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A review by uosdwisrdewoh
Izombie Vol. 1: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson
4.0
A fun, light supernatural story.
Gwen is a zombie, but not the shuffling, moaning kind. She holds a job as a gravedigger, which helps her sneak a brain every month or so, keeping her from turning into such a mindless freak. Her latest brain, though, has memories that she finds hard to ignore. And so she sets off on the path to solve a mystery, accompanied by her ghost friend who died in the sixties and is baffled by things like the "Inner Nets".
Unlike other writers, Chris Roberson doesn't go for cheap shocks but rather introduces an ensemble cast with economy. You're never overwhelmed by the number of characters, but at the same time you have a good idea about each one's personality. He's aided to a great degree by Mike Allred's art. While Allred's deceptively simple, cartoony art has left me cold in the past, here it, alongside Laura Allred's day-glo colors, brings a wonderfully playful tone to potentially dark subject matter. The fourth chapter alone is a tour de force, with Gwen being swept into another time and world to explore the rules of this supernatural world, with she and her guide gliding between and in and out of panels in a breathtaking series of spreads. This sequence alone takes the book from good to great, marking it as a breakthrough work for Roberson and Allred. Well worth a look.
Gwen is a zombie, but not the shuffling, moaning kind. She holds a job as a gravedigger, which helps her sneak a brain every month or so, keeping her from turning into such a mindless freak. Her latest brain, though, has memories that she finds hard to ignore. And so she sets off on the path to solve a mystery, accompanied by her ghost friend who died in the sixties and is baffled by things like the "Inner Nets".
Unlike other writers, Chris Roberson doesn't go for cheap shocks but rather introduces an ensemble cast with economy. You're never overwhelmed by the number of characters, but at the same time you have a good idea about each one's personality. He's aided to a great degree by Mike Allred's art. While Allred's deceptively simple, cartoony art has left me cold in the past, here it, alongside Laura Allred's day-glo colors, brings a wonderfully playful tone to potentially dark subject matter. The fourth chapter alone is a tour de force, with Gwen being swept into another time and world to explore the rules of this supernatural world, with she and her guide gliding between and in and out of panels in a breathtaking series of spreads. This sequence alone takes the book from good to great, marking it as a breakthrough work for Roberson and Allred. Well worth a look.