Dinosaur Island

For the DiC Entertainment animated film, see Dinosaur Island (2002 film).

Dinosaur Island
The Centre (Dinosaur Island) as presented in Justice League: The New Frontier.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #35, (June 1946)
Created by	Bill Finger (writer) Bob Kane (artist)
In story information
Type	Island
Notable races	Dinosaurs
Notable locations	South Pacific

Dinosaur Island is an island that has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. The island is not the same "Dinosaur Island" that appeared in Batman #35 (June 1946). That story by Bill Finger and Bob Kane involved a "Dinosaur Island" amusement park that contained robotic dinosaurs.

Publication history

In Star-Spangled War Stories #90 (April 1960), Robert Kanigher created the Dinosaur Island that is in use in the DC universe today for his feature The War That Time Forgot. It is located in the South Pacific of DC's main shared universe and it is populated by living dinosaurs.

Fictional history

Dinosaur Island seems to have first been discovered by Enemy Ace in 1927 when he flew Bat Lash, Biff Bradley, General Joseph Stilwell, and "Chop-Chop" (presumably the father of the Blackhawks member) to the island on a mission for Chiang Kai-shek. The island had long been a legend to the Chinese people (known as Dragon Island at the time) and was believed to hold the mystical Swords of Fan. During this mission, the adventurers encounter Vandal Savage and Miss Fear, in addition to the dangerous dinosaurs. This tale appears in the Guns of the Dragon mini-series.

During the World War II, several United States submarines seemingly disappear after encountering an area of seismic disturbances. Marines land on a nearby island hoping to find survivors, but instead find that the earthquakes has awakened the remote island's resident dinosaur population. The prehistoric beasts had been preserved via suspended animation for centuries. With their weapons essentially useless, the squad of Marines barely escapes to tell the tale.

Despite the presence of dinosaurs, the U.S. government consider the island a valuable strategic location in its war against Japan. Several expeditions and operations take place at the island. The island is also used as a proving ground for the automated soldiers designated G.I. Robot, which prove to be no match for the dinosaurs' ferocious might. The Creature Commandos, the Flying Boots, and the original Suicide Squad all take part in missions on the island during World War II.

Post-War expeditions have theorized that the island exists in a state of temporal flux. Black Canary of the Birds of Prey lands on the island in modern times only to find it still inhabited by Japanese soldiers who are keeping Gunner and Sarge of "The Losers" in a P.O.W. camp.

The Suicide Squad series reveals that a post-War mission to the island by Sgt. Rock (allegedly) and Bulldozer explains why they haven't aged as much since World War II due to temporal fluctuations. The veracity of this story may be in dispute, as Bulldozer later cryptically announces that Sgt. Rock died in World War II.

Writer/artist Darwyn Cooke uses the island in his out-of-continuity series DC: The New Frontier, where he connects the island with the dawn of the Silver Age. In this series, the island is portrayed as the main antagonist, a sentient being called the Centre which has existed on the Earth since before the dawn of the human race. Feeling threatened by humanity's development of nuclear weapons, the Centre decides to end all life on Earth. In New Frontier, the Centre is portrayed as a living island with the ability to hover over great distances and spawn grotesque mutant dinosaurs to attack or defend itself.

The island is currently the setting of the twelve-part series The War That Time Forgot.

In other media

Television

• Dinosaur Island is featured in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Terror on Dinosaur Island". Gorilla Grodd and his followers used it as the base for their headquarters. Grodd comments that the Bahamas, West Indies, and Florida are within a 500-mile radius of Dinosaur Island. The island is also featured in the team-up with the Challengers of the Unknown in "Revenge of the Reach" and in a team-up with the Creature Commandos in Four Star Spectacular.

Film

• The Centre is featured as the main antagonist in Justice League: The New Frontier voiced by Keith David. This version is a gigantic psychic entity swarming by its monster minions. It is mistaken for an island full of dinosaurs by explorers.

External links

• Toonopedia: War That Time Forgot