The stories stand on their own but it's clear Schultz is building toward something. The stories start small, ten pagers mostly, and expand to issue length installments. Jack and Hannah adventure to various locales on Xenozoic earth, encounter dinosaurs and old tech, and gradually figure out they're better together than they are apart. Jack's pro-environment philosophy clashes with Hannah's progressive politics right off the bat.Īll that being said, this is a collection of stories straight out of an EC book like Weird Science or Weird Fantasy. While Jack and Hannah are obviously attracted to each other, it was refreshing for them not to do the monster mash right off the bad. Jack Tenrec is one of the old blood, the people who kept humanity alive underground for centuries before it was safe to emerge. There are old buildings and old tech lying around but humanity isn't too removed from barbarism. The world of Xenozoic is unique, a fusion of the post-apocalyptic with an Edgar Rice Burroughs style lost world setting. When he meets Hannah Dundee, the ambassador from a nearby community, sparks start flying. Jack Tenrec is a mechanic in what used to be New York, salvaging old vehicles and making them run again. I've been aware of Xenozoic Tales, aka Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, for a large portion of my comics reading tenure but I've never taken a chance on it until now, which is a shame because it's fantastic.

Man has emerged from his shelters to find a world overrun by dinosaurs!

Xenozoic combines lush and richly realized ink-and-brush artwork with a pulp-fueled narrative to create an action-packed fantasy-an unrelenting adventure that also serves as a subtle cautionary fable concerning the unforeseen consequences that shortsighted present-day decisions might have upon future generations.įive hundred years after an ecological collapse, the earth keeps on turning. And when those trials are further compounded by the underhanded and selfish actions of the cutthroat human scavengers they encounter, even the best equipped and bravest among them might not endure. But even the worthiest of these hardy souls are hard-pressed to surmount the obstacles presented by their new homeland.

It takes guts, grim determination, ingenuity and a whole lot of old-fashioned luck just to survive, much less thrive, in this alien wilderness-all qualities that ace mechanic Jack Tenrec, lovely scientist Hannah Dundee and their friends possess in abundance.

All of the familiar flora and fauna are gone, replaced by a radically altered natural order populated by rampaging dinosaurs and strange, new creatures. 'What strange new world, to have such creatures in it 'Forced into hiding by a global ecological cataclysm, humans emerge from their underground warrens half a millennium later to discover that the Earth has been totally transformed.

Xenozoic Tales #11 by Mark Schultz