Pterror Over Paris and Jurassic Park

While reading Pterror Over Paris I found certain visuals reminiscent of Jurassic Park (1993). Page 20, panels 1-2 in particular reminded me of a scene from the 1993 film in which a goat is placed behind a metal fence housing the dinosaurs and is later eaten by a T-Rex when all hell breaks loose. In Pterror Over Paris a sheep is similarly seen confined by a metal fence and is picked up by the Pterodactyl and presumably eaten. Even the third panel of page 20 in which Zborowsky and the Professor are seen hiding in the pushes and viewing the sheep from a safe distance reminded me of Lex and Tim Murphy's assumably safe position seated in the back seat of a car in Jurassic Park (1993) when they are watching the goat.

In class Professor Serrano mentioned that the creators of Jurassic Park may have drawn on the Pterror Over Paris as inspiration, and I wonder to what degree Michael Crichton (author) and Steven Spielberg (director) may have used Pterror Over Paris when writing the book Jurassic Park and creating the film adaptation. One could argue that visual similarities beyond the basic plot of dinosaurs problematically coexisting with humans suggests that Jurassic Park (1993) may directly reference some of the panels in Pterror Over Paris. The opening page of the comic, panels 3-5 are distinctly reminiscent of the film.

While reading comics this semester it has been interesting to examine where more recent comics come from, and to see comic artists drawing inspiration from the generations before them. Pterror Over Paris maintains the crisp, band dessinee style of TinTin and through other examples we find ourselves seeing comics within comics.