Cave Pictures Publishing 2019
Written by Billy Tucci
Illustrated by Ethan Nicolle
Lettered by Ben Gilbert
After the ancient staff of Lilith, mother of the damned, reanimates the dead, country boy J.B. and his estranged upper-crust wife Anne must come together to stop the zombie hordes and save the people of Appalachia.
Any time Billy is attached to a project I am going to read it. He is a buddy of mine and while it’s mostly a comic book association, seeing each other at conventions or chatting on FB, I still think he’s one of the most stand-up guys I know. Plus the man is just incredibly talented and this time around he is writing this one and someone else is illustrating it, in this case Ethan Nicolle who’s the artist of Axe Cop. For me the way this book comes across reminds me of Mad Magazine and that is definitely not a bad thing just one that took me by surprise.
I love being surprised I really do, at least when it comes to my comic books. Also I am a sucker for a zombie tale and it isn’t easy to come up with a new premise behind how all that comes about. So when I read this one and by the last page we get a decent idea of what, how and why this one is coming about I was in hook, line and sinker. The opening here had me scratching my head and thinking what the heck but as you keep going it all makes sense. The fact that I was wondering what the heck was perfectly done in my humble opinion. It grabs the readers attention and makes them want to see more which is exactly what it’s supposed to do.
I really enjoyed the way that this book is being structured. From the opening, during the civil war, we jump to the present where we are introduced to Dr. Aslan who has discovered where the civil war folks has buried themselves in. First I love scientists and I love PhD’s who traverse the world looking for these very things because most of the time these people thrive on the fame of the discovery and don’t really take time to ask if this is something that should be done. Or they do it half arsed and create a mess out of something that could’ve been handled in such in a different manner. Still in today’s society it’s all about Me, being famous and being first—not asking yourself is this the right thing to do.
The interiors here aren’t the type I normally gravitate towards. It is more cartoonish than I usually care for but this has this undeniable charm to it that grows on you with each panel you take in. The way people are depicted makes me giggle in some aspects and yet by the end of the book I couldn’t possibly see them looking any other way. What kind of evil spell has Ethan put me under I wonder, just kidding. I really enjoy the mood, tone and feel of what we get from the visuals, and I’m sorry but Bill Mills there’s something about that crazy old coot that you just love. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a solid eye for storytelling. The way that we see backgrounds being utilised here expands the moments and show a size and scope of the story.
You are going to have to read this to fully understand the reasoning behind what is being said about this zombie uprising. That this had not only some great pacing but solid plot & story development and stellar characterisation alongside this wonderful interior artwork make this one of those unexpected delights that you have to experience.