zombies
Start Reading Now | Hairy Steve vs. The Zombie Army
There’s only one page up so far, but Hairy Steve already has a bit of a history: Creators Jamie Smart and Steve Bright lived up to their last names with an indiegogo campaign that has already overshot its goal of $2,000. (The funding levels run from “stubbly” to “hirsute.”) Smart and Bright only have one page up so far, but it has a distinct EC vibe and the promise of plenty of mashup madness. Hairy Steve is, well, a hairy beast, who hides from humans because he finds them annoying but isn’t averse to rescuing them if he sees them getting into trouble. And there’s a whole lot of trouble when he accidentally crushes a zombie’s skull, bringing a plague of walking dead into his city. Smart and Bright say they can pull this story off in 24 pages, which seems like a feat in itself, but it should be fun to watch them try.
- August 1, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
SDCC ’11 | Brian Ralph, D&Q reach Daybreak
Daybreak
For the last few years, when not busy with his day job teaching sequential art at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Brian Ralph has been busy working on his latest graphic novel, Daybreak. The book is a slight departure of sorts for Ralph — best known for his early work as part of the highly influential Fort Thunder collective and for books like Cave-In — in that it delves into the horror genre. Yes, it’s another zombie book, but it’s a zombie book with a unique twist, with everything viewed from the perspective of an unnamed survivor (i.e. the reader), as he explores a foreboding landscape and finds a potential friend amidst all the devastation.
Daybreak makes it debut at Comic-Con this year, and Ralph will be on a panel at 5 p.m. (Pacific time) 14today with Anders Nilsen and Jeff Smith on the subject of “Epic Literary Adventures” (in Room 9).
I talked with Ralph over email about the panel, the new book, and the adventures of teaching comics to college students.
Daybreak is a horror story told from a unique, first-person perspective. Which came first for you, the desire to do a horror tale or the unique way of telling it?
I don’t play video games, but I felt there was something exciting about how a person could be immersed in the world of a video game. With comics the reader isn’t an active participant in the storytelling. I wanted to make a comic that, in it’s own way, achieve some feeling of participation and immersion. I was looking for interactivity of some kind.
I had not seen a “first-person shooter” style of comic before. It turned out to be very exciting approach to storytelling. I was constantly trying to figure out new ways for the reader to feel like they were interacting with the characters and become characters in the story as well. I made some decisions along the way; to never show the reader’s “character” such as in a mirror. I didn’t want the reader to talk with a word balloon. I felt those things would break the illusion. It was tricky to work with those constraints, but such a fun challenge.
- July 21, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
BOOM! pits Fanboys vs. Zombies in new comic
Fanboys vs. Zombies
Plenty of zombies typically attend Comic-Con — whether they’re dressed as characters from The Walking Dead or simply love Marvel to death — but this week BOOM! Studios announces a new humor comic that pits Comic-Con attendees vs. actual zombies.
Per the press release, Fanboys vs. Zombies details what happens when a group of fanboys “find one of their greatest nightmares turned reality as San Diego becomes zombie ground zero. Armed only with the undead know-how they’ve gained from comic books, video games and horror movies, it’s up to one group of friends to navigate the Comic-Con feeding frenzy, and make it out alive! But will the zombie hordes be deadlier than they ever imagined? Can they save their friends along the way, and still make it out with some Comic-Con exclusives?”
The comic was conceived by Ben Silverman and Jimmy Fox of Electus. Silverman is the former co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, as well as executive producer of such shows as The Office, Ugly Betty, The Tudors and The Biggest Loser.
“BOOM! Studios is the ideal partner for this initiative as no one understands what serves this audience better than they do,” said Fox in the release. “We wanted to create this for the real fans. The comic book junkies, the sci-fi nuts, the horror enthusiasts, the hardcore gamers–every one of them will be represented in our cast of characters. This is for any fan who has ever wondered what would happen if they had to play the role of the hero.”
- July 18, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Steel #1
Welcome to the first Food or Comics? for 2011. Every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list for this week if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Graeme McMillan
Hey, it’s the first week of 2011, and time to get some awesome comics, right? Right? So for my $15, I’ll pick up… Oh. Kind of a slow week, then, huh? Well, there’s always Steel #1 (DC, $2.99), the sure-to-be-controversial one-shot that launches the retro “Reign of Doomsday” crossover, and my love of James Robinson’s Justice League will ensure I pick up the Starman/Congorilla one-shot (DC, $2.99), if only to find out what all those interludes in the middle of the current “Omega” storyline are all about. Curiosity compels me to pick up Image’s Walking Dead Weekly #1 ($2.99), if only to see if it’s pretty much an exact reprint of the original first issue with a different cover, but that remaining $6 may just end up burning a hole in my pocket. Maybe I’ll put it toward my $30 haul…
- January 4, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Lapham gets down and dirty with Caligula in March
Caligula
Via the March solicitations for Avatar Press comes word that Stray Bullets creator David Lapham is writing a six-issue miniseries starring notorious Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, otherwise known as Caligula.
Here’s the solicitation text: “In March, David Lapham (of Stray Bullets fame) debuts a new six-issue sweeping epic with CALIGULA #1. In an age of depravity, one man’s perverse appetites horrified the entire Roman Empire. A ruler who began as a generous man but who ended as the most debased of monarchs, Caligula exemplifies the very concept that absolute power corrupts absolutely. No stranger to horror (as fans of his CROSSED: FAMILY VALUES series can attest), Lapham delivers the bloody tale of the infamous emperor – but with a supernatural twist – as illustrated by new talent German Nobile.”
Avatar also has a new Night of the Living Dead miniseries kicking off in March by Mike Wolfer and Dheeraj Verma. You can see the cover and solicitation info after the jump.
- December 20, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Quotes of the day | The Walking Dead‘s Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore on breaking up
[Johnny Ryan:] You and artist Tony Moore are longtime friends and collaborators. You created The Walking Dead comic together. What prompted Tony to leave the series? Any drama, I hope?
[Robert Kirkman:] Well, there’s always drama when people as close as Tony and I work together. So, you know, sure. My favourite response to this question is that Tony got pregnant and had to leave the book, because that leaves things interesting and mysterious which is the best way to leave them.
The real answer is much more boring. We were very adamant about scheduling early on, and Tony—fantastic artist though he is—is much more the type that works best on a variety of projects, rather than a single, constant deadline, so we decided it would be best if we went our separate ways for the time being.
[Johnny Ryan:] I’ve collaborated a few times with other artists. It always starts off cool, but then I quickly become irritated and want to get the fuck away from the other guy as quickly as possible and then talk major shit about him on the internet. Which collaborations made you do this, too?
[Tony Moore:] Well, Kirkman and I have clearly gone our separate ways. We had our disagreements about how things were supposed to operate, and since then, our different perspectives have given rise to what each believes to be the key issues leading to our split. Over the years, he’s publicly espoused some views on the artistic process that are so fundamentally dissonant from my own that they will likely remain a wedge between us for a long, long time. I don’t talk shit on anybody, but I’m not going to hide or sugar-coat my feelings on the matter.
–The Walking Dead co-creators Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore mince few words in explaining why Moore left the hit zombie comic-turned-TV-show to Vice magazine interviewer (and Prison Pit cartoonist!) Johnny Ryan (himself no stranger to TWD). Read both interviews — after all, it’s Johnny Ryan interviewing Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.
- December 16, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Start reading now: Stix & Bones
Think of it as Swamp Thing Lite: Darell Toland’s Stix and Bones is a cheery, all-ages webcomic about a little girl named Bones and her bull terrier Stix. This is no saccharine girl-and-puppy comic, though: Bones’s father is a genetic engineer, and some of his chemicals made their way into the family graveyard, resurrecting her grandmother as a tree and some of the other relatives as zombies. There’s a zombie cat, too, a couple of crows who comment on everything, and an assortment of human friends. It’s a nice evil-genius comic, smart-alecky but not mean, and although it’s kid-friendly (well, for kids who are OK with zombies), the humor is smart enough for adults. Tolland’s expressive art pulls the whole thing together nicely. The comic has been going since February so the archives aren’t overwhelming; now is a great time to jump in and get up to date.
- December 3, 2010 @ 09:01 AM by Brigid Alverson
Emily Carroll draws Fallout: New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, Dune, more
…and in so doing makes my head damn near explode with her talent. Emily Carroll, as you may recall, was the cartoonist between the Halloween sensation “His Face All Red,” a chillingly subtle horror comic that took the comics Internet by storm around All Hallows Eve. Her latest post is a gallery of fan art for a variety of nerd-beloved franchises: Zombies from Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare and Fallout: New Vegas, the “Fear is the mindkiller” speech from Dune, and more — even a pin-up from Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski’s berserk conquistador classic Aguirre: The Wrath of God (see below). It’s always exciting to watch someone go from unknown to must-read (or must-gawk-at, in this case) overnight.
- November 15, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 666 | Fighting zombies … with infographics!
Editor’s note: As a part of Robot 666 Week, we welcome guest contributors Johnny Zito and Tony Trov, writers of Black Cherry Bombshells, Carnivale De Robotique, Moon Girl and the upcoming D.O.G.S. of Mars.
by Johnny Zito and Tony Trov
Zombies are kind of our thing. So, in honor of Halloween we conducted an informal survey on Twitter to determine what the most effective zombie killing weapon might be.
We received some pretty unique answers including katana swords, monster trucks, bear traps and “kindness.” Taking the top five suggested methods of murder, death and mayhem, we then looked to pop culture for help ranking them by body count.
The results are reflected in the graph below:
The same rigorous, scientific research also proves that while just about anything can kill a zombie, only one thing makes them hilarious:
To participate in more horror related polls that’ll be transcribed into grossly inaccurate infographs, please check out SOUTH fellini.
- October 31, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
Robot 666 | Take aim at The Walking Dead with Jordan Crane, Lisa Hanawalt, Johnny Ryan, and Jon Vermilyea
The Walking Dead print by Jordan Crane
Whoa. These are pretty much the last official promotional items I ever expected to see, but man am I ever glad I’m seeing them: Alternative-comics creators Jordan Crane, Lisa Hanawalt, Johnny Ryan, and Jon Vermilyea have each created a Walking Dead print. Made to look like shooting-range practice targets, the prints tie in with Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (and Tony Moore)’s series, the television adaptation of which will make its debut on AMC this Halloween. Each print is signed by the artist and by Kirkman himself, emblazoned with the “Grant County, Georgia Law Enforcement and Public Safety” logo, limited to a run of 100, and priced to sell at $40. Best of all, each artist worked in his or her own inimitable style: Crane’s features linework so impeccable it actually becomes somewhat menacing itself, Ryan’s is spectacularly gross and upsetting, Vermilyea’s is a riot of squiggly detail, and Hanawalt’s has a cat’s head instead of a human’s.
The prints were curated by L.A.’s Secret Headquarters. Click here to see them all and buy them, but remember: If you end up using them for target practice, headshots only!
(Hat tip: David Paggi)
- October 28, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 666 | Fantagraphics gets frightening in a pair of kids’ comics
Something spooky this way comes: Over on the Fantagraphics website, you can find previews and pre-order info for a pair of creepy kids comics from European comics superstars. First up is Toys in the Basement from Blab! mainstay Stéphane Blanquet, about a kid who shows up for a friend’s Halloween party in an embarrassing bunny costume, only to get stranded in the basement with a secret society of very pissed-off toys. Fanta puts it this way: “Imagine Toy Story as reimagined by David Lynch and Charles Burns and you’ll have a good idea of what this story is like. And yes, it is for kids!” Sold!
Next up is The Littlest Pirate King by Epileptic genius David B., adapted from a story by Pierre Mac Orlan. In this tale, a baby is adopted as the mascot for a crew of undead pirates, but things change as he grows up. Fanta notes that this will be David B.’s first full-color graphic novel to be released in English, and that alone makes it worth the price of admission even if you don’t enjoy pirate skeletons, in which case I don’t wanna know you anyway. All-ages meets All Hallow’s Eve!
- October 27, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Rob Liefeld kicks off Zombie Jesus webcomic
from 'Zombie Jesus'
Rob Liefeld, creator of Youngblood and Deadpool, among others, has launched a new webcomic on his site called Zombie Jesus.
The strip uses scripture from The Bible to tell some of the story, particularly Matthew 27:51-52: “The earth shook, the rocks broke and tombs opened and many men and women who had died came back to life again. They left the cemetery and went into the city and appeared to many people there.” And then attacked them.
Led by a possessed Judas Iscariot, the zombie hordes invade Jerusalem, with Lazarus the Immortal taking up arms against them. I’m not sure how often it will be updated, but I know I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next.
- October 25, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by JK Parkin
Get a taste of Kirkman’s Walking Dead prose story ‘Together, Alone’
The Walking Dead, Book Six
Isotope has an excerpt of “Alone, Together,” an original Walking Dead prose short story by Robert Kirkman from the upcoming zombie-fiction anthology The Living Dead 2. Due out on Sept. 14 from Night Shade Books, the collection also features contributions from the likes of Max Brooks, Bob Fingerman, Kelly Link, Jonathan Maberry, Cherie Priest and David Wellington.
- August 30, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Drawn & Quarterly announces Daybreak…sorta
Daybreak cover sketch by Brian Ralph
Maybe it was the sharpened instincts I gained from reading Brian Ralph’s first-person POV post-apocalyptic thriller Daybreak, which uses that unique videogame-style eye-view perspective to put you in the middle of the action like no other comic from the zombie craze. Or maybe I’m just a good guesser. But when Ralph (an alumnus of the ultra-influential Providence art/comics/music collective Fort Thunder) started posting never-before-seen Daybreak cover sketches to the New Bodega blog last week, I had a hunch this meant that the acclaimed three-part series had a collected edition in its future. Now Drawn & Quarterly’s Tom Devlin confirms the upcoming creation of a Daybreak hardcover, kinda, with a series of rhetorical questions: “Next Fall?…Additional epilogue? Deluxe hard cover treatment? Comic-Con debut? Are these things in the offing from D+Q?” I’ll bet my right arm that the answer to all these questions is “yes”…
- August 10, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Take a bite out of Jordan Crane’s zombie print
"Consciousness of Lack" by Jordan Crane
To paraphrase Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos, EFF George A. Romero*–Jordan Crane just took him to zombie school.
The master cartoonist, designer and printmaker behind Uptight, The Clouds Above, NON and the webcomics collective What Things Do has just unveiled the zombie-tastic print above, titled “Consciousness of Lack.” Printed and signed by Crane himself, the piece costs $80 and can be purchased at his website.
The undead are well worth a few dead presidents, no?
*Just kidding
- July 12, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins