CS-1985: Preludes

CS-1985 is a sexy, gritty, “0 magic” analogpunk/fantasy detective noir comic book set in an alternate Chicago in the 1980s—a crazy universe where brolic robot bouncers rub shoulders with hot half-elven bartenders, ork gangsters trade fire with corrupt, overworked police forces daily, and man has reached the stars and made alien contact. It principally follows two private detectives (a dwarf/human “buddy-cop”-style team) who live, work, and love in an “retrofuturist” version of the 1980s where the computer was invented about 100 years earlier than in our universe… with all the crazy knock-on downstream effects that entails.

Visually, CS-1985 aims for a sort of “happy marriage” between the grimy, industrial future imagined by late-70s and 80s sci-fi and the chunky analog design language of the decade itself. Think the lived-in hardware of Star Wars filtered through a 1980s “Cassette Futurism” aesthetic—rotary-dial cell phones connected to networks, advanced computational arrays that still run on high-density floppies, neon-lit control panels bristling with switches and cathode displays. It’s the grungy analog-digital hybrid future that 80s movies and television often hinted at… but realized as if the technology had actually existed at the time.

Tonally and visually you can think somewhere between Sean Connery’s Outland, Blade Runner, and Dynamix’s immaculate point-and-click masterpiece Rise of the Dragon. Add a loving nod to Chicago, mix in elves, dwarves, and gnomes (among many others) explained through science rather than magic, and you’ve got the world of CS-1985.

R.R. O'Driscoll Studios

Robert O'Driscoll

Creator/Writer/Editor

Frank DaCosta

Illustrator/Colorist/Inker/Letterer/Cover

Creators Note: This one shot also doubles as a production studio sample so people will hire us... hence the art style changes at page 3 and 15, that's Frank showing the range of what he can do artistically. Please reference the forward for more info.

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In this "Intro Special", meet Turk and Carey -- owners of Chicago's most problematic detective agency (circa 1985), C&S Detective Agency -- and their friends as they navigate one of their worst days! This adventure is a one-shot meant to introduce you to some of the main characters and themes in the "CS-1985" universe, created and written by R.R. O'Driscoll and lovingly brought to life illustration-wise by Frank DaCosta.