Science may tell us that dinosaurs preceded man by millions upon millions of years, but according to V. T. Hamlin not only did the two walk the earth at the same time, but it also made for great comics. In the world of Alley Oop, dinosaurs were even domesticated enough to become household pets, great transportation vehicles and could even be trained to respond to caveman commands.

Alley Oop was one of the most successful newspaper strips of all time. After a slow start with limited distribution the caveman and his world debuted with national syndication as a daily on August 7, 1933. A year later on September 9, 1934 the wonderfully imaginative, full color Sunday strip found a home in newspapers everywhere.

Now the first two years of the color Sundays have been collected by comics historian and promoter Russ Cochran in a new book from Dark Horse Comics. Alley Oop: The Complete Sundays – Volume 1 (1934-1936) is scheduled to be released on May 20, 2014.

Early reviews and word of mouth for the book are both fantastic.

The full color, 16″x12″ hardcover collection joins Cochran’s recent Gasoline Alley Volume 1: The Complete Sundays 1920-1922, which we previously mentioned was getting great reviews.

Both books have second volumes scheduled (the second Alley Oop is in the May 2014 Previews from Diamond Comic Distributors).

“I think they have the kind of quality that collectors have expected from me for more than 40 years.  I invite everyone to comment and tell me how I could make these books better by emailing me at russ@russcochran.com,” Cochran told Scoop.

Columnist Mark Squirek contributed this piece.