Night of the Living Dead
is considered by the vast majority to be the defining
zombie horror film. We may as well face facts:
it pretty much gave us the phenomenal cult trilogy
that has since spawned countless imitators and
inspired generations of film makers, writers and
artists alike. Without it, we wouldn't have
what is largely touted as being one of the best
(if not the best) horror films of all time –
Dawn of the Dead - which is why
it pains me to say that Avatar Press have once
again managed to take a seminal cinematic horror
experience and turn it into yet another exercise
in needless exploitation and comic book horror
mediocrity.
Long time Avatar writer, and co-writer of the
original Night of the Living Dead
movie, John Russo (Escape
of the Living Dead) is, unsurprisingly,
the man behind this eight page instalment in the
Night of the Living Dead continuity.
For all the fans who may be unaware of this, Avatar
Press recently obtained the comic book rights
to the classic film, the first of which, Night
of the Living Dead: The Beginning, was
an official, completely George A. Romero authorized
prequel to Night of the Living Dead.
The unfortunate thing is, as far as I can tell
from the solicitations, Back from the
Grave is also one of these approved tie-ins,
and… well… it's not very good.
Admittedly, there isn't much you can fit
into an eight pager – it's very much
the short story way of thinking. You have a couple
of characters, a situation, a starting point,
and an end, and it's not exactly hard to
see where this one goes, especially if you're
a long time follower of Avatar's material.
In Back from the Grave, Russo
drags out three no-hoper teens (who don't
exactly look as though they'd belong in
any of the films) and plonks them in the middle
of the woods at night for some good ol'
alcohol consumption around a campfire. There's
nothing really to say about the characters, other
than the fact that you know they're dead
as soon as you see them, and the six panels of
a bug-hungry zombie (who displays his unnatural
reflex responses, dexterity and strength through
the short) only reinforces this. Anyway, basic
line is, two guys, one girl, one of the guys is
all bummed out because another girl he was chasing
wouldn't come, said guy gets up to get something
from the car and is mashed by aforementioned superzombie.
While this happens, other dude with girl decides
to get more firewood and is promptly munched on,
and the girl runs and screams and presumably gets
devoured trying to start her car. Pretty straightforward.
What saddens me about this book (outside of the
price – more on that later…) is that
it manages to cram all of Avatar's needless
gratuity into its minute page count. You've
got zombies ripping jaws off and gouging eyes,
axes to heads, heads bashed against cars, and
a hearty titty-squeeze to top it all off. Logically,
if this truly were to stay within the confines
of the NOTLD reality, a lot of this stuff wouldn't
be happening. One of the zombies, and I suspect
it may be the superzombie, manages to pummel his
fist through the car windscreen. Some may say
I'm reaching or nitpicking, but when something
claims to be set within a particular universe,
it should be adhering to the rules of that universe,
and if I recall correctly, no single zombie had
enough strength to properly get itself off the
ground, let alone smash it's fist through
a windshield.
Russo's work here is nothing to write home
about. It doesn't really make me excited
at all for the upcoming prequel books, and it
doesn't really break any new ground in its
story telling; it's just a straight up zombie
smash-and-grab, and pretty inconsequential from
a writing standpoint.
The art, while good, is pretty much standard
fare for Avatar these days. Sebastian Fiumara
(Avatar's My Flesh is Cool,
Jason X Special and Alan Moore's
Hypothetical Lizard) delivers
the goods but it's all far too similar to
everything else Avatar puts on the shelves. It's
good, I just wish it were different.
Hopefully, when the actual ongoing series comes
around, it won't fall into the same trap
that this one has, and hopefully Avatar use the
much coveted license properly, because, as is
the case with so many films that claim to be part
of Romero's Dead series
through rights and zombies, this feels like just
another standard zombie book with a recognisable
name used as nothing more than a lure. The book
is priced at a ridiculous $2.99 US, which will
stand at around six dollars at your average Aussie
comic store, and completely unjustifiable when
you have comics like Marvel's absolutely
mind-blowing Civil War #4 sitting
just nearby for exactly the same price, with three
times as many pages and superior art and writing.
Even for the serious collectors, I cannot recommend
wasting the doshi, and it really is for completists
only.
Here's hoping things pick up, otherwise
we're in for another horrendous disappointment
from Avatar Press…
|
