Rextooth Studios - comics

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

Since there's no dedicated thread to this yet, I thought I'd start it.



Rextooth Studios is comic book artist Ted Rechlin's self-publishing company, whose titles focus on various animals, mostly of the Mesozoic type, though Rechlin has published a few about Pleistocene and modern animals, and even a title about the evolutionary history of sharks.
Rechlin has a very crisp art style, with a tendency towards flamboyant neon colors for his prehistoric animals that would make even Luis V Rey blush, and his stories are always an entertaining read. Rechlin has cited the work of Ricardo Delgado as inspiration, and his books often do read like a Delgado title with a narrator added in.

Rechlin currently has eight feature titles available, with a ninth due next year. The Rextooth Studios website also has several exclusive shorts you can read for free, including stories set in the Niobrara, the Kem Kem, and a few silly sci-fi romps.

Check out the website at https://rextooth.com/, and follow https://twitter.com/rextoothstudios & https://twitter.com/TedRechlin on Twitter.

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I've reviewed two of these comics at Dino Dad Reviews so far. Check them out if you're curious about these titles!

The first is "Jurassic", triumphantly celebrating the resurrection of the genus Brontosaurus in a story that I believe contains the first pop-culture depiction of Wedel & Taylor's "BRONTOSMASH!" hypothesis (see their posts as https://svpow.com/ for more on the subject).
You can find my review of Jurassic here:
https://dinodadreviews.com/2019/02/12/jurassic-ted-rechlin/





The second title I've reviewed is SUE: Welcome to the World of Tyrannosaurus, featuring everybody's favorite non-binary murderbird! I like the way in which Rechlin juxtaposes the skeleton with the living animal in this book. I also note if you're not a fan of his more flamboyant colors in his other titles, his "proper" paleoillustrations in this book are much more subdued, while his trademark neon colors are mostly used (to great effect) in highlighting Sue's skeleton.
You can find my review of SUE here:
https://dinodadreviews.com/2019/12/26/sue-welcome-to-the-world-of-tyrannosaurus/

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

I've reviewed another Rextooth Studios book!
This time I chose "Sharks: A 400 Million Year Journey", so I could tie it into Shark Week. 
https://dinodadreviews.com/2021/07/21/sharks-a-400-million-year-journey/
The Ptychodus specimen in the header image can be seen at the Texas Through Time Museum.
https://dinodadreviews.com/2020/08/01/texas-through-time/

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

So Rextooth Studios appears to be expanding their operation to become a general publisher of paleomedia, and not just their own stuff! They recently released the updated edition of David & Jennie Orr's Mammoth is Mopey, which I should take a look at sometime soon, and now they've also released Andy Cruz's first print book as well. You may know his work if you follow him on instagram under the handle @dinosaurcomics, but now he's started what I hope will be a series of books on Mesozoic formations with Did You Know Dino? Hell Creek!



If you have the Sauria Field Guide to Hell Creek, this is actually surprisingly similar in format, just in a more cartoony style. Since it's taking a broader look at the formation than Saurian, however, it is able to discuss things that Saurian left out, such as the End Cretaceous extinction, and the Hell Creek alvarezaur, Trierarchunchus (a name that means "Captain Hook", which is so appropriate for an alvarezsaur that I'm just losing my mind over it).



I'm the kind of nerd that would've enjoyed more info on the non-dinosaurian taxa as well, but it's nice to see what tidbits we did get, anyway! I'm particularly intrigued by the "undescribed Hell Creek pterosaur": the Perot Museum actually has a flock of these tiny pterodactyloids mounted flying above the escalator to their dinosaur hall, but there seems to be hardly any info available about it here or online.
Check out the rest of my review here: https://dinodadreviews.com/2022/09/27/did-you-know-dino-hell-creek/

[Halichoeres]

Hey, that's pretty cool! A whole 2-page spread on the fish! Paleopsephurus is slightly misspelled but not in a way that would impede further research by a curious child or parent.

[Over9K]

I really like Rextooth Studios' dinosaur comics. They hit me in the nostalgia feels in the way of being something I desperately wished for as a child, but just didn't exist.

Of course, I have read pretty much every single comic thing I can find that includes dinosaurs in some way. Devil Dinosaur, The War That Time Forgot, Turok, Bissette's TYRANT, Delgado's Age Of Reptiles, Galusha's Cretaceous, Dinosaurs vs Aliens, Xenozoic, Dinosaucers... and frankly, in terms of dinosauriness (if that's a word), Rechlin kills it.

I love Delgado's lack of text, it's probably my favorite thing about Age Of Reptiles. Unfortunately, I find Delgado's dinosaurs to be aesthetically unpleasant. That is the nicest way I can put that. Delgado also has the habit of presenting situations that seem a bit... unlikely. I mean like Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt kinda crazy situations, if one takes my meaning.

Bissette's Tyrant is the closest analogue to Rechlin's work. The writing in Bissette's TYRANT is more mature than Rechlin's, the story is more dense. That the series was abandoned is a damn shame.

Rechlin hits me right between the two. He nails the action, with better looking dinosaurs, and a taut, scientifically-plausible storyline and actions. These dinosaurs aren't making 15 meter leaps from cliffsides into caves.... just sayin.

Ted Rechlin's work is my go-to Birthday gift for any child over the age of 6 and under the age of 12. It's morally and value-safe, the art is engaging and dynamic. His action panels are very clear, and one can actually visualize the scene in three dimensions, and by proxy of Rechlin's adherence to whatever the current papers are saying means his work is typically ahead of other "current" offerings. His tyrannosaurs had lips 10 years ago, for example.

Besides all of that, these are some seriously sweet comics. The hardcovers are heavy, shiny and the pages are glossy, thick and feel expensive. These are nice books. When you give them as a gift to a child the parents inevitably complain about how much you spent on their kid's birthday.

Granted, these are not a scientific papers made fantastic by drawing the text into images. But they are really good for what they are, slightly educational entertainment.

I need to grab the new TREX Imax movie tie-in comic, and the new Sauropod book.

[Over9K]

I am also going to collect Andy Cruz's Heck Creek and My Lil' Morrison series of books, and start giving those to the younger birthday kids I know...

EDIT: I'm kinda hoping Cruz does a Mary Anning book...