A compelling narrative, but I often found myself getting lost because a lot of the characters looked alike (I have this problem a lot with graphic novels, so it may not be the illustrators' fault). The story has a stranger than fiction quality and some of the panels evoked a really strong pathos - for instance, one when of the main characters dies with only his pet turtle looking on.

Ottaviani has good ideas and an interesting narrative sense, and his attempts to bring to popular notice via graphic novels some of the less well-known people in the recent history of science are certainly laudable, but his execution never seems to be up to his intentions. Here he recounts the history of the infamous “Bone Wars” of the late 19th century between rival American paleontologists Othniel Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, which greatly entertained and greatly annoyed their colleagues (and sold lots of papers for James Gordon Bennett). The competition was virulent, with vituperative personal attacks, “salting” of scientific digs, bribery of workers, spying, and violations of Indian lands. Marsh, the first American professor of paleontology (at Yale), could be brilliant, but also was capable of dynamiting sites to keep other researchers from exploring them. Cope, probably the better scientist of the two, was also brash, melodramatic, and a bit paranoid. Together, the two men gave American paleontology a bad reputation elsewhere in the world that took several generations to undo. Ottaviani’s story isn’t nearly that clear, however. The book would have benefitted from a dramatis personae at the front, to give the reader a sporting chance at following things.

The art work is great! The story was a little difficult to follow at
times.

Oh, this one's a lot of fun if you're a nerdy reader like me and enjoy Rick Geary-style historical adventure, true tales and prehistoric beasties.

Actual Rating: 3.75

It's been almost ten years between reads but as good as I remembered it. Really interesting tale of Marsh and Cope, two prominent late-19th-century fossil hunters and the scientific and popular feud between them. Also covers Charles Knight, the artist who developed early conceptions about what dinosaurs looked like. The paleontologists had the bones, but it took the right kind of artist to add the flesh and the life. Jim Ottaviani does his usual mountain of research here to put it all together. We learn a lot about the people, but it's also clear what is fact and what is speculation (or outright fiction) that serves the higher story. I'm still calling it non-fiction: most of the made-up stuff is either specifics of conversations no one wrote down, meetings that probably didn't happen but the effect is the same, or (my favorite) the choice to show Cope with a more minimal facial hair style he didn't actually have until later in life (to avoid confusion between his appearance and Marsh's full beard).

I also love the presentation in this one. Terrific sepia-toned art throughout that manages to capture the period and the people. Also NBD just some staggeringly ambitious re-creations of Knight's dinosaurs throughout.

First read November 2006, re-read September 2015.

Turns out graphic novels aren't my thing. A quick read.

Disclosure: I'm friends with the some of the authors. That said, it's an incredible book.

This graphic novel tells the story of the rivalry between paleontologists O.C. Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope during the gilded age, when dinosaurs were still a fairly new thing and the bone beds out west were just being discovered. Both men compete to find and name the most dinosaurs, as well as discredit each other's work. As the battle rages on, paleoartist Charles R. Knight (he's the one who did the dinosaur murals in the Field Museum) tries to produce the most accurate representations he can. [As it turns out, Cope is all for Knight's work as it makes the dinosaurs come alive in the public's eye. Marsh on the other hand felt that the public had no business seeing fossils or paintings of the living things.:]

The artwork is simple, stripped down and clear. (The cover art was by Mark Schultz, who's old-school illustration style is not representative of the style inside.) The writing is nice, and there are a few great lines. The creators provide several pages at the end explaining what was "fact" and what was "fiction" in their retelling of this true rivalry.

Still, the book never really amounts to more than what it is: a comic about rivalry and paleontology in the late 1800s. And that's fine.

Amazing graphic novel that was compelling and artful.

I'd wanted to read this ever since getting the Free Comic Day preview issue nearly 10 years ago. The idea was fascinating, it being true even more so, and I'm a sucker for silly titles and this had that in spades.

What it also had though are lots of similarly bearded men in suits talking about dinosaurs in probably the most densely bloated and yet meandering nothingness of a graphic novel I can recall.

There is a lot that happens in this book, in spurts, so that you're never left thinking there's no progression, and yet in between those spurts are moments of literally wandering and nothing as it plods along. I honestly cannot think of another comic or graphic novel that has been such a go nowhere mess while overstuffing its corners.

I cannot recommend this at all, and that's a shame after the story being such an interesting one. Just the absolute wrong execution and it has me wondering if the medium could even do it justice.

Great blend of fact and fiction for a stimulating narrative. The F&F section at the back was additionally illuminating.