Turok
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- For the video game see Turok: Dinosaur Hunter; For the cosmologist with this surname, see Neil Turok
Turok is the name of a fictional comic book character. His adventures were originally published by Gold Key Comics and later acquired by Valiant Comics, which was itself acquired by Acclaim Entertainment. Turok first appeared in Four Color Comics #596 (1954).
That comic was illustrated by Rex Maxon, best known for his work on the Tarzan newspaper strip. Other credits are more obscure as Gold Key did not give creator credits at the time. Some sources say it was scripted by Paul S. Newman, probably the publisher's most prolific writer at the time; others say Gaylord Dubois, also extremely prolific. The character was probably created by editor Matt Murphy, but one prominent source that gives this information also says the first writer was Alberto Giolitti — who was actually the artist most prominently associated with Turok in this his earliest incarnation.
The Gold Key version of Turok was a pre-Columbian Native American who, along with his brother, Andar, wound up trapped in an isolated valley populated by dinosaurs. When the character appeared in Valiant Comics, the concept and setting was altered slightly. Turok and his brother were now 18th century Native Americans. The isolated valley became Lost Land - a cosmic anomaly where time moved in a self-contained loop (which meant that while millions of years passed outside of it, inside it, time barely moved at all). Unity, a line-wide Valiant Comics crossover, altered the concept even further. The crossover's main villain, a psychotic, super-powered being known as Mothergod used the Lost Land as the base of operations. She outfitted the dinosaurs with intelligence-boosting implants, turning them into "bionisaurs". In the aftermath of the final battle between Mothergod and Valiant Universe heroes, the Lost Land began to disappear. Turok wound up tossed into the jungles of then present-day Columbia. Andar landed in parts unknown. Unfortunately for Turok, a group of bionisaurs made it to Earth along with him. Since then, he became a ruthless bionisaur hunter.
When Acclaim purchased Valiant, Turok was changed yet again. This time, he was re-imagined by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Bart Sears as a young Native American boy from a long line of bionisaur hunters (where bionisaurs came from was never explained).
The Turok franchise is most notable today for the Turok video games. The first Turok video game appeared early in the life of the Nintendo 64 console, and the next two sequels were also Nintendo exclusives. The fourth installment of the series, Turok: Evolution, was released in 2002 across all console formats and was a critical and financial disappointment.
In 2005, Buena Vista Games announced it had acquired the rights to the Turok franchise and would be publishing new games for consoles and handhelds. Propaganda Games will develop the new titles.de:Turok