Undead Messiah Volume 1
TokyoPop 2018
By Gin Zarbo
A pregnant woman is pursued by a supernatural creature. On the internet, videos of a bandaged hero surface. 15-year-old Tim Muley makes a terrible discovery in his neighbor's garden. Three seemingly unrelated events, all of which seem to point to an imminent zombie apocalypse! But this time the story's not about the end of mankind; it's about a new beginning...
I have always had a complicated relationship with Manga. There are those that I think are stellar and then there's the whole Yaoi genre which baffles my mind even as a gay man. I was working on a press release for TokyoPop when I saw the cover to this volume and thought okay this is something I need to read. I'm a sucker for a zombie story even the bad ones, doesn't matter I will watch and/or read them all. So I was thrilled to be given the chance to read and review this one. This is truly one of the perks of doing what I do and it's bringing a whole new realm to my site in terms of books that you'll see.
I really rather like the way that this is being told. The right to left style of reading comes a little more naturally have studied Hebrew most of my life, though then this also begs the question when did left to right change to right to left? Already engaging my mind in ways that surprise me and that's a great thing because this means that this makes you feel something. The story & plot development that we see here through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is perfectly presented. The flow that the book has in regards to how we meet Tim and M-Kay, learn about them, their relationship to one another it creates this believability in seeing them as real people and that's impressive as all get out to me. The character development here is phenomenal as we see them learn and grow through the circumstances and situations they encounter. The pacing is utterly amazing as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way while it showcases how all this works together to create the ebb & flow we see.
I found myself loving the story here. I was wondering how this was going to stand by itself in the literal ocean of zombie stories that are out there. What discovered is a very good, interesting take on the subject and the raw emotional material manages to hit closer to home than expected. This is one of the best books I have read in a while and I do mean in any genre.
I love the interiors here. The linework is absolutely stunning and exquisite to behold. The black and white style is so incredibly revealing of an artists talent and the utilisation of the varying weights and how we see them bring out this level and quality of attention to detail is phenomenal. The sheer raw emotion that we see come off the page is so palpable to the reader. Then add in backgrounds here and we get this delicious depth perception a sense of scale and that overall feeling of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show us this amazingly talented eye for storytelling. The impact the interiors have on the story is sensational and that Gin does it all himself so everything we see on the page is exactly how he wants it to appear is truly a thing of beauty.
If you think Manga is for kids or just full Yaoi books think again. This is phenomenal and while Train to Busan transformed the zombie film genre Undead Messiah is doing that for written storytelling. So I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you pick this up and see for yourself that this is a book you need in your life.
TokyoPop 2018
By Gin Zarbo
A pregnant woman is pursued by a supernatural creature. On the internet, videos of a bandaged hero surface. 15-year-old Tim Muley makes a terrible discovery in his neighbor's garden. Three seemingly unrelated events, all of which seem to point to an imminent zombie apocalypse! But this time the story's not about the end of mankind; it's about a new beginning...
I have always had a complicated relationship with Manga. There are those that I think are stellar and then there's the whole Yaoi genre which baffles my mind even as a gay man. I was working on a press release for TokyoPop when I saw the cover to this volume and thought okay this is something I need to read. I'm a sucker for a zombie story even the bad ones, doesn't matter I will watch and/or read them all. So I was thrilled to be given the chance to read and review this one. This is truly one of the perks of doing what I do and it's bringing a whole new realm to my site in terms of books that you'll see.
I really rather like the way that this is being told. The right to left style of reading comes a little more naturally have studied Hebrew most of my life, though then this also begs the question when did left to right change to right to left? Already engaging my mind in ways that surprise me and that's a great thing because this means that this makes you feel something. The story & plot development that we see here through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is perfectly presented. The flow that the book has in regards to how we meet Tim and M-Kay, learn about them, their relationship to one another it creates this believability in seeing them as real people and that's impressive as all get out to me. The character development here is phenomenal as we see them learn and grow through the circumstances and situations they encounter. The pacing is utterly amazing as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way while it showcases how all this works together to create the ebb & flow we see.
I found myself loving the story here. I was wondering how this was going to stand by itself in the literal ocean of zombie stories that are out there. What discovered is a very good, interesting take on the subject and the raw emotional material manages to hit closer to home than expected. This is one of the best books I have read in a while and I do mean in any genre.
I love the interiors here. The linework is absolutely stunning and exquisite to behold. The black and white style is so incredibly revealing of an artists talent and the utilisation of the varying weights and how we see them bring out this level and quality of attention to detail is phenomenal. The sheer raw emotion that we see come off the page is so palpable to the reader. Then add in backgrounds here and we get this delicious depth perception a sense of scale and that overall feeling of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show us this amazingly talented eye for storytelling. The impact the interiors have on the story is sensational and that Gin does it all himself so everything we see on the page is exactly how he wants it to appear is truly a thing of beauty.
If you think Manga is for kids or just full Yaoi books think again. This is phenomenal and while Train to Busan transformed the zombie film genre Undead Messiah is doing that for written storytelling. So I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you pick this up and see for yourself that this is a book you need in your life.
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