I, Zombie #1

It's just a single, introductory-priced issue as a I write this, and not a collected GN yet (larger question: Are there really such things as "single issues" of comics now, or are they essentially individually released chapters of longer books, since the graphic novelization/collection is nearly inevitable in most cases; and if so, will it affect the way "prose" books are someday released? I gotta teach a seminar in this kind of prognostication two days after I post this!), but there's a just-out-of-YA ethos permeating this new Vertigo release, that it's worth a quick yack here on GLW...

Written by award winning SF-writer Chris Roberson, and illustrated by Michael Allred, the book is set in Eugene, Oregon, and initially involves a certain Gwen, a young single woman with a lively social circle of other Emerald state hipsters. Does she know them in spite of her work as a grave digger, or because of it? Therein lies the twist.

That hipster-y social circle is in fact comprised of ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and other night creatures who may or may not care that they're living in the shadow of Nike shoes, old growth logging, and Ken Kesey's legacy. These are your new, post-Twilight Oregonians, and indeed, Roberson seems ready to set us up for a broad satire not only of things cultural, but of the "branding" and marketing of monsters, as well.

Did I mention that Gwen is a zombie, by the way? She needs to eat a brain of month to retain an outward sheen of "normalcy," but the only problem is, she's left with that new brain's memories. And thus driven to settle scores with old, well, ghosts. Though I mean that metaphorically, this time. Sort of.

In any case, it's lots of fun -- perhaps just in time for summer -- and Apple has not sued for the small "i" font-scheme on the first issue cover -- yet -- so grab your soon-to-be-collectible copy now, before they do!

(A shorter version of this review appeared in Nexus Graphica)