From the Wings of Perodactyl : The Tough and Beautiful world of Mark Schultz

In this second installment surveying the work of Flesk Publications, I get to introduce you to illustrator, writer and comic book artists Mark Schultz. Born in 1955, Schultz is best known for his alternative comic book series Xenozoic Tales, better known as the cartoon Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, a post-eco disaster adventure series that follows the escapades of mechanic Jack Tenec and his love interest, the tough and beautiful scientists Hannah Dundee. Cars, monsters, and wild jungle landscapes provide the iconic backdrop for the Jack and Hannah??(TM)s various environmental hijinks. While the series is on pause, Schultz continues to create wonderful and stylized pulp adventure art, such as recent illustrations for collections of Robert E. Howard??(TM)s Conan stories. He is also an accomplished novelist and current writer for the modern Prince Valiant comic.

In Mark Schultz Various Drawings, Volume 3, we are treated to Shultz the adventure artists, making the epic seem bold and yet more human than many of his contemporaries. Throughout the collection, we receive snapshots of excitement in every form. Creatures of high fantasy stand a page away from sinister noirish characters, only to be replaced by bold science fantasy figures against a landscape only fit for beasts of legend and creatures of nightmares.

There are two common denominators with Schultz??(TM)s work that hook the eye and refuse to let go. First, there is always a sense of adventure and motion hidden in the frozen picture. Each sketch evokes a world of excitement that you want jump into and explore. For me, they resemble high class versions of the illustrations in role playing game books, pictures that were always cooler than any adventure you might have on your own.

Second, Schultz has a keen eye for the female form, in particular raven-haired babes. No idle objects of worship alone, his women have strength and daring to match their beauty, making them more real than mere arm candy for your friendly neighbourhood barbarians. Inspired by the tough and luscious female forms of master comics maven Wally Wood and the femme fatales of the forties, the woman of Mark Schultz??(TM)s world are easy on the eyes, deadly in action, and take a back seat to no man, beast, or god.

The drawings of Mark Schultz brings to mind the stories of Ray Bradbury, the stop-motion monsters of Ray Harryhousen, the far Lost Worlds of H. G. Wells, and the thumping adventure of a Manly Wade Wellman yarn. His latest project is the illustrated novella Storms at Sea, published by Flesk Publications in the near abroad. For those who like their adventure fiction with a steady does of monster, dinosaurs, and vintage cars, discover the world of Mark Schultz for yourself. You??(TM)ll be biting your fingernails until Xenazoic Tales begins again.

JSR