Have you ever seen a T. rex cry? It's not pretty.
"You might have heard of me before, I am Poharex."
— Poharex
A high fantasy comic series written and illustrated by Dory Holtzman.
Poharex, a Tyrannosaurus with a Dark and Troubled Past had left his homeland — where he had been enslaved for many years — to seek a new beginning in Mesociam: a promised land where, supposedly, dinosaurs still exist.He makes it ashore, only to find out he got more than he bargained for; there be dinosaurs here, alright, but even here they are enslaved — this time to a giant snake named Darrakith and his smaller serpentine minions.To top it all off, he finds out he's supposed to be The Chosen One who will free the dinosaurs and protect them from all harm.
The series follows Poharex and his friends: the cynic Stegosaurus Eperok, the wise old Diplodocus Etelnaal and the mechanically brilliant yet slightly deranged Ornitholestes Todor as they travel across the land, solve problems and fight the most bizarre enemies, from prehistoric monsters to humans and alien abominations, as well as dealing with their own personal life issues(and dinosaurs have more of these than you'd think).
In addition to the comic series, Holtzman also created video games to expand the series.
The series can be found Here.
Examples of the following tropes:
- All Animals Are Dogs: Nika's pet alien barks and sticks out his tongue. However, he also purrs and rubs against people's legs.(All animals are cats?)
- Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival: The chapter "Surculus Mundorum" reveals that the last non-avian dinosaurs of Earth escaped from the K-Pg Extinction Event to Mesociam through beams of light that allows beings to travel from one planet to another.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Rakair, the humans, and to some extent the Silver Snakes.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: All the dinosaurs. Except Poharex.
- Animal Jingoism: Dinosaurs and Rakair are mortal enemies.
- Animal Reaction Shot: There are many of these throughout the comic, ranging from dinosaurs, to rats, to worms.
- Anti-Villain: General Frostheart and the Warmblood Alliance. Their sole purpose is to maintain the balance of the Tohu Plateau and protect the mammals and birds from the humans. They antagonized Poharex because they mistook him for a mammal and considered him a traitor when he (politely) refused their offer to join them.
- Ascended Extra: Originally, Todor was only an NPC in "Poharex: King of the Jungle", whose only purpose was to give Poharex advice in one of the Tynnosia levels. However, he got promoted into a full member of the cast.
- Bears Are Bad News: General Frostheart, the militant leader of the Warmblood Alliance, is a short-faced bear. However, he is not evil. Just doesn't tolerate traitors.
- Better with Non-Human Company: Poharex gets along with almost every other dinosaur and even some non-dinosaurs, but he can't even approach a female of his own species.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The judge of the Warmblood Alliance appears to be a Yeti.
- Carnivore Confusion: In Mesociam, dinosaurs do not prey on each other, and herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs live together in near-perfect harmony. The meat-eaters may hunt almost any animal that isn't a dinosaur, though. Karro seems to be an exception to this, though it is later revealed he was working for Monkeypuzzle.
- Civilized Animal: Todor is more "civilized" than any other dinosaur in the comic. He creates machinery, understands the concept of money and wears a backpack.
- Cool Horse: In the city of Porculaneum, a pair of horses is strong enough to pull a fully grown T. rex. While running.
- The Corruption: The "Plague"(actually a telepathic signal) created by the Plaguemaster to cause increased aggression in the local wildlife.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Eperok's "courtship song", which successfully drives the females away.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Plaguemaster, and by extension all the Zumzii.
- Messy Pig: It is not uncommon in the streets of Porculaneum to see pigs roaming free or bathing in mud.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The Blue Fruit, highly addictive but toxic fruit which cause madness, and eventually, paralysis.
- Fantastic Slurs: The word "human" is used by dinosaurs as an insult.
- Four-Legged Insect: The Conundra parasites, though technically not insects but alien creatures. Also, their queen has six legs.
- Humans Are Bastards: Leay, the other humans from the Old Lands (who enslaved Poharex), as well as the native humans of Mesociam who enjoy stealing dinosaur eggs for fun and menace the Cenozoic mammals of the Tohu Plateau.
- Intellectual Animal: Most dinosaurs, as well as a few mammals.
- Interspecies Romance: Almost, but never comes to pass. There is tension between Poharex and Soraya, and it is also implied that Poharex may have once been in a relationship with Leay.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Despite his cynical and surly demeanor, Poharex is never one to leave a person (or dinosaur) in need.
- La Résistance: Etelnaal was in charge of one during the first story arc.
- Large and in Charge: Darrakith, the Conundra Queen, the Plaguemaster.
- Last of His Kind: Subverted twice. Poharex thought he was the last dinosaur alive until discovering Mesociam, and the last T. rex alive until finding out there was a whole population of them on an island in the Oticum Inland Sea.
- Lizard Folk: The Anthrosauri, though some individuals resemble orcs, trolls or aliens more than reptiles. They are in fact former humans who were exposed to a mutagen called "The Dust of the Gods".
- McGuffin: The Heart of Qual'Gazu.
- Mighty Roar: Poharex does this on several occasions. Also, the Umbrasaurus.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The dinosaur deity Qual'Gazu looks like a mix of several dinosaur species.
- Misplaced Wildlife: Combined with Anachronism Stew. Mesociam is inhabited by creatures from all eras and continents.
- Mordor: The region of Oticum became this after a violent eruption.
- Noodle Incident: It is unknown how the group managed to rescue Eperok from the Umbrasaurus. However in Issue 6, Todor reveals that they failed to kill it.
- Patchwork Map: The desert region of Asselia is surrounded by jungles from almost every direction(except east, where there's the ocean).
- Raptor Attack: The Achillobator from Issue 3 is correctly depicted with feathers, as do most of the dromaeosaurs that appear in the comic. On the other hand, the pink and green raptor gang who were former bullies of Todor lack plumage.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Soraya, queen of the Anthrosaurs and eventual ally of Poharex.
- Scaled Up: Darrakith and his lieutenants are the purest incarnations of this trope; they don't turn into snakes, they ARE giant snakes. With horns.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: More like Single Anthrosaur seeks Good T. rex, but Soraya's attraction to Poharex falls under this principle.
- Space Romans:
Word of God has it that the anthrosaur inhabitants of Porculaneum are descended from Roman colonists who arrived in Mesociam in ancient times. - Warm-Up Boss: Darrakith, a giant serpent who's been enslaving dinosaurs; and meets a grisly (but well-deserved) end at the hands of Poharex. or not.
