Saying they're Jurassic Park raptors isn't entirely accurate, as the comics are not in any way affiliated with the JP franchise. But the raptor design and the plot of the first comic are quite clearly influenced by the first JP movie, which came out the year before.
Mickey goes assist his paleontologist friend at a dig site, and the two of them as well as a local farmer called Onni (in the Finnish version, at least) are pretty appalled at the methods of this other paleontologist who is also looking for dinosaur bones in the area. This guy is using explosives to dig up the fossils, not caring if they're destroyed in the process (or if the explosives frighten cattle, which is mostly what Onni is concerned about).
Every scientist digging up ancient things needs an evil rival, it's a contractual indianajonesing obligation.
Turns out the shady paleontologist in the cooler hat is not trying to piece together dinosaur skeletons at all, but is cloning living dinosaurs from the remains! (An idea he actually says he got from a movie, so I see we're even acknowledging this is a JP AU fanfic without saying exactly so.)
The dinosaurs he's already cloned, a pack of raptors (they're only ever called dinosaurs, but clearly they're a pretty particular kind of dinosaur), escape from where he has been keeping them, and chase Mickey around.
But surprise! Cloning has altered these dinosaurs as well, only instead of frog DNA shenanigans the raptor clones turn out to be herbivores.
The ending I thought was a bit of a leap even as a kid: the raptors end up as work horses at Onni's farm (he owns the land the fossils were found in, so I guess they're his now?) so his old mule Ippa can finally retire. Sure they eat fruit, but Mickey even says they seem to still have their hunting instincts in place, and they're not exactly a domesticated species. It feels like a bad idea to have them herding cattle (or maybe it's just that I grew up on a farm myself, so how herding cattle tends to work wasn't so much an abstract idea to me). Actual horses still need lots of training before you can ride them, too, and are these scaly cassowaries even built in a way that makes riding them safe for their health?
But who cares, we've got cowboys riding raptors.
Which is the state of things the second comic starts in. Mickey is visiting Onni, whose farm has become a tourist attraction because everyone wants to see dinosaurs.
But problems arise, with supposed ghosts scaring away tourists, and Mickey and Onni decide to find out what's up. Also Ippa isn't happy being retired after all, and doesn't want to be left behind. Got to admit those two raptors patiently waiting to be saddled up are pretty cute trying their best to be horsies.
Incidentally, this one page has a colouring error, and it looks really neat.
Mickey and Onni pose as tourists, scare the bandits pretending to be ghosts when they try to rob them, and chase after them to find their hideout. During the chase occurs a series of moments I like to call "I told you so":
The raptors are terrified, exhausted, in general not fans of the whole adventure, and obviously not equipped for it. Onni keeps complaining about what wusses they're being but like, it's not their fault they're dromaeosaurids and not mules? Poor birbs.
We find the villains, they ambush our heroes, and the raptors get scared of gunfire and decide they've had enough. I'm shocked and surprised.
Ippa turns out to have followed them, and saves the day. She gets taken out of retirement like she wants, the raptors I assume continue their career as tourist attractions without having to work for their apples, and everyone's happy. I'm not sure what the solution would have been if Ippa had indeed been too old to work since it apparently can't be getting a younger mule, but never mind. Happy.
So... that was the story, huh? I'm not convinced this farm shouldn't be inspected for animal welfare or tourist safety reasons, and in general those raptors could probably use more oversight and research into how they should be cared for. That they're just some guy's now and he's using them to make money feels pretty roadside-"zoo"-ish, and I'm... not delighted about how uncritical of that practice the story is. Or about the first comic presenting scientists as self-important bickerers, while the one who actually knows what to do when things get real is the layman who thinks vegan raptors are perfect for farm work.
Lol, am I taking this too seriously? Maybe, but it just feels like a bit unfortunate of a take on the comic's obvious Jurassic Park influences, when my takeaway from JP, besides that dinos are cool, is and was as a kid, too, that science is genuinely fascinating and humans should be more responsible with how we treat nature and living creatures that end up in our care. Which I think could have worked here, too, if the conclusion that the raptors don't make good mule substitutes had been reached because Onni or Mickey actually realized they've been unintentionally mistreating them, instead of how that second comic's story would probably have worked just as well and maybe better if Onni had replaced Ippa with, like, a motorcycle instead. Novelty objects that, as the lesson for our heroes to learn, turn out to not be as dependable as good old man's best equine friend, is basically what everyone in-universe treats them as, with the narrative's blessing.
It's a portrayal of carnivorous dinosaurs as something other than mindless monsters, though! I do like those. Although the dinos are specifically made into herbivores and suddenly completely harmless when that's revealed, so maybe it doesn't count.
The raptors on their own are fun though, and I know I loved this comic as a kid because there were raptors in it. And I do love the art in general, no complaints about that part, to be clear (and to be clearer, the artist is also not the writer in this case). Disney comics weren't crediting their artists and writers at the time so I didn't know who drew it, but I remember reading many other Mickey Mouse comics drawn by this same artist, and recognizing and liking the style. Now that Disney comics just appearing into existence by magic isn't the policy anymore and there's information about who made it at the comic book's website, it looks like the artist's name is Cèsar Ferioli Pelaez. I wouldn't be surprised if there was influence in my art style from his, so I'm happy to find out! And happy to find out that along with other things I like, he can draw really nice raptors.
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