"Sneakers" Jurassic Park Annual #1 (Topps Comics) Written by Michael Golden and Renee Witterstaetter Pencils by Ed Murr Inks by Bob Almond Cover by Michael Golden

A problem crops up in the unfinished park just as important visitors arrive.

Story Summary

The park, which is approaching completion, receives a potential investor from China, Mr. Cheung. Upon his arrival, the JP staff find he has brought his young daughter along with him and she wants to take a Jeep ride through the park while he is in his meeting. A JP tour guide drives her through the park and past many of the dinosaur paddocks. She sees the Gallimimus', apatosaurs, and the T. rex. But something starts to drive the rex wild and his roars frighten the Triceratops herd nearby who begin to stampede in their pen. The controllers in the control center are beside themselves trying to figure out what is going on with the dinosaurs.

Then, to top it all off, the girl jumps out of the Jeep and starts running down the dirt road. Since she speaks no English, no one can understand her reason. The tour guide runs after her and finally catches up as she brings back her tote bag which had fallen out of the Jeep. He brings her back in to the main compound.

The dinosaurs calm down and repair crews are sent out to repair some minor damage done by the rex and the Triceratops herd within their pens during the incident. The control room crew learns that Mr. Cheung is actually happy to have had his daughter out of his hair during the briefing, so all works out well. But the JP crew never do learn what caused the T. rex to suddenly act so wild.

Aboard the helicopter that takes off to return Mr. Cheung and his daughter to the mainland, she pulls her pet ferret out of the tote bag.

THE END

Didja Know?

Cheung's daughter speaks Cantonese throughout the story. Although the reader isn't told so within the story, the letters page in this issue has a section that translates all of her dialog. If you don't read that section you might not fathom why the story is called "Sneakers".

Didja Notice? 

On page 29 of Jurassic Park Annual #1, the "SS" of "Jurassic" on the Jeep in the foreground is backward!

Almost none of the characters in this story get named. Presumably the black, bespectacled man in the control center who appears throughout is meant to be Ray Arnold (played by Samuel L. Jackson in the movie Jurassic Park).

As Cheung's daughter is driven through the park, the first dinosaurs seen (on page 31) are not identified. They look rather like Gallimimus except they appear to be drawn with only two fingers and toes on the hands and feet, while Gallimimus had three. So I'm not sure what species they are meant to depict.

On page 31, panel 4, some sauropods are seen in the background. The head shape does not appear to be that of Brachiosaurus (the sauropod featured prominently in the movie Jurassic Park). Possibly these are apatosaurs (formerly known as brontosaurs).

On page 41, Cheung's daughter is walking past the sign for what must be the Gallimimus pens...but it appears to say Galliminus (with an "n") instead!

Notes from Raptor Renderings

Raptor Renderings is the name of the letters column of the Topps' JP comic books (except the Return to Jurassic Park series which used the lettercol title The Jurassic Page). In the introductory paragraph of this issue's Raptor Renderings, we are informed that the little girl's Cantonese words were spelled out phonetically, using the Ping Ying system of writing the Cantonese language developed at Yale University.