Zomnibus Volume 1 (Graphic Novel)
Introduction:
They stalk, they rot, they eat flesh - they're the walking dead, for Pete's sake. What's not to love about zombies?! Well it's not all fun and yucks as this collection of three zombie tales will show, ranging from the seriously scary Feast!, to the urban sprawl of Eclipse of the Undead, and finally ending with the surreal style of the one-and-only Ashley Wood in The Complete Zombies vs. Robots.
Overview & Plot:
So what is Zomnibus Volume 1? As the Introduction above states (pulled directly off the back cover of the book) it is a collection of short stories, all having only one thing in common: Zombies. I'll be addressing each story individually for this portion of the review as well as during the Conclusion. So then, lets dig in.
Feast!
Feast! is the first of the three tales that make up this Graphic Novel. Penned by Shane McCarthy with art by Chris Bolton and Enrique Lopez Lorenzana (with help from Sulaco Studios) this short does an adequate job as an opening piece. While not unique in formula it provides an entertaining ride as we follow a group of convicts who are being transported from one facility to another get caught up in a zombie outbreak. The cast of characters are fairly realistic though some can be very annoying at times, and spans the group of convicts plus a federal agent, two police officers, and a handful of generic "survivors" they run into. The main idea behind the plot is following our "heroes" as they try to survive and escape what would likely be a horrid fate.
Eclipse of the Undead
Written by El Torres with art by Yair Herrera and Sulaco Studios, Eclipse of the Undead is the second of the three short stories. This one focuses around a very large group of survivors holed up in a football stadium. At first the military is there protecting them, monitoring the situation and providing support, however after the military disappears, all hell breaks free as the crowd begins to riot and the zombies start to pour in. We then follow a small band of characters (some painfully rooted in stereotypes) as they flee the city and try to make a break for the mountains.
The Complete Zombies vs. Robots
Here is your reason for getting this Graphic Novel: with a crazy story written by Chris Ryall and art equally outrageous by the brilliant Ashley Woods, The Complete Zombies vs. Robots portion of this book is where the compilation shines. The story, in a nut shell, starts out with a group of vain scientists bragging and belittling one another at their newest greatest triumph: an inter-dimensional gateway. After a fair amount of bickering one heads in only to return back through a pile of mangled flesh. Eventually the remaining two head in only to discover that on the other side are zombies which eventually make their way through the gate and lay waste to the planet. Enter robots: one of the scientists spent time creating essentially an army of robots powered by a mixture of directives but also possessing adaptive AI. As the zombies take over the planet they fight to save humanity. Then things get weird. I won't say any more other than to expect nukes being set off, a robot that is actually "bad ass" and amazons. Yep. Amazons.
Presentation:
Decent sized (tall but slim), full color, and durable glossy pages make this all in all a decent book. The glue based spine and lack of a hardcover however are turn-offs as usual. Each tale is broken into chapters which are generally long enough to feel like you actually read something but short enough to make it so you're not stopping midway through one. For the price, $12.49, you get a good deal.
Conclusion:
Feast!
While never out right scary (it is difficult for anything to really "frighten" me) it does a decent job of fleshing out characters, providing interesting set pieces, and contains a few entertaining plot twists. The art sways back and forth between beautiful to flat out ugly as the chapters change. Clearly they were using two artists (which if you have been paying attention I mentioned already) and their styles are night and day different. The only complaints I have with Feast! is that it starts off slow, ends poorly, and I hate the artist that does Chapters 2 and 4. His work is ugly as fuck. Why they would swap between beautifully depressing paint jobs that make up Chapters 1 and 3 to something that looks as poor as the rest is beyond me.
Eclipse of the Undead
The art is generic, the story is generic, and the writing pisses me off. They try to work an ethnic flare into things and it comes off as being horribly racist and forced. Oh, and apparently there is basically an old ninja that hangs out and kills zombies. Plausible? Perhaps, if the zombie apocalypse actually happened there would be all sorts of interesting types, but I found his placement in a bunch of terrible stereotypes to be really silly. I didn't like this story at all, simply because of the shitty writing.
The Complete Zombies vs. Robots
Here is the winner of the three. The story is asinine but entertaining, the art is fucking amazing, and it never feels like a chore as you read through it. Ashley Woods has a really neat style (reminded me a fair amount of Jamie Hewlett's work) and the author writes some of the craziest shit I've ever read. Amazingly fun, amazingly unique, amazingly witty, and amazingly addictive. The best part of the entire book, hands down. If you can get this as a stand alone, do so, if not you should pick this Graphic Novel up simply for The Complete Zombies vs. Robots. Its that good.
My Score: 6.5 / 10