XENOZOIC

So I've had this on my bookshelf for probably four or five years now, always intending to get to it, but never quite managing to crack it open. It was something I found when I was really getting into newspaper adventure strips. Though not a strip itself, it does have that "adventure strip feel", being drawn in a realistic style, and in black-and-white. From what I've gathered, XENOZOIC TALES was an independant comic that begin in 1987 and ran up until 1996, releasing a whopping fourteen issues in that timeframe. This seems to have been the thing for indies back then; at least I recall from my look at THE ROCKETEER a few years back that Dave Stevens released an even smaller amount of material over a longer period of time!

But in any case, it was the artwork of creator Mark Schultz that first attracted me to XENOZOIC TALES, then when I learned a bit about the premise, I was totally sold. The funny thing is, in restrospect I realize that I was tangentially familiar with this series going back many years. Back in 1993, CBS aired a Saturday morning cartoon called CADILLACS AND DINOSAURS, and Marvel published an adaptation of same -- and as it turns out, CADILLACS was itself an adaptation of Schultz's world (if not his exact stories) to small-screen animation!

Now, I admit that I never actually watched the series or read the comic, but I was at least aware of them. And now I plan to take a look at the source material! Over the next few weeks, we'll cover the entirety of XENOZOIC TALES, all collected in a nice, sturdy paperback volume by Flesk Publications a number of years ago . So be here next Friday as we journey to the post-apocalyptic thirtieth century for the adventures of Jack "Cadillac" Tenrec and Hannah Dundee as they make their way through the savage world of tomorrow!

(This is where I'd normally drop in an Amazon link for anyone interested in checking the book out, but unfortunately, it appears to be out of print and quite pricey at this point. However it looks like a new printing is forthcoming in March and is available for pre-order directly from the publisher, so if my upcoming posts tickle your fancy, you can at least pick it up afterward!)