meepelous's review
3.0
A bit of an older title, this book was published by TokyoPop in 2006 and was rated Older Teen.
According to her twitter profile Sophie Campbell is "Creator of Wet Moon and Shadoweyes, writer/artist of TMNT and Jem & the Holograms. Ice cream enthusiast, Gamera fangirl, cat lover."
I had read and reviewed a couple of Campbell titles before the great channel reset, but this is the first one I've re-reviewed. Jem and the Holograms review is coming soon!
To summarize "Everyone 23 and older suddenly dies one fateful, stormy night, but quickly rises from the dead. The zombies seek out the only living thing left: their children. After Rylie escapes a nursing home, she makes her way through the swamps of her hometown to find her crush, Naomi, before the dead find her first."
Looking at my initial review on goodreads I did comment that this felt a little less then original, probably due to my high consumption of zombie stories at the time. At this point my zombie story consumption has dropped dramatically because I didn't need that much pretend death... Returning at this point, with so many people I subscribe to openly talking about genre tropes in such a not judgy way, I feel like it's a bit silly to say it's unoriginal. Many classic zombie tropes are mixed and matched and ultimately packaged in a way distinct to Sophie Campbell.
As far as gender, race, and sexuality goes, we do see a decent amount of diversity. This collection of misfits don't have much in common except being macabre and poor. Which means the class representation is also pretty top notch. It's not too often I get to read books where characters believably struggle with money, forced to do things like weather out a hurricane instead of evacuating, because they can't leave.
The queer romance that's woven throughout is also very well done IMHO.
Ability vs disability is perhaps the least highlighted, as usual. There's also some ragging on the elderly people who Rylie works with.
A very distinctive art style, even if this story doesn't seem your cup of tea, Sophie has done a lot of stuff across several genres and many more all ages stuff since The Abandoned.
Originally rated this title three out of five stars and probably going to stick with that.
According to her twitter profile Sophie Campbell is "Creator of Wet Moon and Shadoweyes, writer/artist of TMNT and Jem & the Holograms. Ice cream enthusiast, Gamera fangirl, cat lover."
I had read and reviewed a couple of Campbell titles before the great channel reset, but this is the first one I've re-reviewed. Jem and the Holograms review is coming soon!
To summarize "Everyone 23 and older suddenly dies one fateful, stormy night, but quickly rises from the dead. The zombies seek out the only living thing left: their children. After Rylie escapes a nursing home, she makes her way through the swamps of her hometown to find her crush, Naomi, before the dead find her first."
Looking at my initial review on goodreads I did comment that this felt a little less then original, probably due to my high consumption of zombie stories at the time. At this point my zombie story consumption has dropped dramatically because I didn't need that much pretend death... Returning at this point, with so many people I subscribe to openly talking about genre tropes in such a not judgy way, I feel like it's a bit silly to say it's unoriginal. Many classic zombie tropes are mixed and matched and ultimately packaged in a way distinct to Sophie Campbell.
As far as gender, race, and sexuality goes, we do see a decent amount of diversity. This collection of misfits don't have much in common except being macabre and poor. Which means the class representation is also pretty top notch. It's not too often I get to read books where characters believably struggle with money, forced to do things like weather out a hurricane instead of evacuating, because they can't leave.
The queer romance that's woven throughout is also very well done IMHO.
Ability vs disability is perhaps the least highlighted, as usual. There's also some ragging on the elderly people who Rylie works with.
A very distinctive art style, even if this story doesn't seem your cup of tea, Sophie has done a lot of stuff across several genres and many more all ages stuff since The Abandoned.
Originally rated this title three out of five stars and probably going to stick with that.
veganemelda's review
4.0
Hey! Look! It’s a zombie comic set/around a majority-black population that has a lot of black characters (*cough*unlikeTWDespeciallytheTVseries*cough*).
Snottiness aside, I’m totally biased for this comic because the lead character (Rylie) is a hot, fat, pierced and tattooed, black lesbian punk with an awesome mohawk who volunteers at a nursing home and kills zombies with a toilet plunger. What’s not to love? Seriously, this girl is making me think (1) I do, in fact, need bat wings tattooed on me and (2) oh lordy, how I wish she was real…
Anyhow, the comic follows a small group of friends who are punks and queers (many are orphans or abandoned by their parents- and now we have the title!) the day the zombie apocalypse starts in their small town, and the following week’s aftermath. There’s tons of blood, guts, zombie gore, and sexual frustration. I love the background details, it’s filled with punk and horror movie references. For goodness’ sakes, the only black male in the group is named Ben!
According to Ross Campbell’s website, there were suppose to be 3 books, but TOKYOPOP pulled the plug and only released one. Which is a damn shame. The ending made so much sense after I read that, but I think the ending works fine as is, also. (it also explains why I paid such a ridiculous amount of money for the trade paperback on amazon) The inking is gorgeous, black and white with reds and pinks highlighted.
—-spoilers—-
After killing off all but two of the characters we were introduced to in the first book (and after Rylie abandons Mae), I really wonder where Campbell would have gone with the story. Especially as the plot was supposed to have been that the infected are everyone over 23 years of age (along with the younger victims who are only bit, not killed, by the zombies). Apparently this was supposed to be a comment on our society’s obsession with youth, which probably would have been expanded upon in future releases. I absolutely adore and appreciate that the none of the characters had a “coming out” moment or any discussed backlash about being queer (besides a mention of Ben’s dad not being OK with him- probably because he’s gay, we’re led to believe, but not told), despite being a teen-angst-fueled vehicle.
—-end of spoilers—-
Even with an ending that will leave you sadly unfulfilled, as we may never get any of the planned sequels, I’d completely recommend this book for any zombie lover, especially anyone who is frustrated with the lack of queer, folks of color, and empowered women in comics. And especially fellow punks. Without more plot, I really can’t say this is an absolute crowd pleaser- it merely skims what some popular zombie vehicles use to their advantage (humor, sex and violence, emotional depth, beloved characters, etc.)- but I think it will hold a beloved spot in quite a few people’s bookshelves who can manage to get their hands on it.
(Review cross-posted from "You Die First!" blog: http://fuckoffyoudiefirst.tumblr.com/post/42109589480/comic-review-the-abandoned)
Snottiness aside, I’m totally biased for this comic because the lead character (Rylie) is a hot, fat, pierced and tattooed, black lesbian punk with an awesome mohawk who volunteers at a nursing home and kills zombies with a toilet plunger. What’s not to love? Seriously, this girl is making me think (1) I do, in fact, need bat wings tattooed on me and (2) oh lordy, how I wish she was real…
Anyhow, the comic follows a small group of friends who are punks and queers (many are orphans or abandoned by their parents- and now we have the title!) the day the zombie apocalypse starts in their small town, and the following week’s aftermath. There’s tons of blood, guts, zombie gore, and sexual frustration. I love the background details, it’s filled with punk and horror movie references. For goodness’ sakes, the only black male in the group is named Ben!
According to Ross Campbell’s website, there were suppose to be 3 books, but TOKYOPOP pulled the plug and only released one. Which is a damn shame. The ending made so much sense after I read that, but I think the ending works fine as is, also. (it also explains why I paid such a ridiculous amount of money for the trade paperback on amazon) The inking is gorgeous, black and white with reds and pinks highlighted.
—-spoilers—-
After killing off all but two of the characters we were introduced to in the first book (and after Rylie abandons Mae), I really wonder where Campbell would have gone with the story. Especially as the plot was supposed to have been that the infected are everyone over 23 years of age (along with the younger victims who are only bit, not killed, by the zombies). Apparently this was supposed to be a comment on our society’s obsession with youth, which probably would have been expanded upon in future releases. I absolutely adore and appreciate that the none of the characters had a “coming out” moment or any discussed backlash about being queer (besides a mention of Ben’s dad not being OK with him- probably because he’s gay, we’re led to believe, but not told), despite being a teen-angst-fueled vehicle.
—-end of spoilers—-
Even with an ending that will leave you sadly unfulfilled, as we may never get any of the planned sequels, I’d completely recommend this book for any zombie lover, especially anyone who is frustrated with the lack of queer, folks of color, and empowered women in comics. And especially fellow punks. Without more plot, I really can’t say this is an absolute crowd pleaser- it merely skims what some popular zombie vehicles use to their advantage (humor, sex and violence, emotional depth, beloved characters, etc.)- but I think it will hold a beloved spot in quite a few people’s bookshelves who can manage to get their hands on it.
(Review cross-posted from "You Die First!" blog: http://fuckoffyoudiefirst.tumblr.com/post/42109589480/comic-review-the-abandoned)
rosseroo's review
2.0
Campbell is clearly a huge fan of the genre, and the book is chock full of insider references. However, I can't say that I really cared for the book. For full review, see http://www.amazon.com/review/R2GR165W3DU8GA
capeltheartist's review
4.0
Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for a zombie movie/book. Being as I'm also a sucker for Ross Campbell books, I melted when I heard about this one. Loved it. I near died when I found out that it wasn't going to be picked up for a sequel!
You really can't go wrong with teens and end of the world kind of situations. Teens are so extreme even in normal situations. This worked very well, and I may read it again if I don't get a new novel soon.
Oh, but I did have one beef. This isn't Ross' fault, but the text and everything is really small becaues it's with Tokyopop instead of in a bigger format like Wet Moon. The images kinda suffer because it's cramped and some of the top and bottom, I think are cut off a little.
You really can't go wrong with teens and end of the world kind of situations. Teens are so extreme even in normal situations. This worked very well, and I may read it again if I don't get a new novel soon.
Oh, but I did have one beef. This isn't Ross' fault, but the text and everything is really small becaues it's with Tokyopop instead of in a bigger format like Wet Moon. The images kinda suffer because it's cramped and some of the top and bottom, I think are cut off a little.
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