REMFRO RYNCHUS

Real Name: Remfro Rynchus

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-86128) human, 26th century

Occupation: Laborer

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Archie, the Dunbar, Gus, Hannah Dundee, Hermes, Jack Tenrec

Enemies: Ryder Corbett, sharks, shivats

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: City in the Sea, west coast of North America

First Appearance: "The Opportunists," Xenozoic Tales#1/2 (February 1987)

Powers/Abilities: Remfro has excellent long distance vision, allowing him to observe zekes and identify the species from far away. He is an expert on their flight patterns, allowing him to predict where they will head. A quick study, he taught himself to fly a glider plane from ancient notes and observing zeke flight patterns, figured out how to pilot a boat during a storm, and built himself a working glider.

   Remfro can't swim.

Height: 5'4" (by estimation)
Weight: 115 lbs. (by estimation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History:
(Xenozoic Tales#1 - BTS) - Since the late 20th century the world had undergone radical changes following massive geological upheavals had caused a global catastrophe that nearly wiped out mankind. By 2020 A.D. the only survivors had retreated into massive underground shelters; 450 years later their descendants emerged to a changed world inexplicably inhabited by flora and fauna from across Earth's entire history. Past eras of the world had included the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic (ancient life - marine animals, early plants, insects, amphibians and reptiles; middle life - the age of dinosaurs, and the first birds and mammals; new life  - the age of mammals, from 65 million years ago to the end of the 20th century), but now it was the Xenozoic, "strange life," when creatures from all those past and maybe even future eras coexisted alongside man.

(Xenozoic Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - It was now the early 26th century. Remfro Rynchus had lived his entire life in the City in the Sea, a partly sunken metropolis across an inlet from the mainland of what had once been North America, never once going outside that conurbation. Fascinated by zekes (pterosaurs) and their flight patterns, he had become a self-taught expert on all the flying reptiles. He envied their freedom to go wherever they wanted. However, most others considered the creatures as bad luck and at best as annoying pests who would congregate around fishing vessels and potentially scare away schools of fish.

   Zekes were pests for the City's fishing fleet, but threshers (mosasaurs) were a major threat, destroying boats and devouring their crews. Spotters had been set up to alert the fleet of approaching threshers so they could head for waters too shallow for the beasts, but often didn't notice them in time for the vessels to reach safety.

(Xenozoic Tales#1/2) - One day Remfro was by the waterfront watching pteranodons. Daydreaming about flying, he began to spin around with his arms outstretched until he was interrupted by someone behind him speaking. Halting in sudden embarrassment, Remfro turned and saw the voice had come from Hannah Dundee, well known to most in the City because she was a recently arrived ambassador from another human tribe down in Wassoon (the former Washington D.C.), a major event as contact with other human communities was a rarity. Unknown to Remfro, Hannah had just come from a meeting with the City's Governor Nock, during which they had witnessed a thresher destroy yet another fishing boat. Recalling from her time in Wassoon that zekes could sense threats like mosasaurs long before humans and would react in panic, Hannah sensed an opportunity. Striking up a conversation with Remfro, she confirmed his love of the creatures, but he noted sadly that most didn't share his feelings; as if to prove his point, at that moment some people in a nearby building opened fire on the zekes he had been watching. Saddened by this, Remfro confided how he envied the zekes ability to go anywhere, and Hannah asked him if he'd like to have a little colony of zekes right there in the City. Remfro admitted he would, but he was sure the governors wouldn't like it. Ignoring this last, Hannah asked Remfro if he knew where the nearest zeke colony was, and when Remfro said he thought he had a good idea she told him to meet her at the pier at sunrise, and to leave the governors to her.

(Xenozoic Tales#1/2 (fb) - BTS) -The next morning Hannah took Remfro out in a small boat she had loaded with tw batches of fish, one in a barrel and one in a sack. After setting out, they stopped at the northern end of the archipelago the City was built on, choosing a high rise in a section of the city that humans had abandoned because the lower floors of the buildings there were all submerged, and left the sack of fish there by a window on the top floor.

(Xenozoic Tales#1/2) - The pair then headed further out, sticking to the shallows to avoid large predators, and he directed her to the rocky outlet where a large zeke colony nested. Once there Remfro watched as Hannah selected a curious young male zeke that flew close to their vessel, then threw it a fish. Explaining that she had picked an animal that should have a large harem, she told Remfro to set a course for home, and as they moved off she continued to throw her chosen zeke fish, telling the surprised Remfro that it was just like walking the dog. Sure enough, with Hannah continuing to throw out fish, the zeke and its coterie continued to follow them. To Remfro's surprise the zekes suddenly scattered, prompting him to wonder what had spooked them, and Hannah told him to brace himself. Worried, Remfro asked what was wrong, but Hannah just told him to trust her. For a few moments all was calm, then suddenly their boat was violently struck by a large shark seeking to overturn it. Remfro watched as Hannah struck it on the nose with a paddle, and the shark beat a hasty retreat. As Hannah wiped her brow and tried to get her heart rate back down, a still shaking Remfro asked her how she had known the attack was coming, and she told him that zekes were opportunistic but also cautious. Seeing the zekes return to flying near the boat, Hannah resumed feeding the male and Remfro went back to steering them towards the City. Once there they pulled their boat up to the side of the high rise where they had left the sack, and Remfro went inside and climbed the stairs to where it lay. Holding his nose to block out the smell of the ripening fish, he began throwing them out the window one at a time, and within seconds the zekes began to catch them as they fell and follow the trail of free food up to the source.

(Xenozoic Tales#1/2) - Once the zekes reached the floor and began to enter the room, Remfro departed downstairs and back to the boat, leaving them to their feast.

(Xenozoic Tales#1/2) - The next morning Remfro met Hannah by a vantage point overlooking the waterfront. To Remfro's excitement he noted a large flock of zekes flying around the distant high rise, having clearly chosen to nest there. However, at that moment Governor Nock showed up. Having just heard what amounted to Remfro's confession of bringing the zekes to the City, he berated the pair for coaxing the "parasites" in, and pointed out that more zekes were now flying around the fishing fleet. Remfro was concerned at potentially being in trouble, but Hannah noticed that the zekes over the waterfront had suddenly scattered, and shouted to sound the alarm. Someone did so, and as a result the fishing fleet made it to safe waters mere seconds ahead of an approaching thresher. As Remfro grinned to witness their actions pay off, Hannah very loudly and publicly congratulated Nock for his inspired idea of using the zekes as an early warning system. While a crowd gathered around the nonplussed Nock to thank him, Remfro asked Hannah why she hadn't told the truth and claimed credit for herself, and she told him that Nock would probably find this version easier to live with.

(Xenozoic Tales#3) - Hannah hung out with Remfro for the evening, drinking and bemoaning her recent woes to him. He listened as she told him that their mutual friend Jack "Cadillac" Tenrec wasn't talking with her because she'd baited him into taking his favorite Caddy, a Coupe DeVille, against a storm and as a result it got smashed. Remfro tried to reassure his friend that Jack was probably just as angry at himself, but Hannah interrupted to add that the governors with whom she was still trying negotiate a City-Wassoon alliance, resented her, not least for her bringing zekes to the city. Remfro listened sympathetically as Hannah stated that though the zekes had saved lives, she had handled it wrong, and she now wished she could just go home to Wassoon.

(Cadillacs and Dinosaurs RPG) - Zeke unearthed a few precataclysmic books about flight.

(Xenozoic Tales#6/2 (fb) - BTS) - When Remfro learned that an old "sailplane" (glider) had been discovered in an ancient warehouse deep in the City, he asked Jack Tenrec to restore it, desperate to try gliding like his beloved zekes. Hannah even recopied the crumbling flight manual so Remfro could study how to pilot it. Between what he read in the manual and his own observations of zekes, Remfro figured out how thermal updrafts (which he dubbed "green air") were needed to counteract the gradual downward pull of gravity on the sailplane once it was launched.

(Xenozoic Tales#6/2) - Once the sailplane was fully restored and a day with ideal weather for gliding arrived Remfro, Hannah and Jack brought the glider out for its maiden voyage. Seeing zekes flying nearby Remfro was eager to get aloft, and when Hannah told him to take his notes with him just in case he responded that he wouldn't have time to consult those while flying, insisting that the zekes, "perfect gliders," would teach him how to soar and locate the green air to stay in the sky. Jack hooked the sailplane's line to the back of his Cadillac and gave it the pull to launch. Though he struggled somewhat at first to keep the nose up and get the right degree of stick, after a few minutes Remfro achieved his dream, becoming the first human to fly since the fall of civilization. Spotting a zeke flock, Remfro guided his sailplane into their midst, so they could guide him to the thermals. Losing altitude fast, he noticed some nearby zekes rising in a spiral and followed them into the thermal they were using. Rapidly regaining height, a now more confident Remfro noticed the zekes were all now heading out to sea, and decided to stay with them, assuming they would catch more thermals out over the water. However, once the zekes were far offshore they began diving to snatch fish. Realizing he was now getting very low and seeing the waves fast approaching, Remfro began panicking, wondering where the thermals were. The zekes began to leave him behind and he realized that they weren't just gliders as he had assumed, but could actively gain altitude by flapping their wings when they wanted to. Despite desperately scouring the notes he had earlier decried as unnecessary, Remfro ditched in the sea. He climbed out the cockpit onto the top of his glider as it began to sink, surrounded by hungry sharks. Luckily for Remfro though, his friends had kept track of him even after he went out over the water, and were approaching on a boat, hopefully to arrive before he became food for the fishes.

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#2/2) - Hannah and Jack got to Remfro just in time to avoid being eaten, but as they headed back to shore Remfro noticed the zekes also racing towards land, heralding a major storm heading their way. As the waves began surging, Remfro became nauseous and leaned over the side to vomit. Hannah warned him to be careful not to be swept overboard, only for that fate to befall her and Jack seconds later. 

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#2/2 - BTS) - Remfro managed to stay on board and the boat safely rode out the storm. To his surprise, he found handling the boat easy.

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#2/2) - As the storm subsided Remfro spotted Hannah and Jack in a liferaft trying to get away from a sessil (large plesiosaur). Throwing them a rope, he towed them out of danger, and told them he could use the zekes to navigate his way back to shore.

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4/2  (fb) - BTS) - Now aware that zekes could fly, Remfro's appreciation for them only grew. He began to observe them more closely using the balcony on the top floors of the abandoned Chrysler Building as a vantage point. He befriended a small zeke that he called Gus and an Archaeopteryx that he dubbed Archie, both of whom would land on the handrails to be fed fish by him. Remfro also kept there a small Dunbar (dodo), which he apparently didn't bother to name, despite it being flightless. Remfro also began constructing a hang-glider, based on Hannah's descriptions of Wassom verbal records of same (see comments).

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4/2) - With his hang-glider complete Remfro decided to test it. After feeding his flying (and non-flying) friends, he launched himself off the Chrysler Building, and to his delight the hang-glider worked. After circling around accompanied by Gun and Archie, Remfro swung by the Chrysler Building balcony and spotted the Dunbar watching. As he flew by Remfro shouted at his pet, asking it what was the point of having wings if it couldn't fly. Almost as if in response, the Dunbar hopped onto the wing of Remfro's hang-glider, immediately destabilizing it and causing it to plummet straight down. Screaming in terror as the ground rapidly approached, Remfro desperately tried to pull up, finally managing to do so mere feet above the ground, slowing himself down just enough to crash painfully but injury free on the asphalt. Taking a moment lying there, Remfro watched as the Dunbar casually hopped off the remains of the ruined hang-glider's wing, and wryly noted that perhaps he and it had more in common than he'd thought.

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#5 - (fb) - BTS) - Remfro's next attempt at flight was to construct a "hot-air" (hot air balloon).

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#5) - After a shivat (tyrannosaur) was discovered to be loose in the City, a hunt was launched to find and eliminate the man-eater. Reasoning that an aerial view would be useful, Hannah enlisted Remfro and his hot-air. They soon spotted the shivat pursuing some unfortunate children, and also Jack in his Cadillac responded to the shivat's roars, but they also realized Jack wouldn't get there in time to save the kids. However, their hot-air had flown into the path of a rukh (the largest variety of pterosaur) whose beak the ripped open the balloon. Losing air, the balloon rapidly dropped until it landed enveloping the shivat's head, temporarily blinding it and slowing the basket's descent. Hannah and Remfro hastily hopped out, but Remfro's foot got stuck. As the shivat freed its head Remfro told Hannah to save herself, but Hannah refused to abandon him, and shot at the shivat as it loomed towards them, aware the bullets wouldn't harm it but intent on ensuring it didn't go after the children. Having freed his foot, Remfor joined Hannah in running towards a nearby building, but the pursuing shivat would have gotten them had Jack not arrived and crashed his Cadillac into the dinosaur. Hannah and Remfro made it inside but the shivat was knocked into the side of the building, causing it to collapse. While the shivat was gassed unconscious by Jack, the two humans were believed to have been buried beneath the rubble, but in fact they had survived albeit unconscious in a small region where the roof had stayed up, and there they were found by a group of Grith, a race of highly evolved, sentient reptilian humanoids.

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#6 (fb) - BTS) - The Grith, who Hannah later surmised might have ensured the two humans survived the collapse, took the pair down into their underground caverns.

(Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#6) - Hannah woke first to find the still unconscious Remfro lying unharmed nearby, and was asked by the Grith to wake the shivat, which had been transported to Jack's garage so he could study it. Before Remfro woke the Grith transported the pair to beneath Jack's garage. Finally waking, a confused Remfro joined Hannah in entering the garage via the drains, but as soon as they did so Remfro ran off to find Jack. Hannah woke the shivat, which went on a rampage just as the hunter Ryder Corbett forced his way in, intent on claiming the beast for himself. A fight broke out between the shivat and Jack's pet cutter (alosaurus) Hermes, and despite its best efforts the smaller Hermes began to lose. Knowing most guns couldn't harm the thick-skinned shivat, Jack demanded Corbett shoot the man-eater with his high-powered rifle in order to save Hermes, but Corbett refused. Spotting Remfro was behind Corbett, Hannah called at her friend to tackle the hunter, which Corbett thought was a ruse until Remfro smashed into the back of his knees. Jack seized his chance, knocked Corbett out and seized his weapon. As he did so Remfro cried out to him, alerting Jack that the shivat was about to finish Hermes off. Remfro watched as Jack shot the shivat several times, emptying the rifle but still failing to slay it, though he did get its attention away from Hermes. As Remfro continued to observe, Corbett revived and began shooting at Jack with a previously hidden weapon, only for the shivat to devour him and then fall into a vat of molten metal when it next went after Jack. Shortly thereafter one of the City's Governors, Scharnhorst, arrived at the garage; openly hostile to Jack and known to want Hermes dead, Remfro again stood witness alongside Jack's crew as Jack lied and claimed that Hermes had died from the injuries inflicted by the shivat. Remfro then joined Jack's team in tending to the injured cutter's wounds.

Comments: Created by Mark Schultz.

   He's presumably named for Rhamphorhynchus, a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period.

   Figuring out his stats: In his first appearance there's an excellent shot of him standing facing Hannah Dundee, both on level ground and standing upright, and Hannah is a couple of inches bigger than he is. Hannah's physical stats were given in Capcom's Cadillacs and Dinosaurs computer game, and she's 5'6".

   Originally in black and white, Xenozoic Tales#1 through 6 were reprinted in color in Epic's Cadillacs and Dinosaurs#1-6.

   Remfro had a small profile (right) in the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs tabletop RPG that was released by Games Designers Workshop in 1990. The entry calls him Renfro rather than Remfro, but it's consistently spelled with an M in the comics, so the game is wrong here. The game entry is also the only place where Remfro's profession is identified, stating he is a laborer. Makes sense - his passion might be studying zekes and flight, but that doesn't pay the bills, and even in the Xenozoic people have to do something to earn their food and lodgings.

   Xenozoic Tales#6/2 doesn't explain where Remfro gets his glider from beyond Remfro saying that Jack Tenrec's "restoration" was flawless. As such it clearly was a pre-existing vehicle, not a new invention by Remfro (i.e. him re-inventing lost tech) nor it being built from scratch after someone discovered old blueprints. The logical conclusion is that it came from the same source as Jack Tenrec's supply of Cadillacs, which was revealed in Xenozoic Tales#2/3 to be ancient warehouses deep in the City.

  In Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4 Remfro has built a hang-glider. He says Hannah thinks the ancients used things like them to fly, but can't be certain since all the Wasoom books about them were lost in the cataclysm. Since Hannah thus couldn't have seen said books, and there's no evidence that humanity still has the ability to play visual records (film, digital files, or even photographs, etc.), I can only imagine that she'd heard of hang-gliders via stories being passed down through the generations.

   Xenozoic Tales#10 sees the City in the Sea taken over by the despotic Wilhelmina Scharnhorst, with Jack and Hannah forced to flee. Scharnhorst begins arresting any dissenters and a resistance springs up to oppose her. Remfro doesn't appear in these issues, but it seems unlikely the new regime would have viewed a known associate of the two fugitives in a favorable light, especially given Remfro's eccentricities had been looked down on even in friendlier times. Hopefully he didn't end up doing forced labor, and either kept his head down or managed to get out of the City. Since the storyline remains unresolved for thirty years now, we might never know.

   This profile was completed on 08/12/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Remfro Rynchus has no known connections to:

• any other "Remfro" or "Rynchus" characters

images: (without ads)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs#1, p15, pan3 (main image)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs#3, p1, pan4 (headshot)
Xenozoic Tales#6 cover (glider)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#2/2, p1, pan1 (avoiding sharks)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4/2, p3, pan6 (hang-glider)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#5, p13, pan1 (hot air)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4/2, p2, pan4 (Archie and Gus)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4/2, p2, pan8 (the Dunbar)

Appearances:
Xenozoic Tales#1 (February 1987) - Mark Schultz (writer, art), Dave Schreiner (editor)
Xenozoic Tales#3 (June 1987) - Mark Schultz (writer, art), Dave Schreiner (editor)
Xenozoic Tales#6 (May 1988) - Mark Schultz (writer, art), Dave Schreiner (editor)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#2 (March 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer), Steve Stiles (art), Len Brown (editor)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#4 (June 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer), Leo Duranona (art), Len Brown (editor)
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs II#5-6 (July-August 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer), Claude St. Aubin (pencils), Allen Nunis (inks), Len Brown (editor)

First Posted: 09/11/2026
Last updated: 08/12/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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