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brokenmnemonic) wrote2023-02-01 09:13 pm
brokenmnemonic) wrote2023-02-01 09:13 pm
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Fannish Fifty #4: Zombie-Themed Comics
I got distracted and am running a bit late with this post - partly because I wasn't sure what to do for a Fannish Fifty post. So, I've gone with something simple: some of my favourite zombie-themed comic book series. I actually haven't read as many zombie comics as either my current or former comic dealer would have you beliveve, but it was one of these comics that got me back into reading comics after a long hiatus.
The first series is probably the most predictable - The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. I was working at one of the MCM Expos in London some years ago, and spotted that one of the comics dealers had some of the graphic novels from this series on offer. They were out of stock of Volume 1, Days Gone Bye, but after chatting for a few minutes I bought volumes 2 and 3, thinking they'd be good to read on the train, at least until I fell asleep. I read them, got home, and ordered the other graphic novels available at the time - 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and then came down to the market in town the following Friday to find out what they had in stock, and ended up signing up to get each issue starting with the next available issue, which was #52. I can't say that I loved all of the issues and story arcs in this series, but I'm a particular fan of the early run, and the way it shows people struggling to survive as they learn about what's happening. This felt like getting to read an extended story in something like the world of George A. Romero's Dead series of movies, for which I'll always enjoy it.
The Last Zombie by Brian Keene. This series is set in the aftermath of the end of the world. The zombie plague isn't gone, but has mostly burned out - the zombies are decomposing, and there are pockets where people have survived. Two of those pockets are two linked bunkers set up by the government, one in California and one in New York, tasked with trying to work on a cure. Through all the years the two have stayed in touch, until the New York bunker goes silent. One of the researchers in the California bunker is married to a woman in the New York bunker, and when the decision is made to send out a small team to travel across America to find out what happened, he goes along. There are a number of surprises I don't want to spoil, but I liked the setup of this comic a lot; I liked seeing the characters making their way through a ruined world where zombies aren't the overwhelming threat they used to be, and it was a nice change from stories set when the zombies are busy overrunning everything.
'68 by Mark Kidwell. There are a few comic book runs that deliberately take place as potential sequels to Romero's Night of the Living Dead movie, like the Night of the Living Dead/Escape of the Living Dead runs by Avatar press, but this Image title is my favourite of them. I should warn that it's unapolagetically gory, moreso than TWD. It's predominantely set in Vietnam in 1968, although IIRC there are also some scenes set back in the US, and it focusses on US troops trying to work out what's going on and how to survive while cut off and under attack from the NVA and zombies, and how they cope (or don't) with it. I liked the setting, and the confusion on the part of those who found themselves cut off as to what was going on, and how they reacted.
iZombie by Chris Roberson. This is the comic that spawned the tv series, but there are a number of differences, beginning with the comic book series being completely off the wall. Every time I thought I knew what was happening, things got weirder, and I loved this series for it. To give you an idea of what I mean by off the wall, one of the protagonist's best friends is a gay wereterrier, who ends up sharing an apartment with the ghost of his dead grandfather, who's possessed the body of a chimp that's been experimented on by a mad scientist. This comic had the same gloriously chaotic energy as Dial H for Hero, another favourite from DC/Vertigo from recent years, and ended too soon.
So, those are my favourites so far, but I'm always open to reading more if you have any favourites...
The first series is probably the most predictable - The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. I was working at one of the MCM Expos in London some years ago, and spotted that one of the comics dealers had some of the graphic novels from this series on offer. They were out of stock of Volume 1, Days Gone Bye, but after chatting for a few minutes I bought volumes 2 and 3, thinking they'd be good to read on the train, at least until I fell asleep. I read them, got home, and ordered the other graphic novels available at the time - 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and then came down to the market in town the following Friday to find out what they had in stock, and ended up signing up to get each issue starting with the next available issue, which was #52. I can't say that I loved all of the issues and story arcs in this series, but I'm a particular fan of the early run, and the way it shows people struggling to survive as they learn about what's happening. This felt like getting to read an extended story in something like the world of George A. Romero's Dead series of movies, for which I'll always enjoy it.
The Last Zombie by Brian Keene. This series is set in the aftermath of the end of the world. The zombie plague isn't gone, but has mostly burned out - the zombies are decomposing, and there are pockets where people have survived. Two of those pockets are two linked bunkers set up by the government, one in California and one in New York, tasked with trying to work on a cure. Through all the years the two have stayed in touch, until the New York bunker goes silent. One of the researchers in the California bunker is married to a woman in the New York bunker, and when the decision is made to send out a small team to travel across America to find out what happened, he goes along. There are a number of surprises I don't want to spoil, but I liked the setup of this comic a lot; I liked seeing the characters making their way through a ruined world where zombies aren't the overwhelming threat they used to be, and it was a nice change from stories set when the zombies are busy overrunning everything.
'68 by Mark Kidwell. There are a few comic book runs that deliberately take place as potential sequels to Romero's Night of the Living Dead movie, like the Night of the Living Dead/Escape of the Living Dead runs by Avatar press, but this Image title is my favourite of them. I should warn that it's unapolagetically gory, moreso than TWD. It's predominantely set in Vietnam in 1968, although IIRC there are also some scenes set back in the US, and it focusses on US troops trying to work out what's going on and how to survive while cut off and under attack from the NVA and zombies, and how they cope (or don't) with it. I liked the setting, and the confusion on the part of those who found themselves cut off as to what was going on, and how they reacted.
iZombie by Chris Roberson. This is the comic that spawned the tv series, but there are a number of differences, beginning with the comic book series being completely off the wall. Every time I thought I knew what was happening, things got weirder, and I loved this series for it. To give you an idea of what I mean by off the wall, one of the protagonist's best friends is a gay wereterrier, who ends up sharing an apartment with the ghost of his dead grandfather, who's possessed the body of a chimp that's been experimented on by a mad scientist. This comic had the same gloriously chaotic energy as Dial H for Hero, another favourite from DC/Vertigo from recent years, and ended too soon.
So, those are my favourites so far, but I'm always open to reading more if you have any favourites...