Fanboys vs Zombies #1
Written by Sam Humphries
Art by Jerry Gaylord
Ink Assists by Penelope Gaylord
Reviewed by Steve Seigh
The premise? A group of long standing friends and attendees of San Diego Comic-Con are put in mortal danger as a raging zombie virus spreads throughout the event, causing damn near every otaku in the arena to be turned into a raving zombie. Hell bent on snacking on our main cast of characters the zombies prowl the grounds in search of flesh, brains, and maybe even one of those sexy full-body X-Rated anime pillows. You know the ones, I know you do. It’s okay, it’s just us here. Sounds fun, right? Meh.
While the premise is hilarious (the way the outbreak begins is a laugh riot I will admit) the book and it’s characters fell apart for me the moment most of them opened their mouths. My problem is that even though I know this is supposed to be fantasy, and way on the side of the extreme, I’ve never encountered any single person in my whole life that speaks in Twitter hash tags. The language of the book is absolutely absurd. As geeky as this group of friend might be I just could not bring myself to get down on their level of immaturity (and I am NOT the poster child of maturity, I assure you. Seriously, just look at this hat I’m wearing.)
Okay, so I appreciated the one girl with the pink hair, big mouth, and veins apparently pumping with Red Bull, but that was about it in the character department. Mostly, this is just not the way people speak to one another, even in the most extreme of circumstances. Getting away from the dialogue for a bit … the book, visually, is a lot of fun. The presentation has very much of an anime or Saturday Morning Cartoon look to it that I really enjoyed. It’s nice to get away from some of the more “realistic” or “serious” artists of today’s comic world. So when I see someone approaching a harsh subject (like a zombie outbreak) in a light and vibrant tone it’s rather a breath of fresh air.
But the fact still remains that I’m not quite sure this book is worth your money. Now you might argue with me and say that the book only costs $1, so what’s the problem? The problem is that while it’s awesome that Boom Studios is only charging you $1 for this introductory issue, they will no doubt hike up the price to at least $2.50 – $3.50 when issue #2 is released next month. Blech. It’s the old bait and switch. Hook you in with the first issue (maybe) then ask you to pay that much more to know how the story progresses. So unless the book is top quality you really have to ask yourself if it’s worth the investment? Personally, I’d rather wait for the trade, thumb through it, and make my decision later when all is said and done.
VERDICT
While the premise is absolutely hilarious I’m finding myself still too caught up on the over the top character interactions to want to read anymore. With this first issue only costing you $1 by all means check it out for yourself, but understand that the next issue will undoubtedly cost you much more money. This reader just isn’t willing to pay that price for a genre that is so rampant in the industry.
