinosaurs, Jim Lawson has a treat for you in Paleo. Jim provides slice of life stories in series of short vignettes that cover many types of dinosaurs. Most of the tales are appropriate for children, but there is plenty of violence, multiple attacks and often no happy ending. So if you want goofy dino tales, look elsewhere, but if you want something to take you back to the Age of Reptiles, pick up this volume.

[Elle Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun, dinosaur filled graphic novel. For the most part it’s all in black and white which was a bit of a turnoff for the younger kids.

Personally I felt this book was more for children 8/9+, but its very eye catching to smaller kids because “who doesn’t love dinosaurs?”

Rating 5 out of 5
Read@Book

[Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was AMAZING. Great artwork, great storytelling, an absolute must read for any dinosaur fan.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty solid stories about prehistoric dinosaurs. My favorite story though was the one about the dragonfly.

Received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.