Reviews by PedRo Cabezuelo This book almost had me. The first story in Zombies vs. Cheerleaders, “Finality” (by Brandon Jerwa and Remy Mokhtar),
is a clever little piece set in the year 2050. Tiffany X12, Earth’s last cheerleader and Grgh, Earth’s last zombie, decide to call a truce and end a centuries long conflict. As the two come to terms with their new relationship, a new terror waits in the wings. It’s an interesting idea that would have worked better as a full issue rather than a ten-page story, especially since the remaining two tales in the comic are lacklustre. “Hall-Pass,” in which a dumb blonde is virtually raped by a zombie jock, is a lame excuse to show gratuitous T&A, and “A Piece of Work” is a cheerleader revenge story that’s too brief to make an impact.
It’s the late ’80s and Jay Mitchell brutally
massacres his family and friends during his nine- year-old son’s birthday party. Flash forward a few weeks and real estate agent Richard Ashwalt is struggling with his family life as he des- perately attempts to sell
the notorious
Mitchell home. A creepy old man offers to purchase the house – immediately and without legalities – but Richard prefers to do things by the book, a decision that’s bound to bring ominous con- sequences. Created by
Darren Lynn Bousman (of Sawsequel fame), Abat- toir possesses all the first-issue ingredients to hook the reader. There’s a great mix of action, character development, mystery and menace, and though I’m not usually a big fan of painted art, Bing Cansino’s gloomy and atmospheric work matches the material perfectly.
It’s hard to dislike a comic that
starts with the heroes fighting orphan zombies – a pretty good indication that this series will be embracing the more oc- cult and gruesome elements of the D&D universe. As for the rest of the issue, it nicely explains how the adventurers fell into their undead predicament. The play- ers are familiar: the brave knight, the surly dwarf, the roguish elf, the troublemaking thief, the enigmatic sorceress and the doddering wizard. Yet John Rogers has taken these fantasy clichés and infused them with genuine warmth and unique
personalities. No mean feat, and just one of the comic’s many surprises – there’s horror, excite- ment, adventure and a huge dollop of fun. If Dungeons & Drag- ons can maintain this level of enthusiasm, it could be one of the year’s biggest sur- prise hits.
Based on Edgar
Rice Burrough’s pop- ular John Carter se- ries of books, the new ongoing title Warlord of Mars promises to retell the classic pulp stories while adding new elements. This first issue is neatly split into two parts. In the first we are in- troduced to Carter, a Civil War veteran struggling to find his way in the new America after the fall of the Confederacy. Then it’s a quick trip to Mars where four-armed green Martians battle four- armed white apes to the grisly death. After the more sombre and char- acter-driven
Carter
episode, the reader is treated to several pages of fierce combat, gore and carnage as Mar- tians and apes alike are sliced and torn apart. Arvid Nelson’s writing style and Stephen Sad- owski’s art are both true to the series’ pulp roots, and while this first issue doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it promises a good ride.
In 2009, the
miniseries, which saw Sherlock Holmes bat- tling Professor Moriarty’s legion of zombies, proved to be a terrific – and quite popular – read. No surprise then that Holmes is back, and this time he’s matching wits with the greatest vampire of them all. The story begins exactly how one might expect, with Holmes investigat- ing the mysterious case of the doomed vessel Demeter. However, just when the reader thinks he’s figured out the crux of the story, Ian Edg- inton throws a massive spanner into the works involving Queen Victoria herself, ensuring that Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula will veer way off from Stoker’s original in unexpected and hope- fully exciting ways.
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