Neozoic poses interesting questions. What if the asteroid that supposedly caused the extinction of the dinosaurs in Earth's history had instead collided with the moon? Would the continued existence of giant, flesh-eating lizards have altered the evolution of mammals ... particularly of humans?

Well, of course it would have. And the society described in Neozoic is an inspired stage for this story by Paul Ens to unfold.

Humans, as seen in this volume, have evolved in two paths. Many live in sprawling walled cities (we see one, and can assume there are more), where they are protected by an elite military trained in combat against dinosaurs using the most basic of weapons: swords, bows and the like. Science has apparently taken a back seat to not becoming lunch. The other group of humans are an underground tribe, about whose culture we learn relatively little.

The story these groups into conflict, with both human societies doing their best to control the dinosaurs against the others. It's here the story begins to bog down, as Ens introduces telepathy as a natural evolutionary development to dominate those massive killing machines.

Also, many of the characters just fly by, to the point that it's often hard to distinguish among them. (Art by J. Korim, although bold and kinetic, does little to help.) Obviously, character development suffers.

The full potential of this story is not achieved. I would still be interested in seeing Ens develop his ideas further, however -- preferably with a little more forethought and planning.