The Wilds
Written by Vita Ayala
Art by Emily Pearson
Colors by Marissa Louise
Review By KrisK
Black Mask has released a new post apocalyptic comic for all those who can’t get enough of the end of the world. This one is about a woman named Daisy Walker, who is a runner, which means she runs errands for a compound known as…The Compound. Outside of the Compound, the world is overrun by Abominations. (They are flower zombies. Yes, you read that right.) Daisy picks up some supplies from an ex-runner who tells her to get out of the game while she still can. She refuses. While on the run, Daisy rescues a man in the road from some Abominations. He is a doctor working on a cure. She takes him back to the Compound.
While she is there, you meet her partner, Heather, and her friends. There are a few pages of the loving couple that aren’t all ages appropriate, and then the drama really starts. The book does a good job of creating this world, and I like that we jump into this world years after society fell. I think the team is doing a good job of building a world that is believable but interesting.
The writing is natural. It didn’t feel forced at any point. The characters felt like living people who have been living long before the reader enters the story. I love the various relationship dynamics that emerge. I also love that this comic is diverse in a natural way from the beginning, instead of the mostly white worlds of many post apocalyptic comics. The art is gorgeous, though the people could sometimes use more detail. The scenery is nice to stop and take in. The colors are breathtaking.
The problem is, I have seen this before. The zombie post apocalypse story has been told a million times at this point, and while this one is being done particularly well, it still feels like Black Mask remaking a famous Image comic. I will give the book this though, I like this more than Image’s version. The art is better, and it doesn’t drag. The pacing was excellent. (I would have shortened the sex scene, but hey, to each their own, I guess.)
Verdict: Pass. While the story is well executed, this feels like we are going down a well trodden path. The main character’s name is even the euphemism for zombies in the book it so closely resembles. This team is great. I just wish they were working on a different book.
