IDW Comics – Jurassic Park: Redemption

Taking place a few years after the events of Jurassic Park 3, Tim Murphy (the grandson of John Hammond) is working together with a shady investor to help bring Hammond’s dream of Jurassic Park a reality once again except this time it’s going to be in Glen Rose, Texas. At the same time Lex Murphy (John Hammond’s granddaughter and Tim’s sister) is trying to advocate to keep the islands safe and out of reach from the rest of the world.

As the events of the story soon begin to unfold animals escape once again, starting with a rampaging Carnotaurus and then many others. Trusts are broken as chaos ensues, old pasts are brought back together, and old foes are reborn.

Jurassic Park Redemption #1

Our tale begins a few years after the events of Jurassic Park 3. John Hammond has died and now Tim Murphy is making plans and exchanges with an unknown investor to rebuild Jurassic Park. Lex Murphy on the other hand is trying to advocate to the United Nations to keep the islands out of the reach of human interference. Out in Glen Rose, Texas, work is being done in a laboratory by Dinosaur Valley State Park for the new Jurassic Park. New dinosaurs are being cloned by Henry Wu and his team, who was brought back into the picture by the unknown accomplice to Tim. Along with Wu is Dr. Backer, a paleontologist who is an apparent rival to Dr. Grant. At one point we are informed that a senator is also helping Tim fund the new Jurassic Park as well, in hopes of turning a huge profit. Then, at the end, a massive Carnotaurus escapes from the facility in Dinosaur Valley at night. It seems as though someone may have let it out. The Carnotaurus attacks a cattle hauler, and just before it tears into the driver it’s scared away by a passing car.

Characters: Sheriff Delgado, Jaamise, Tim Murphy, Lex Murphy, Henry Wu, Dr. Backer, Senator John, Lewis Dodgson, Unknown (at this point) investor, cattle truck driver

Jurassic Park Redemption #2

Backer and Wu are searching the area for the escaped Carnotaurus. Meanwhile Sheriff Delgado is looking into the accident on the road below. Along with the banged up cattle hauler truck one of the steers was ripped apart. At a nuclear power plant a large aquatic creature crashes through the gates. Lex Murphy gets a call that one of Lexxcrops’ fields in Glen Rose, Texas, had been being vandalized. Lexxcrop is the company she started that produces fresh vegetables. She says that she’d going down to the location personally to deal with it. In Texas the Carnotaurus continues its rampage, killing a man which is soon investigated by the sheriff and Jaamise. In the UK the shady investor boards a plane that is going to take him to the labs. Tim is continually being harassed by the senator that is also backing the project and now is being informed of cattle mutilations in the area. So now Tim is in route to Texas as well. At the end Backer is leading a new expedition to go find the escaped Carnotaurus, leaving Wu and Lewis Dodgson (who is working for the unknown/shady investor) alone at the labs. We see Dodgson leaving out a carnivorous creature of some kind. When the Carnotaurus attacks Backer’s group, Backer calls in to Wu for help. The last image we have is of Wu’s severed arm.

Characters: Shady/Unknown investor, Tim Murphy, Lex Murphy, Dr. Backer, Henry Wu, Lewis Dodgson, Senator John, Sheriff Delgado, Jaamise, cattle truck driver

Jurassic Park Redemption #3

As Tim, Lex, and the unknown investor all head for Texas for their various reasons, Backer is back at the labs now (having survived the Carnotaurus attack) and is now badgering Dodgson questions about how the Gracilisuchus had gotten out of their cage and killed Wu. Meanwhile Delgado and Jaamise are out in Dinosaur Valley Park trying to figure out this whole mess. Lex meets up with Delgado and starts hammering him about why he has done nothing about the apparent vandalism to Lexxcrops’ Fields (which have actually been the feeding grounds for the herbivores, such as the Triceratops.) The sheriff and her go out and investigate only to find a big pile of feces. Lex starts putting two and two together. Back at the labs Backer greets Mr. Would, the unknown investor who has flown in from the UK to check on progress. Would talks about forging ahead, and has Dodgson taze Backer. At the nuclear power plant a worker is walking the perimeter looking for gaps in the fence when a Mosasaur attacks him. Back at the labs Tim finally arrives and Mr. Would and Tim begin to discuss matters on the park and its creatures. Delgado and Lex form a search team to catch whomever is vandalizing the crops. Dodgson is out with a group from the labs taking a herd of herbivores (Plateosaurs?) for their night feeding on one of Lexxcrops fields. A passing by car spooks the animals into a stampede. At the labs Tim and Mr. Would continue their confrontation until finally Would’s body guard pulls a gun on Tim, forcing Tim into an enclosed room. Elsewhere the Carnotaurus is now hunting the loose Plateosaurs, chasing them through the middle of the town of Glen Rose, Texas. At the very end Mr. Would’s true identity as “long-lost” Peter Ludlow.

Characters: Tim Murphy, Alexis Murphy, Dr. Backer, Unknown investor/Peter Ludlow, cattle truck driver, Sheriff Delgado, Jaamise, Lewis Dodgson.

Jurassic Park Redemption #4

All the plateosaurs have been rounded up, and the Carnotaurus is now long gone. Delgado advises citizens of Glen Rose to stay indoors until help (the military) arrives. As the military arrives though, so do two old faces: Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler. Back at the labs Peter Ludlow explains how he survived the Tyrannosaur attack back in ’97 and has been laying low ever since. The Carnotaurus continues it reign of terror, and now is seeking revenge against the Hammond family. by destroying the name, and hopes to accomplish this by releasing dinosaurs on the mainland. So he does exactly that and releases all of the dinosaurs in the labs including the carnivores. Tim manages to escape locking Peter and his body guard in the room. Havoc ensues in the town, while Backer releases the Gracilisuchus into the room where Ludlow is locked in. Backer then races to town to help with the problem at hand.

Characters: Tim Murphy, Lex Murphy, Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Backer, Peter Ludlow, Lewis Dodgson, Jaamise, Sheriff Delgado, deputy

Jurassic Park Redemption #5

Delgado, Lex, Grant, Ellie, and Jaamise along with the other authorities and military continue to try and round up all of the dinosaurs that have been set loose on the town of Glen Rose, Texas, by the deranged Peter Ludlow. Suddenly a Giganotosaurus appears on the scene, rampaging through the town and towards the nuclear power plant. Back at the plant the Mosasaur continues to attack the building as well. At the labs Ludlow is killed by the Gracilisuchus, and a pack of raptors attack a herd of cattle. The team goes after the giganotosaur trying to stop it before it destroys the plant and causes a nuclear explosion. At the plant Lex is able to hack in while Tim distracts the giant carnivore. Lex shuts the nuclear plants alarm off (which was what was attracting the giganotosaur in the first place.) Then suddenly the pack of raptors come in and start attacking the Giganotosaurus, which then compels the creature to head for the water where it and the Mosasaurus battle as the raptors escape. By the end of the book it’s implied that everything turns out fine, although there is no definite closure to the story really/no explanation what-so-ever as to what happened to the animals, or how they were possibly rounded up.

Characters: Tim Murphy, Lex Murphy, Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Backer, Peter Ludlow, Lewis Dodgson, Jaamise, Sheriff Delgado, deputy

Jurassic Park Redemption Graphic Novel

A compilation of Jurassic Park Redemption comics #1-5.

 

 

 

Canonical Status

Jurassic Park: Redemption is riddled with numerous canonical issues, one of the big ones is Ludlow’s relation to Lex, Tim, and Hammond. In Jurassic Park: Redemption Ludlow is revealed and treated as a brother to Hammond and was also revealed to not be blood to Hammond. Redemption says his relation status with the family comes primarily through marriage. In The Lost World: Jurassic Park film he is in fact the nephew of Hammond, and Hammond is his uncle! This is why it is a contradictory element to the films here. In the comic book series he even identifies himself as “Uncle Ludlow” to Lex and Tim when in fact he would be a cousin as he is not Hammond’s brother. This along with numerous other issues lock Redemption into its own continuity as there is no way to reconcile most of these issues.

“Next, Schreck revealed that “Jurassic Park: Redemption” has no relation to the Topps “Jurassic Park” comics released in the nineties.” (Source)

Redemption is considered its own canon apart from all the other Jurassic Park comics that had been released before by Topps as well as from the film canon. It acknowledges the main events of each of the films, but changes the relationship between Peter Ludlow and John Hammond from the way it was intended as well as having other canon issues. Alexis Murphy is now Alexa. Dodgson does not, apparently, work for BioSyn but is more of a saboteur for hire. There are also faults in the story itself, and plot holes that were never filled by the end of the story.