Dinosaurs are a regular feature in a number of pop cultural mediums, as they continue to fascinate people from all over the world.  Along with numerous appearances in movies, TV shows, newspapers, and books;  dinosaurs have also been known to feature as the unlikely characters in a number of comic books.  The most recent of these comics is simply called Dinosaur comics, a webcomic that has been online since February, 2003.  Other well know comics that have featured dinosaur characters include Dinowars: The Jurassic War of the Worlds from Atlantic Press, Age of Reptiles, and a number of DC comics that feature a fictional location known as Dinosaur Island.  However, it is the success and profile of the online Dinosaur Comic series that is the most recent proof that our fascination with dinosaurs has not gone away.

Dinosaur comics is a constrained webcomic produced by Canadian writer Ryan North, and can be found online at Qwantz.com.  While this comic has also been printed in a number of newspapers and print collections, it is most well known for its incarnation on the web.  Different comics are posted on most weekdays, featuring the same artwork with different dialogue between the dinosaurs.  There are three main characters, plus an unlikely supporting cast that includes God, The Devil, and Patrick Stewart.  The hero of the series is T-Rex, a 27 year old Tyrannosaurus rex who stands on his back legs in an inaccurate anatomical fashion, and features on all 6 of the comics’ panels.  Utahraptor is another main character, a gay dinosaur featuring on 2 of the 6 panels, who engages in much hilarious dialogue with T-Rex.  Dromiceiomimus is a female dinosaur featured on panel 3, who is generally friendly with T-Rex but also occasionally offers mild criticism.  Dinosaur comics has won a number of awards and official recognitions, including ‘Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic’in the Web Cartoonists Choice Awards, and one of the best web comics of 2004 and 2005 by the Webcomics Examiner.

Dinosaurs continue to be a fascinating subject for people from all over the world, and the success of this series illustrates the strong archetypal role that they still play in our collective imaginations.  Together with early animated films like Gertie the Dinosaur, animated series like The Flintstones, comics like Tor and Turok, and newspaper comic strips like Alley Oop;  the Dinosaurs web comic series is likely to become an important and well remembered cultural depiction of dinosaurs.