Brain and brain, what is brain? Hibbs continues 4/4
/Wow, how cool would it have been if "Spock's Brain" was about zombies, huh? That's my mini-theme this entry, with two zombie reviews:
MARVEL ZOMBIES / ARMY OF DARKNESS #2: I actually can't tell you how much I'd like it if that cliffhanger were true, and that was the last we saw of Ash -- what a perfect, absurd ending that would have been.
In fact, I'll even say that that last page may be my favorite last page of a comic book so far in 2007.
I also really really laughed hard and out loud at the Blob sequence, even though it was background and only a page long.
So, yeah (and I honestly don't beleive I am typing this): GOOD.
RAISE THE DEAD: Also under the auspices of Dynamite, this is a lot more pedestrian. I feel like I've read "trapped in a truck stop diner" ten thousand times before, even though I have probably not.
The characters are reasonably well voiced, the suspense level is adequate, and despite the slightly awkward, "our gun is from children" bits, this is generally compelling drama. But there's nothing, in this first issue at least, that really STANDS OUT -- nothing to differentiate this from, say, WALKING DEAD (sorry, sorry! Too obvious a compariosn, I know, but there it is). Or 20 or 30 different movies or TV episodes or something that I've watched over the years. In a genre as well-mined as "zombie survival", you need to have something DIFFERENT to get to a worn out soul like mine. And while this was competant, maybe even very much so, I didn't get much of a tingle from this first issue.
I'll check back with it, because, y'know, I own a comic book shop and I can read comics for free, but not because of "Wow! That was fresh/new/exciting!". Which is pretty much the cardinal sin for a new (ongoing? I think?) title.
A strong OK, but only OK.
What did you think?
-B
