Brain Eaters

I will admit that the first thing that attracted me to iZombie (not the way the title is shown here) was the Mike Allred art.  I am a huge fan of his work and someday hope to own some original stuff.  A tale of a zombie girl who has to eat brains every thirty days or she goes all shambling, coupled with vampires and ghosts -- well, it can only be a good thing.

The first three issues from Vertigo have not disappointed me.  The art, as to be expected, is top notch.  The story has its humor, and it is something you can easily see being made into a television series, as is everything comic book related these days.  It's not the best series I've ever read, but it is holding my interest.

Zombies have been huge for the past couple of years.  There are too many titles to list, and the it seems like there are more being published each month.  It is -- no pun intended -- over kill.  At least it's not vampires, though.

I'm all for a good zombie tale.  I like my zombies slow and methodical.  With that in mind, it seems strange that I like this series.  The zombie is portrayed as a normal woman.  The horror is almost non-existent (as of the first three issues), and there is a little too much humor for my usual tastes.  Somehow, however, writer Chris Roberson makes it work.  He keeps me reading it despite it firmly falling into the land of things I don't normally like.

Time will tell if this will be a series worth watching or just another one taking up space.  (I have far too many of those for my liking.)  My guess is the former, but if I'm wrong I'll at least have some nice art to appreciate.

Beware The Architects!

The Doctor 13 trade paperback Architecture & Morality was loaned to me by a friend who thought I might enjoy it. His taste in comics, while not the same as mine, is close enough for me to take what he says seriously. I thought the concept (obscure DC characters meet Doctor 13 who makes normal skeptics seem too accepting) sounded interesting. When he gave me the book and I saw that Brian Azzarello was the writer, I figured I was in for something good.

Azzarello does one of my favorite comic series, 100 Bullets. I'll admit it can be confusing at times, but I love the characters (especially Lono), and the story keeps me interested. His name on a book is a plus for me. Then there's the artist.

The artwork is by Cliff Chiang. I don't really care for his work one way or another (he seems like a poor man's Mike Allred), but here it really fits the story, and in hindsight may be the best part of the book.

If you couldn't guess by that last paragraph, I wasn't super impressed. It's not that I hated it. I was just expecting more. The concept is sound. The characters obscure enough to make it interesting, and the final act was a clever take on what has been going on not only in the DC universe, but comics as a whole. Azzarello is making a statement here (one I can't really give away without ruining things), and it is a bold one, but his message is tempered by a story that doesn't quite live up to what he's trying to say. Yes, it was cool to see Infectious Lass, but Doctor 13 bothered the hell out of me.

When you get to the end of the story and you realize what Azzarello is trying to say, you will either agree with him or disagree. Your stance kind of mirrors what you think about comics today. Are you a purist, a realist, or just along for the ride? Azzarello makes you question that, and for that I applaud him. I just wish it would've been ... better.

Ironically, considering the story, I think Grant Morrison could've pulled this off better. Azzarello, as proven with 100 Bullets, is at his best when he is doing something gritty, violent and vile. This book is none of those things. He's holding back and that feels forced, which is usually the opposite complaint when it comes to writers.

I like this book's art, message and the attempt to actually make a statement with it. I respect that and appreciate it. In the end, however, I think the effort kind of falls flat. The points it raises are fine and worthy of debate, the way they are raised fails to impress, and that's an assertion even Doctor 13 could believe in.