Dino Riders #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDino Riders #1 is the opening chapter of the only standalone comic-book miniseries to grow directly out of Tyco's paleontology-advised toy line, placing it at the intersection of late-1980s toy-to-media storytelling and the Marvel Action Universe franchise ecosystem. Critically, the comic was written as a deliberate tonal departure from the animated cartoon it nominally accompanied — the storyline is considerably darker, leaning into internal Valorian conflict and morally complex plotting rather than the Saturday-morning adventure register of the TV show. The issue also arrives as an early-career penciling credit for Kelley Jones, who within a year would be contributing to Neil Gaiman's Sandman and earning Eisner nominations, making it an artifact of a future-marquee artist still working the licensed-property circuit.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The broader Dino-Riders property was conceived by Tyco marketing vice president Jim Allie, who wanted a toy line merging dinosaurs and action figures; the animated series' backstory was later developed by comic writer Gerry Conway and his wife Carla Conway, who had previous experience on G.I. Joe. The Marvel comic miniseries was a separate undertaking, written by George Caragonne and edited by Don Daley under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco — it ran as a three-issue limited series published February through May 1989, timed to the height of Tyco's second wave of toys and to Marvel's own syndicated Marvel Action Universe TV block, on which the Dino-Riders cartoon aired. Ahead of the Marvel miniseries, a smaller-format minicomic by illustrator Paul Kirchner had already shipped inside Tyco toy packages in 1987, establishing the continuity groundwork the Marvel book then expanded upon.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First issue in a three-part Marvel limited series (February–May 1989); titled 'The Path,' it introduces both the Valorian and Rulon factions in comic form for the first time in a standard newsstand/direct-market format.
- Written by George Caragonne, penciled by Kelley Jones, inked by Danny Bulanadi, colored by Evelyn Stein, lettered by Ken Lopez, edited by Don Daley — published under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
- Cover art is credited to Don Perlin and Danny Bulanadi, distinct from the interior penciler Kelley Jones.
- The series was produced as a tie-in to both the Tyco toy line (1988–1990) and the Dino-Riders animated series, which aired on the Marvel Action Universe syndicated programming block.
- The comic's narrative is notably darker in tone than the companion cartoon, centering on Valorian-vs.-Valorian conflict; a subsequent issue features protagonist Questar on trial for the alleged murder of his brother Tark.
- Both a direct-edition and a newsstand edition of issue #1 were published, the latter carrying a UPC barcode.
- The first issue was later reprinted in the Dino-Riders Annual (Marvel UK, 1990), a hardcover that also contained issue #2.
- A separate, smaller Dino-Riders minicomic by Paul Kirchner had been bundled inside Tyco toy packages as early as 1987, predating the Marvel series.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Dino-Riders Annual #[nn] (1990), Pif #1096
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