Once upon a time in the late 1800s, there were two fossil hunters named Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. Cope and Marsh are the granddaddies of modern paleontology. They were scholars and scientists at the top of their field. They discovered the creatures we know today as stegosaurus, allosaurus, diplocodus, triceratops, and brontosaurus. Cope and Marsh also absolutely, completely, and bitterly hated each other. In the late 19th century, dino discoveries were making headlines and capturing the public’s imagination, but even the entire American West was not big enough to contain the egos and ambitions of these two men. Cope and March stole from each other’s dig sites and mocked each other’s research. Their public squabbles grew so intense that the period of their study is now simply called “the Bone Wars.” And in Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards, graphic novelist Jim Ottaviani and the artists of the Big Time Attic collective gleefully bring Cope and Marsh’s feud to vivid life. Famous characters like P.T. Barnum, Buffalo Bill, and artist Charles R. Knight pepper the narrative, but Cope and Marsh’s story steals the show and makes for a fast, funny, and truly delightful read.

posted Nov 9, 2010 at 9:39AM

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