Writer: Bryan Lynch
Artist: Dave Crosland
Publisher: IDW

Every week when I hit the comic store to pick up my stack, I always make a point of trolling along the racks to see if there are any interesting new series starting up that week. Sometimes, I stumble onto something great (see: Devil’s Due Press’ excellent Drafted). Other times, it’s more mundane (see: Image’s Fused), and still other times it’s a down right painful experience (see: now-defunct Alias’ Sixgun Samurai). But I feel that it’s a worthwhile endeavour to see what’s happening outside of Marvel and DC. Also, it’s kinda fun to buy a book you know nothing about based on a kick-ass cover, or writer, or whatever catches your eye. Without taking chances like this, books like Y: The Last Man, Chosen, and Battle Pope would never have found their way into my waiting arms.

This past week, the dice I rolled happened to land on a book called Everybody’s Dead from IDW Publishing. The cover depicts a battle royale between some college students and an army or Zombies, but it was the by-line that caught my eye. Emblazoned on the heavy cardstock cover (always a good way to get my attention) was “They’re the last people on earth who should be the last people on earth.” That was more than enough to get me to plop down my $3.99.

What I found inside was worth it, but not by much. The story starts off with a raging kegger at the Beta Eta Delta house that would do Animal House proud. As we check out the party, we are introduced to our very typical cast of good guys. The Jock, The Brain (complete with rant about people making fun of him for having toys), The Pledge, The Stoner, The Military Man, etc, etc, etc. John Hughes, eat your heart out.

The party rages on until the B.E.D. folk are accosted by The Omegas, a rival frat who fit more into the stereotypes of a conformist frat than the members of Beta Eta Delta fit into the stereotype of a non-conformist frat. There is a confrontation, won out by B.E.D.’s resident “Crazy Guy,” and then everyone goes to bed. Literally. It is here, in the last few frames of the book that we see some kind of meteor strike the earth, and a Zombie-like dude arise and wander towards the Beta house.

Everybody’s Dead isn’t a bad book, I’m just not sure what it is trying to say. Having an entire first issue that has nothing to do with the core of the book (Zombies, the end of the world, everyone being dead, etc) is a questionable storytelling move. I understand that perhaps Lynch is simply trying to set up his future plotlines, but in doing so, he’s made me doubt that I would buy Issue #2. The story doesn’t hit the ground running, it kinda wakes up, rolls over, stretches, and then goes to take a leak.

David Crosland’s art however, I really liked. He has a great cartoon-y style that allows him to creates a very clearly defined characterization for each person in the book. His thick lines and larger vs. smaller body types clearly indicate who has the upper and lower hands in the confrontation scenes. Also, the splash page of the fight with the Omegas was really cool. He managed to pack in a lot of stuff, without any of it getting lost in the shuffle.

Like I say, Everybody’s Dead isn’t a bad book, but I doubt I will buy Issue #2. There’s not enough bang for the buck, and in the litany of Zombie/Apocalypse books on the shelves these days, Everybody’s Dead just doesn’t rise to to the top.

-JM

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Tags: #1, Brian Lynch, Dave Crosland, David Crosland, Everybody's Dead, IDW, Zombies

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 1:21 am and is filed under Reviews, The Starting Gun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.