Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks, a one volume graphic novel ::
by William the Bloody
Jocelyn is a Canadian university student. She's currently obsessed with England, but one of her other passions still running strong is the zombie movie. She loves them, watches them repeatedly, and she and her friend Robyn have a little list of all of the zombie movie "rules." Such as, people with no combat or weapons training will become battle ready bad-asses, never leave the mall, et cetera. Then, one normal day at school, all of a sudden Jocelyn is attacked by a group of real, live, undead zombies who want to eat her brain. After surviving this initial attack, the zombies grow in number and overwhelm the campus. Jocelyn manages to rescue her other friend Sonnet from the library, and all three main characters get safely holed up in Jocelyn's dorm room. Sonnet, who is freaking out and confused, asks Jocelyn just what is going on, to which she replies: "I don't know. But I know how we can survive."
The Good: I was unfamiliar with any work by Faith Erin Hicks, and the only other thing I can even think to compare it to would be the art of Bryan Lee O'Malley (re: Scott Pilgrim), and not in a bad way. The comic is black and white and it works for her. The style is fairly simple, but not undetailed, and it's very well expressive. There are some very good scenes in this comic for the zombie film lover, like the "there's a zombie right behind you" bit, the dialogue in the "sort of awkward, let's try to get some sleep and console each other" scene, and of course, zombie death by spork. Quite a lot of the writing in this little book is very witty and quote worthy.
The Bad: First off, and I'm sorry about this, but I just don't get Jocelyn's hairstyle and I can't stand looking at it. I mean, she has this little lock of bangs held together by two barrettes for no reason whatsoever. I read the author's notes, and she said that she wanted Jocelyn to be kind of geeky, not trendy, and look like she didn't own a mirror, but I still believe no normal person would ever do this to their hair. Okay then. Next, this book is using some sort of Return of the Living Dead and Night of the Living Dead hybrid type zombie, in that they are slow moving, do not use any real words only grunts, but have the low sloping brow ridges, green complexions and crave brain meat. This in of itself is fine. I think she should feel free to redefine them however she likes, I mean, have you ever scene any two werewolf movies where the werewolf lore and depiction is identical? No. My issue is that the people who turn into zombies are instantaneously mutated into blotchy skinned, low browline, teeth missing, ripped pants zombies. It is revealed that the zombies here are created by an ingested toxin, and after it is digested completely in about two hours, you transform, just like that. Poof, you're a zombie. Complete with ripped clothes. Wha...? All of these people were zombified earlier this same day. I hardly think advanced decomposition would have set in, never mind the missing teeth, bits of flesh falling off and yes, the ripped up clothes. I can understand wanting the zombies to be readily identifiable as such, but come on now. Also, there are a few bit here and there where the writing feels more than a little rushed, even borderline sloppy.
All in all, as a zombie film enthusiast myself, I did find great entertainment from this book. The zombie depiction bothered me more than a little, but if I can flash an artist license now and then, why can't other people. Besides, in the spirit of Return of the Living Dead and Scream, it isn't all that serious, and has some great fun with the genre and yet with some real consequences as well. This comic probably could have benefited from a few more pages to fix the parts which felt rushed and almost last minute. Don't get me wrong, I did find it funny and entertaining, but I'm not sure it would be worth the almost $10 US cover price or this book if I hadn't received it as a gift.
B
