iZombie issue 17, Nov 2011

[greenmask]

And another title, while I'm here; for Beyond the Big Two, Vertigo does count!

I don't know why, it just does.

iZombie. It's good stuff.



Gwen Dylan is a zombie, but a zombie who can think. She has to eat brains (luckily she has a job as a grave digger) in order to keep her remaining living memories but one of the several downsides is that the brains leave ghost-echoes in her head - Gwen has to 'put right what once went wrong' in order to shut them up whilst she also deals with having a moster-hunter boyrfiend in ignorance of her secret, a hot mummy trying to convince her she needs to listen to his grand prophecies of doom, and all sorts of loose threads left from her ex-life.

Her current best friend is a ghost, she's mentoring a young were-terrier who's questioning his sexuality and whose grandfather is a chimp, and her town is suffering from a vampire infestation. There's a bad, bad lady who's trying to bring something nasty and tentacled into the world and until this issue there's been a back-up strip about four badass monster Agents named after dead presidents.

This book is a riot.





The normal townspeople aren't aware of the town's more Sunnydalesque qualities, but they do their best anyway.

Comments

[razsolo]

OMG this looks AMAZING! I love Allred, how has this escaped me for so long? I'm gonna see if it's on comixology, thanks greenmask! ^_^

[greenmask]

You're so welcome!

As a pal said recently, "Allred draws the best hunks".

[mrstatham]

I love iZombie. That along with American Vampire are pretty much the only reasons I even touch Vertigo, these days, because it just feels like Fables has gotten so stale, to me.

My only real issue is that I don't think Roberson ever had enough time to do quite what he wanted with the book, since I think the underlying plot involving the.. Ah, 'cosmic horror' basically sprung up in the second volume and dominated the proceedings far too quickly.

[greenmask]

Isn't it the kickiest?

Maybe he knew he was going to make public the anti-DC opinions that he did, and wanted to be sure he would get that cosmic element in.. just in case?

It does feel like a book that moves awfully quickly, but it's so generally delightful that I don't mind picking up my feet and being swept along, really.

[mrstatham]

Maybe. I did remember rolling my eyes at some of the fans who said 'oh, Roberson worked for DC, and now he's changing his mind' as if they've never actually heard of the notion of working for someone you don't particularly like. So.. Yeah. I think the increased pace on display in the 'uVampire' trade of iZombie is a result of his feelings about DC, especially as DC marched toward their reboot and started rather crudely reabsorbing bits of Vertigo.

But yeah, the pace is the least of my worries, really. Allred's art is beautiful, I love Gwen as a character - and she has to be a candidate for one of the more original leads in a comic in some time - and some of the ideas on display - especially the notion of linking up vampires, mummies, ghosts, zombies, werewolves and so on - is particularly sharp and clever, especially when much more prominent stories are apparently content to butcher the mythology behind certain creatures for the purpose of squicky romance.

And yet iZombie delivered there, too; I actively bought the stuff between Gwen and Horatio, and yet A - I was glad Roberson didn't get into the mechanics of that, and yet B - knew it would be dealt with really rather effectively in time. So yeah, it's a great book. I just wish it were an IDW or Image book, somehow.

[greenmask]

Or a MonkeyBrain book?

I haven't read the last.. five or so issues? And I miiiss iiiit.

[glimmung]

It is just a small thing, but I like that the muggles seem to be doing a pretty good job against the zombies.

[icon_uk]

I know you made the Sunndale comparison, but all this is going on on their streets on a regular basis and the population are unaware of it? Boy, and I thought Sunnydalers were a dim bunch.

[mrstatham]

No, the zombies have only just come up recently, as of about issue 13, and only emerged onto the streets at the end of the arc. It's connected to the larger 'cosmic horror' plot, and is important because as much as Gwen is a zombie, these are a different kind. It's not an ongoing thing.

There are, however, vampires about - although they do a decent job hiding themselves - a ghost, a werewolf and a zombie, but it seems to be the case that they look human enough (most of the time) that they can hide in plain sight.

[eyz]

I just adore this book so much!! ~<3

[kraesil]

Weird having a zombie as the, uh, protagonist for a change, but this seems awesome xP