Dinosaur Shaman: Nine Tales from the Xenozoic Age

Xenozoic Tales #5-8

by Mark Schultz

Schultz, Mark

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Mark Schultz is an American writer and illustrator of books and comics. His most widely recognized work is the creator-owned comic book series Xenozoic Tales, which describes a post-apocalyptic world where dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures coexist with humans. In 1993, Xenozoic Tales was adapted into an animated series titled Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and a video game of the same name. Schultz's other notable works include various Aliens comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse and a four-year run on the DC Comics series Superman: The Man of Steel. In 2004, Schultz took over the scripting duties of the Prince Valiant comic strip.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The theme of this volume (and in many ways the whole series), is the tension between the conservatism embodied by Jack Tenrec, and the progressivism embodied by Hannah Dundee. On the surface, Jack is usually proven right in his concerns, and his opponents are usually radically stupid "progressives" who challenge tradition without a thought as to why tradition exists. Dig deeper though, and you begin to see that Hannah's more intelligent progressivism tempers, and is tempered by, Jack's sometimes radical conservatism. It takes the two combined to reach the optimal outcome.

On a more surface level, this volume gives us nine more tales from the Xenozoic age, including one which gives us some clues as to how the Xenozoic Age came to be. There's also a sketchbook section that shows some of the early character designs.

[Keith Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Schultz's art continues to improve in the second volume from his Xenozoic Tales series. The only downside of the collection is that it includes a lot of filer material written by Schultz but drawn by another artist. This material adds to the backstory of the series, but without Schultz's art it doesn't reach the level of his fully penciled work.

[Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Shultz comes back at you for more with nine more tales from the Xenozoic era. This book is essentially a continuation of the first book and deepens the relationships between Jack, Hannah, and a few other characters which become staples (Mayor Sharnhorst, Mustapha Cairo, et. al.).