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"Fever"
Jurassic Park: Raptors Hijack #3 (Topps Comics)
Written by Steve Englehart
Pencils by Neil Vokes
Inks by Rich Rankin
Cover by
Michael Golden |
Dr.
Fischer returns, now working for Biosyn; the raptors build their
nest.
Story Summary
As the issue begins, we learn from Dr. Fischer that he was let
go from InGen after his assistance with cleaning up the mess on
Isla Nublar over the last several weeks, so he took his
knowledge of Jurassic Park to Biosyn. He now plans to build
Biosyn's own Jurassic Park and make Dr. Belvedere the head
keeper of the dinosaurs.
Around the perimeter of the two raptors' new territory, Fischer
is having a Biosyn crew erect a large wall to turn it into an
enclosure.
Elsewhere in the jungle, Muldoon's party continues its search
for the raptors, but Malcolm's fever is growing worse and he's
becoming delirious. Besides that, Malcolm is also injured by an
attacking jaguar until Muldoon shoots it. Finally, they reach
the next village and Malcolm receives some tribal medical
attention there, assisted by Ellie, while Muldoon and Grant
continue the search.
In Palo Alto, CA, Hammond learns of the disappearance of
Muldoon's expedition and orders all available copters out to
search for them, no expense spared. One of the copter pilots
discovers the raptor enclosure, but he is blown out of the sky
by a Biosyn bazooka before he can report it. Meanwhile, another
copter spots Muldoon and Grant but is shot by a Biosyn chopper.
Muldoon brings down the enemy chopper from the ground, but it collides with the
damaged InGen one and the mass of the two machines falls out the
sky right towards our two heroes; they are forced to jump from
their cliffside vantage point into the river below.
And, back in the raptor enclosure, Celia has laid her eggs.
TO BE CONTINUED IN JURASSIC PARK: RAPTORS HIJACK #4
Didja Notice?
The cover of this issue, with robotic arms reaching for the
raptor eggs/infants, seems to be more of a flashback to the
Jurassic Park movie than a
depiction of events in this issue.
The "What Has Gone Before" summary of the story so far on the
inside front cover reveals that Dr. Belvedere's and Dr.
Fischer's first names are LaDonna and Jeremiah.
On page 8, Malcolm mentions George of the Jungle.
George of the Jungle was a humorous cartoon
series produced by the Jay Ward studios in 1967. On page 9,
Malcolm babbles on deliriously, "George was a blood relative of
a flying squirrel...and the moose!" He is referring to fellow
Jay Ward cartoon characters Rocky the flying squirrel and
Bullwinkle the moose.
Malcolm's fever delirium seems to be causing him to try to find
connections between everything he and the others say (this is
symbolic of chaos theory, where everything has an effect on
everything else). When Ellie tells him they should be able to
get him some medicine in the next village, even if it's just
herbs, he then equates herbs with erb, and then with E.R.B.
which are the initials of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who was the
creator of the character of Tarzan, which was the inspiration of
the comical George of the Jungle cartoon character mentioned
earlier.
On page 11, when he is attacked by a jaguar, Malcolm shouts, "Kreegah!!"
This is borrowed from the aforementioned Tarzan, who was known
to use the phrase "kreegah bundolo" as a warning in the language
of the great apes. When he sees the animal that has attacked him
from behind, Malcolm says, "This is no flying squirrel!",
another reference to Rocky the flying squirrel.
On page 16, after hearing that Muldoon's party has gone missing,
Hammond orders all available copters out to search for them,
saying, "Spare no expense!" This is close to his oft-repeated
line "spared no expense" in
Jurassic Park.
Although it's not introduced until a few panels later, page 19,
panel 3 features a subtle revelation of a bazooka (at left in
the panel) pointed at the InGen helicopter.

After he and Grant leave the village, notice that Muldoon is
wearing a slightly different outfit than he was before,
including a different hat.
On page 22, panel 3, Muldoon is missing his mouth!

On page 26, Ellie says, "Bueno!" This is Spanish for "good".
At the end of the issue, Celia lays her eggs, which were
fathered by Alf. Since it has been implied that Celia and Alf
did not have a chance to engage in intercourse until after their
escape from Rafael's compound in
"Animals/Men" (and even after the death of Betty in
"Gods/Men") it seems much too quick
for the eggs to have developed and be ready for laying, doesn't
it? I suppose it could be argued that Celia and Alf had
engaged in sexual intercourse while still on Isla Nublar, but
that's not what the reader has been led to believe in the course
of this story.
The final dialog of the issue is Dr. Fischer stating
confidentially, "The raptors are ours forever!" This is virtually
the same statement made by Rafael at the end of
"Rush". (Rafael was killed by the raptors
in the following issue!)
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