Various factions in the City in the Sea vie for control of the tribe while the Wassoon jealously eye the vast hoard of old world relics their neighbor possesses.Īnd don't forget the Grith, an intelligent race of humanoid dinosaurs whose thought processes are so alien that no humans can understand them. There also is plenty of political intrigue. A healthy black market exists for dinosaur body parts, and the tribes repeatedly send expeditions into the interior in search of natural resources and old world technology. The conflict between environmental stewardship and technological progress is a central theme of the series, with some characters trying to prevent the ecologic mishaps that led to the earlier disaster and others pushing for mankind to once again reign over nature. Add to the mix a dozen colorful characters, from marauding poachers to a muscle-bound female villain who could bully Hulk Hogan into crying uncle. Sexual tension comes in the form of Hannah Dundee, the voluptuous ambassador (and spy) from the neighboring Wassoon tribe. Most of the action takes place around the ruins of New York City, which has become an archipelago of skyscrapers named "The City in the Sea." One of the main characters is Jack Tenrec, an "Old Blood Mechanic" who restores antique Cadillacs and preaches a form of environmentalism so unyielding it would leave Al Gore shell shocked. Humanity is scattered into tribes that live on scraps of old world technology. Schultz drew his inspiration, and his art style, from many classic comic strips, such as "Tarzan" and "Prince Valiant." In tone, the setting is a mix of "The Lost World," Indiana Jones, and "An Inconvenient Truth," with a dash of Mad Max thrown in. How it got that way is one of the central mysteries of the series. (Chadwick will never be accused of slouching on his science.) The world after the apocalypse isn't a desert wasteland, but rather a lush, jungle world where dinosaurs, mammoths, sabertooth cats, terror birds, and every prehistoric animal you can think of live side-by-side. While details of the disaster were only hinted at in the comics, Chadwick gives a very thorough and plausible-sounding explanation of what happened. Still, C&D provides a wealth of information about its setting, making it invaluable for anyone who wants to adapt their favorite system to the world of the comics.Ĭ&D is set 450 years in the future after a planet-wide disaster destroyed most of civilization. The Twilight: 2000 system is a relatively tactics-heavy system, but C&D at its heart is a fast-paced, pulp adventure, and the two don't mesh. It uses the rules from another CDW post-apocalyptic game, "Twilight: 2000," and that's its major downfall. Despite its age, it's still relatively easy to find on sites such as Ebay or, and I've spotted it a few times while browsing through comic and hobby shops. Then, of course, there was "C&D: The Roleplaying Game," written by none other than Frank Chadwick of "Space: 1889" fame.Ĭ&D is a 144-page, magazine-sized paperback published in 1990. (The album is decent, if you can get past the corny lyrics: "We make love with fang and claw! Fa-a-ang and claw-w-w!") It was the basis for a beat-'em-up arcade game a Sega CD shooter a few toys a sharply animated, if dumbed-down, Saturday morning cartoon and even a music album with 1950s-ish songs. The series may have only lasted 14 issues and ended mid-story, but it enjoyed a surprising amount of marketing success for an alternative comic. C&D was the catchier title so it's the one that stuck. Technically, "Cadillacs & Dinosaurs" (abbreviated hereafter as "C&D") is the nickname for a short-lived comics series titled "Xenozoic Tales." It was the brainchild of Mark Schultz, who both wrote and provided most of the artwork for each of the series' 14 issues. But if it sounds familiar, that's because it's the setting of a comic book series you might have heard of: Cadillacs & Dinosaurs. Chances are you've never heard of the Xenozoic, that as-yet-to-come geologic era when every creature that ever existed once again roams the Earth, and when what's left of mankind cruises the countryside in retrofitted 1940s and '50s Cadillacs.
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