Episode fifty minus one is finally here, and we’re back looking at some non-traditional forms of palaeoart! Gemma, Marc and Natee discuss the beloved animatronics made by the Dinamation company in the 1980s and 1990s. Then, Natee and Gemma interview the unsung Sean Hennesy, whose dinosaur comics under the name “Speed Thief” combine art with comedy. We discuss how cartoons can inspire curiosity, and how a little bit of humour can make the knowledge go down better. Is dino animatronic design a lost art? Just how ugly is the Dinamation Allosaurus? How does a cartoonist come up with new gags? How ridiculous are dinosaurs? Does The Lost World: Jurassic Park hold up? And will your humble hosts ever accept that middle age is coming for us? It’s all here in episode 49!
In the News
- Gemma’s written a review of the 1909 dinosaurs at Hagenbeck Zoo!
- As mentioned in the interview, here are some dinosaur-themed comics to check out: Dinosaur Sanctuary by Itaru Kinoshita and Ancient Animal Tales by Koyehyeong. The latter has an English translation.
Vintage Dinosaur Art
Dinamation’s Dinosaurs Alive was first published by Scolastic in 1992, while we discuss the 1993 version. The photos are credited to Dinamation International Corp.
Interview
Sean Hennesy is a palaeoartists who creates dinosaur comics under the title Speed Thief. His first compilation of gag comics, Speed Thief Volume I, has recently gone into its third pressing.
A hardcopy version Speed Thief can be bought here. You can find Sean on Linktree, Instagram, Patreon and Etsy.
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4 Comments
Simon
May 15, 2026 at 2:43 pmI didn’t notice until now that in the 1990’s it was apparently fashionable to reconstruct Deinonychus with tiger stripes, I guess people assumed they lived a similar lifestyle as modern day tigers and hence needed similar camouflage? Similar to how many works (e. g. “Walking with Dinosaurs”) depict ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and the like with similar black/white colour schemes as whales and sharks…
Gemma Hazeborg
May 16, 2026 at 7:04 amFunny thing is, we actually know something about mosasaur colouration and indeed the black/white countershading thing seems to play out. And it’s resonable for a big predator to want to be camouflaged, innit?
Still, I think tiger stripes on dromaeosaurs is less likely, especially black on orange. Tigers can get away with being orange because most mammals see only two colours. They don’t see a difference between orange and green. Dinosaurs likely saw the world in four colours, so orange wouldn’t work as a cammo colour. But stripes? Why not?
Grant Harding
May 21, 2026 at 8:46 amFor anyone who wants more information on Dinamation, there is a Facebook group called “Dinamation International Corporation,” run by the guy who operates the Backyard Terrors Dinosaur Park in Tennessee. They’ve uploaded a ton of photos and videos, including archival material from the company itself, and photos of the robots “in the wild” submitted by other fans (including me).
CheapSweets
May 28, 2026 at 5:08 pmI know I saw the Dinosaurs Alive! (the exclamation mark is important) at the NHM London in the late 80s (and a travelling show of them in Birmingham around 1994 or thereabouts)…
Interested to check out Speed Thief – I can absolutely highly recommend Dinosaur Sanctuary, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed that manga so far (and it also touches on other mesozoic animals too). Would you ever consider reviewing other comics under the heading of vintage palaeoart? I know this is something that was touched on occasionally in the previous iteration of the site. The obvious contender would be Age of Reptiles, the first stories of which exist firmly alongside some of the 90s books you’ve reviewed. I also have a fondness for the early 2000AD series Flesh, but that – along with things like the Dinosaurs Attack! trading cards (again, the exclamation mark is important) – might be a little sensationalist or gory for review here 😀