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PTF Reviews Z-People issue one.

Started by PTF, July 20, 2018, 10:38:53 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

PTF

 Zombies.

What is it that makes us love them? Our subconscious desire to eat other people? The idea of a stabilized society thrust into chaos by unthinkable and unstoppable forces? We just think zombies are cool?

Probably the latter.


A virus turning normal human beings into flesh eating zombies has hit America. Luckily, the government has been able to quarantine the outbreak to western Pennsylvania. Three million zombies and it is up to six people to tag them until a cure can be found. They are—The Z-People.

And for extra fun, a chilling tale for Barbara Macabre's Morbid Museum.

The Good

The story: Hey, if you're going to do a zombie story where there's a ton of zombie media, do something different and Darin Henry did.

It's a really good first issue. We're introduced to the characters, we're thrown right in, and we see where the series will be headed.

The characters are easy to identify: Tim's the leader, Jay's his son, Perry is the know-it-all know nothing, Sandra's the smart one, Joe's the prick mostly likely to get you killed, and Annie is the ambitious reporter now stuck in the rut with everyone else. They all have their own personality and quirks. We get basic background on them as well. Out of the three comics I've recently reviewed for Sitcomics, this has done the best job with getting the reader to know all the main characters of the series.

The humor is great. Just for someone doing what I always wanted to see: throwing the dumb jerk to the ravenous hordes after they mess up beyond forgiveness. Perry being annoying, but ending up being proven right in his definition of zombies was fun. How the characters survive is cute. And President Warner being a perfect caricature of what a the POTUS has become  (No not a Trump homage...well, there is a Putin joke) pretty much just a no nothing who does the occasional pictures to make himself look good.

And I like the idea of these six people having to work together and tag zombies until a cure can be found. There is a lot of zombie media out there and this idea sets it out from the rest.

And there's a little bit of drama with Tim's wife out there among the mess of flesh eating fiends.


And the Barbara Macabre is a good homage to Tales from the Crypt. Barbara even has the same colored scheme as the animated version. And there's enough difference where I don't believe anyone call call it a ripoff. The Cryptkeeper did puns, Barbara rhymes as she tells the story.

So credit to credit's due, Darin Henry did another great job.

The art. We have art by Tom Richmond and Al Milgrom and they booth do a very good job. There style fits the stories (zombies and a tales from the crypt homage)

Tom Richmond took me awhile to get into, but after I read the story I really liked it. His zombies look great and I like the facial reactions from the main characters. Backgrounds are really well done. Even a funny background event with a zombie bursting in, Perry screaming, and then Tony just whacking it with a club. The art reminds me of the old Now Comics Married with Children comics I used to read as a kid. Art's a little quirky and may take a few pages to get into, but I think most people will end up enjoying it.

And as I stated during the writing section, we're thrown right into these people and the design and clothing of the characters pretty much gives you an idea who these characters are. For example, Sandra is wearing a white lab coat so, she's the smart one. Joe is wearing a business suit, so I had him begged as a jerk when I first saw him. Perry wearing a vest hints at him being a know it all (Trust me, I've seen a lot of smart alecks wearing vests in my life). Clothes make the man and good choices were made to help readers know the characters on the very first page.

Al Milgrom. I'm more used to him as an inker but I like his art here. The art is very old school and it fits the nature of the story. I like how Chester I drawn, just this big, disgusting waste of a human being. I like the Frankenstein monster picture hung in the boss's office and little things like Poopsie Cola. And I appreciate this story not getting disgusting to the point where I get sick reading it. I've got baaaad memories of the Toxic Crusaders comic Marvel Comics produced.

Coloring and Lettering. We get colors from K. Michael Russell and Glenn Whitmore respectively.

Russell does a great job. I really like the coloring and shading of the zombies. Just check out the first few pages with zombies, the water puddle, the moon. It's beautiful. The main, living characters really stand out from his tones. I love the colors he used when Tim just lost it on Joe after Joe destroyed the possible zombie cure.

Whitmore is just great like normal. Even has his own little nice "character enraged" panel. Before the last page, I kind of wish the story had been colored a bit darker, but then when you realize how a character is going to die....yeah, brighter was probably for the best.

Lettering was done by our favorite Marshall of Dodge City and it's the usual great job. I like the giant sound effect when the zombies are breaking into the garage and the main characters freak out. The splash of the green goo. The different colored lettering for important moments (SHUT UP, PERRY said by everyone). The Shove effect motioning like Joe as he's pushed forward was a nice touch. And I like Barbara Macabre's word balloons being darker outlined and warped. And honestly, the sound effects and how they're done, really helps get the fart jokes over for me.

The Bad

Fart jokes. If you hate fart jokes, you're really not going to like The Barbara Macabre story because that's what a good portion of the jokes are. I was okay with it, but I know people who when they hear a fart joke just give up on the movie or story. Sigh, and to think it was once our greatest human achievement, but we've misused over and over.
 

Barbara Macabre's....where's the Morbid Museum? Okay, I get that's a fun little take on Tales from the Crypt...but since it's called "Morbid Museum" it would have been nice to have a tiny panel of museum filled with the morbid. Something like Night Gallery would work. It's a nitpick, but I think it would be great to do in the future.
 
The art. I like the art fine  but the first few pages doesn't really add up in Z-People. Our heroes are stuck in a garage they keep making jokes about being disgusting. But it looks just fine. Perry steps in something that—just lines on the floor. I've been in horrible garages and sheds. My uncle grinds up pigs in his work shop. I will take pictures and show you what disgusting truly is!
 
Coloring. Don't normally bring up mistakes from Whitmore, but Barbara's one good eye keeps changing colors.
 

What I learned.

Man, Pennsylvania is almost as bad a place to live in as Maine. (Get the reference and be proud of yourself)
  • PINK SLIME IS PEOPLE!
  • Tim has the right idea on how to handle hindrances to survival.
  • They are not zombies they are people inflicted with a virus that turns them into flesh eating monsters.
  • Green Goo, the ultimate repellant.
  • Mark Cobb, save for one little incident, had to have been the best security guard if he can go from that to corporate!
  • In every zombie apocalypse there is one or two idiots who shouldn't survive you wind up stuck with somehow.
  • Rejected means REJECTED for a reason, people!!
  • When someone is being pulled away, grab the leg, not the shoe, dummy!
  • Brody Langenbauch really carried this issue on his back.
 
Yeah, I really liked it. The stories were good and well written with nice humor. The art really fit the formats. Honestly, I could see people not liking the second story because of the constant rhyming and the fart jokes—but let them write their own review. I really enjoyed reading this comic and I think most people would enjoy it.

Again this, and other Sitcomic titles, first issues are downloadable for free. I'd recommend giving it a chance.

I give it a B+

And next time I'll be reviewing StartUp. Will it zoom ahead or will it trail behind the rest of the pack? Find out soon.

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