Everybody's Dead #2

Non-Buffyverse Related

What Is It?: Everybody's Dead #2 (Written by Brian Lynch, part two of a five issue mini-series)

Timing: The morning after "Everybody's Dead #1"

REVIEW: You can really tell that this is Brian Lynch's baby. It oozes (good sweet/creamy ooze, not like the radioactive stuff that makes turtles both teenage and mutant) with snappy dialogue and plays on words. And seeing as how a zombie-'pocalypse happened in the end of the last issue, this issue pretty much just shows the shit hitting the fan. Which is always interesting.

Comedy is clearly going to be the major part of this series. There are character moments and some crazy zombie stuff (which is awesome), but comedy is boss here. So the first topic of this review will pretty much cover the funny factor, which is pretty high. I've seen funnier from Lynch, but this is still pretty great. Didn't make me laugh out loud as much as the first issue, but--as I said before--this is pretty much just the characters reacting to the enormity of the situation. And the way that they all react pretty much gives the major shits and giggles in this issue. I loved that this all happened the day after a Halloween party, so everyone who was zombified hasn't changed out of their costumes. That makes for confusion and some of the funniest moments here when a zombie in a cat costume in the first to attack. I'll say no more, because the scene is funny enough without explanation.

There is a moment that I'm not sure if I like or not. It's interesting, and it made me go "hmmmmmmm" and as I writing this I'm thinking that I like it, but I'm still not positive. Doug is running from zombies in one scene, and he pictures his own death (well, his gravestone) and then the next panel is him saying "Like Hell I was/am." Now, this is either a nod to "Spike: Shadow Puppets" where pretty much the same thing happens to Spike, or it was just a moment being re-used. If it's a nod, great. It was one of the most interesting scenes here.

It's hard to comment on the rest of the issue without being spoilery, but there was something that I just can't help but talk about. I'll try to keep it vague. People who are zombified tend to retain some of their personality in some cases, and the issue ends with a hilarious moment. Really shows that stupid people are still stupid when they're dead. Great moment.

Art: Still on the fence about Dave Crosland's pencils The quality in this is more consistent than it was in Issue #1, though there are still a few places where I had to guess at what was going on. There was a lot more action in this book than the first, and I felt that it was well done in places and not-so-much in others. You can kinda sense the artist struggling to depict the action in the scene where Jack slams the zombie in the car door. However, the scene where Aurora sprays the zombies with mase is pretty badass, and I thought carried out very well. The characters all look good, but you can pretty much copy and paste what I said about it last time into this ("As for the style, I don't love it but I'm liking it more than I thought it would. It's more Ren and Stimpy (the newer version, from SPIKE!TV) than realistic, which--coming from someone who tuned into Ren and Stimpy--isn't bad at all. The paneling just takes a little getting used to.") However, Leonard O'Grady offers up some of the best coloring work I've seen. I don't usually notice colorists as much as pencillers, but his work here (especially on the zombies) is phenomenal. And--sorry to be non-linear--but back to Dave Crossland. The is a page where he draws a zombie's jaw falling off over the course of three panels, and all I can say about that is holy... crap... awesome. I mentioned before that I didn't really laugh out loud as much in this issue, but those panels had me rolling. Comic gold.

Rating: 7/10

Non-Buffyverse Related