Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1 cover

The infamous embossed, foil chromium cover that sold 1.7 million copies in 1993.

This cover was everywhere in the ’90s, both because of the massive hype surrounding it and the equally massive fallout that followed.

This issue was the much-anticipated, heavily marketed launch of Turok in his own series following the successful debuts of Magnus and Solar. Turok, and this issue in particular, may represent the peak of Valiant-era FOMO. When it hit shelves, Turok’s first appearance in Magnus, Robot Fighter #12 had already climbed past $100, his guest appearances in X-O Manowar #14 and #15 were red hot, and every Valiant #1 released to date had become a back-issue monster.

Add to that the defining cover gimmick of the era: chromium. This served as the chromium follow-up to Bloodshot #1, which featured a chromium card glued to a cardstock cover. Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #1 was originally solicited with a full chromium cover, but the world would have to wait until X-O Manowar #0 for that distinction. Instead, the cover art was cropped, turned into a chromium card, and glued onto a cardstock cover featuring red foil and embossed dinosaur artwork repurposed from the book’s original advertisement.

Despite its massive print run, Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #1 was only the sixth best-selling comic of July 1993, trailing the global sensation that was the return of Superman.