Comic Review: Lydia vs. The Zombies #1

            It’s October!  Time for everyone’s favorite holiday of dress-up and mayhem.  Regardless of whether you are a fan of the sexy nurse or the scary zombie, you have to admit that Halloween is pretty badass all around.  Plus, if you are a kid, or are an adult that has a younger kid, free candy!

            In honor of the best holiday of the year, I figured I would try and find comics this month that fit into more of the “horror” genre.  This doesn’t have to necessarily be all zombie comics, but we’ll see how the month goes.  As it turns out, the first comic in our tour de horror is a zombie comic, but not one you might expect.  After last week’s tit-fest that was Tarot Witch of the Black Rose, I wanted to find something that was a little more all ages, and something that I could actually show you examples of the art without so many disclaimers.  I chose the new title Lydia vs. the Zombies #1 by Rob Meyer, Jesse Wittenrich and Ross Zapata.  The publisher on this is one I have not heard of yet, Fun Pub Comics.

Cover:

            The cover by Rob Meyer (one of the writers, and coincidentally, not the artist on the book) gives a great feel of a Saturday morning cartoon, or something you could see on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network.  The bright colors work incredibly well with the rest of the artwork, especially with the absence of any kind of black outline.  This lends that animated feel that shows me right away that this is a title for everyone and not just a Walking Dead ripoff.  The zombies are well done and Meyer does a great job of utilizing different body types and body shapes to not only move the eye around the page, but also to provide interesting and engaging silhouettes.  The dropped-in patterns on the clothing of Lydia and the zombie on the right are a little distracting, mostly because they serve to flatten out the cover even more than the silhouettes or random colored boxes do, but that is only a minor gripe on an otherwise decent cover. 

            The logo is well done and creative.  It’s a little busy, but not nearly as distracting as it could be if the wrong color choices were made.  The overall brightness of the cover also makes it stand out against the dull and lifeless covers on the shelf that try to focus on dark, moody textures and colors as opposed to good design.

8/10 – This is a nice cover and a cute illustration in general.  The zombies look pretty harmless, rendered in this fashion and that just adds to the accessibility of the comic in general.

Story:

            You would think that having two writers (Meyer and Wittenrich) would enhance the story and make it easier and more fun to read.  In this case you would be dead wrong.  I understand that there are only so many ways you can write zombie fiction, and finding a new and interesting twist is not always easy, but you can always write an interesting and engaging story, even if it seems a little familiar.  This story is both familiar and boring at the same time.  It mixes the “forgot my kid behind” part of Home Alone with standard zombie survival fiction.  Unfortunately, the parents of the titular character of Lydia may just be the dumbest humans on the planet.  Seriously, I can’t help but think that this little girl is better off on her own, or with the rag tag group of teenagers (one being her uncle) that she obviously finds amongst the wasteland.  I am definitely getting a little tired of the overuse of the ragtag group of teenagers trope that is thrown out there though, especially when one of them just has to be a goth-girl. 

            Aside from the general premise, the actual writing is sub par as well.  Just little nuances such as the fact that Lydia talks really fast, but only when she is around teenagers apparently.  She speaks at a normal rate when she is around her parents, or the zombies, but for some reason it speeds up when she meets the teens.  I assume it is so that the writers can fit in the part that the goth girl used to babysit, but no one really cares.  Not only that, but if the one kid is her uncle and yet he doesn’t understand what she says, does that mean that he has rarely seen her?  You would think any kind of continued exposure to her would increase his ability to understand. 

            I get that this comic is a little more “kid-friendly” than most zombie fiction, so the presence of blood is probably not a good idea, but that kind of goes out the window when you have Lydia not only parading around wearing a severed zombie head to blend into the zombie horde, and then actually keeping it after she meets up with the teens.  The fact that Lydia is aware enough to know that she needs to go find her parents, but completely unaware of the dangers of the zombies around her just bothers me.  The writing uses her innocence as a crutch when it is convenient, but we are also supposed to believe that she is a hero, someone we are supposed to root for, and I just can’t root for someone that defeats zombies by shoving popsicles in their mouths.

1/10 – I was expecting something, anything, more than what I got.  It doesn’t have to be a new, earth-shattering, idea; I just want something that is well done.

Art:   

            The cover would lead you to believe that the art was not only well done, but hinged on a cartoon-cutesiness that would lend itself well as a contrast to the possible violence or just general feeling of despair that much zombie fiction leans on.  What you get when you open the book, however, is still cartoony, but more along the lines of generic Manga than anything remotely original.  Hell, even the hair on the teenagers all look swiped from a random episode of Pokemon.  The zombies are the best part of this book art-wise, but in order to get some fun pictures of zombies you have to sit through pages upon pages of poorly drawn Manga people.  If I didn’t know any better I would think that this was some kid’s art class project and not a professionally printed comic book.

Here is your first example that Lydia is as dumb as a stone.  Of course that apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I think her parents actually have an atlas in their car.  That's the only explanation that I have for that map that just says "United States" and "Canada".

All credibility this series had as zombie fiction is now gone thanks to two orange popsicles.

There is something wrong with this kid, and even though it's a reflection, the tail of the word balloon should go to her mouth.

You know what I hate worse than generic Manga characters?  Not much.

The number one rule of lettering is that the tails of the word balloons should point at the mouths of those doing the speaking, or at least as close as possible.  Giant fail in every conceivable way. 

1/10 – Decent zombie designs can’t save the rest of the generic artwork.

Overall:  2/10 – I gave it an extra point because the cover is cool, but the inside, both writing and art, hell even the lettering, look like something that was produced at the middle-school level.

If you know of any horror-genre comics coming out in the coming weeks that you would like me to take a look at please let me know.  There is no where to go but up from here!