Jurassic Park: The Devils in the Desert

Jurassic Park: Devils in the Desert, is a four-part comic book series that was released in 2011 by IDW Publishing. The story follows a group of various characters solving the mystery of murders and cattle mutliations. Eventually they learn they are Pteranodons from Isla Sorna, which have into town and the humans attempt to capture or kill them.

The Devils in the Desert was the second Jurassic Park comic series published by IDW Publishing after Jurassic Park: Redemption. The series was written and drawn by veteran comic book artist John Byrne.

Issues[]

Characters[]

Sheriff Will Tobias - the Sheriff of a small desert town in the American Southwest.
Dr. Monica Alvarez - a Hispanic-American Paleontologist and daughter of Dr. Ramirez.
Deputy Daniel Jackson - A Native American Deputy of Sheriff Tobias.
Special Agent Noah Harding - an African-American Special Agent of the FBI sent to investigate the murders.
Dr. Jorge Ramirez - a Hispanic-American Paleontologist from a California State University.
Cobb - an InGen Executive who sends mercenaries to capture the Pteranodons and try and cover up their origin.
Dr. Kanada - a geneticist working for InGen who is also aiding in covering up their involvement with the Pteranodons.
Sara Franklin - a housewife, mother of Tyler Franklin, and ex-wife of Eddie Franklin. She was formerly involved with Will Tobias.
Tyler Franklin - son of Sara and Eddie Franklin. Later in the comic, it is revealed that Tyler is actually the unknowing biological son of Sheriff Tobias, Sara's ex-lover.
Special Agent Kowalski - a special agent of the FBI and partner of Harding.
Eddie Franklin - husband of Sara, father of Tyler. Killed before the events of Issue No. 1.
Liz - the secretary of the Sherrif's office. She is somewhat nosy and a gossiper.
Gunther
Arthur Cullen - father of Sara Franklin and husband of Mrs. Cullen.
Mrs. Cullen - mother of Sara Franklin and wife of Arthur Cullen.
Charlie Gillette
Ollie
Alice
Tom Gillmore

Production[]

The Devils in the Desert was the second Jurassic Park comics series published by IDW Publishing. Comic book writer and artist John Byrne, best known for his work in American superhero comic titles such as the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the 1986 relaunch of Superman, served as the writer and artist of The Devils in the Desert. In addition to the main comics, Byrne drew the indivudual issue cover arts and character designs.

Coloring was done by Rhonda Pattinson. The lettering and collection design was done by Shawn Lee. Chris Ryall and Bob Curnow served as editors of the series with collection edits done by Justin Eisinger.

The individual issues were released from January 2011 to April 2011. All four issues were compiled into a collected graphic novel released on June 14, 2011.

Trivia[]

The events of this comic seem to be a direct sequel to Jurassic Park III as the antagonistic Pteranodon are implied to be the same animals seen at the end of that film flying away from Isla Sorna. However, this has never been confirmed to be the case and supplementary material for Jurassic World would retcon the Pteranodons from JPIII as being hunted down by Vic Hoskins.
With Pteranodons being prehistoric reptiles and not classified as dinosaurs, this marks The Devils in the Desert as the first (and only) Jurassic Park media to not feature any dinosaur species at all (sans a brief flashback of the San Diego incident).
Unlike other comic series published prior to the Jurassic World films, the canonicity of The Devils in the Desert remains unknown as it does not conflict nor directly contradict canonical media.
The Devils in the Desert is the first Jurassic Park media to have elements of the Western genre with its focus on a small American town and several characters being ranchers / homesteaders. The main protagonist is also a Sherrif, an archetypical hero of westerns who kept law and order.
- This blending of the dinosaur and western genre may be a reference to the Ray Harryhausen stop motion film The Valley of Gwangi. In that film, cowboys from a small town discover a lost world of dinosaurs in the American southwest.
In issue 1, Special Agent Kowalski jokingly compares the small town in this comic to Mayberry, the setting of The Andy Griffith Show. Coincidentally Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of Ron Howard who starred in The Andy Griffth Show, would go on to star as the lead in the Jurassic World Trilogy.
- In addition to the direct reference, Will Tobias also resembles Sheriff Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show minus having blonde hair.