Death Rattle 8

Death Rattle 8
Dec 1986

Xenozoic
by Mark Schultz
12 pages

Jack Tenrec leads a rescue team into the swamp to locate Fessenden's team. He led them there months before but nothing has been heard from them recently. Jack is the only one who knows the area well enough to locate the spot where he last saw the missing team. He is accompanied by 4 men and 1 woman, Hannah, on the trek into the swamp. They were prepared for all sorts of things but they were still shocked by what they found when they arrived at Fessenden's Station.

This is the introductory story to the world of the Xenozoic. A world which will continue to be explored mostly through the adventures of Jack and Hannah in Xenozoic Tales. The Xenozoic is an era that seems to be in the distant future when dinosaurs once again roam the Earth and human populations are greatly diminished.

When Jack, Hannah, and the rest of the team arrive at Fessenden's Station they discover that everyone has vanished, except Fessenden. The leader of the missing explains that the swamp was too much for humans. He had to do something. He experimented on some of the local reptiles and developed a serum that helped humans adapt better to the swamp. It helped them to adapt by transforming them into a grotesque version of what they once were. All the others have been transformed. Fessenden is on the verge of his own transformation when the rescue team arrives.

This was not my introduction to Xenozoic Tales. The first issue I read was 10, which I found at the Closet of Comics in College Park, MD in 1989. I may have found some of the back issues at the comic shop but I know I also ordered some of them (including this one) by mail from the publisher, Kitchen Sink Press.

I like the mix of science fiction and horror in this story. Mark Schultz renders the story beautifully in black, white, and gray tones. Over the course of the series his art work becomes more thin-lined than it is here. I can't think of anything negative to say about this story. It has probably been a decade or more since I last read it. I didn't recall the story but there was a lot that came back to me as I read it.

I don't recall reading any of the other stories in this comic book before. I only picked up and read this issue now because I was interested in reading "Xenozoic" but I decided to keep reading.


Last Exit
by Steve Stiles
9 pages

A group of interstellar bounty hunters inadvertently seal their own fate when they capture what they believe to be a fugitive.


Horror Fan
by Kenneth Whitfield
7 pages

A man turns into a raving lunatic after watching horror movies on a VCR. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be social commentary or not but there isn't much to it. It isn't bad but there just isn't a whole lot to it.


Razor Face: The Horror of Heredity
by Madman
1 page

A man kills his abusive father only to grow up and become just like him.