Dead America: Know Your Enemy
Plan B Comics
Series Creator: F. Santibanez
Line Art Parts 1 – 2: F. Santibanez
Color Art Parts 1 – 2: Jun Martinez
Line-Color Art Part 3: Riccardo Fasoli
Story/Writer/Letterer: Keith Braun
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks (Also known as Robert McClelland)
Summary: Black Ops operative Dameon Spikes is one of the few, remaining human survivors left after a nuclear blast augmented with a biochemical nerve gas has changed the landscape of America. Now, the country is over-populated with infected citizens that have been altered into flesh eating ZOMBIES! Spikes ongoing mission is to protect human survival, but he's also on a personal crusade to find out who was behind this catastrophic turn of events that ravaged the country that he loves...and then make them pay. What will Spikes do when he finds himself face to face with the architect of this new world order...in a shocking turn of events that he never thought could be possible.
Review: One thing that really stood out for me with this book aside from the weird looking plant like Zombies. Is the feel of the pages themselves. I don't know what exactly the guys at Plan B used for their pages on this, but it has a certain texture to it that I found myself liking. Even the cover has that feel to it somewhat! While this may seem like a standard Zombie styled story, I wouldn't say its even like that. Heck at one point I found myself thinking one scene had a video game feel when the main character finds himself a weapons cache while on his way to Washington to get answers. Though I did find some dialogue to be repetitive a few times, which would work more if this was actually a trade and not a one shot. Though I do believe I'm off the mark a bit about it being a one shot. Heck one might get the impression on the cover that we're going to be reading about a bad guy who's all involved in this. Yay for first impressions, and yay for that not even being the case. Heck I think a relative or two of Voldemort's even shows up during all the fun the main character has while on his mission.
Personally though, I think I would have just gone awol and went off into hiding somewhere that was safe and as secure as can possibly be until someone else fixes the problem. Then again there would be that pesky court martial later on if that sort of thing was even really cared about by that point. The truth behind who started the mess in this title would likely get conspiracy theorists going “Oh yeah! These dudes are totally on the mark man! That's exactly how its gonna happen!” Or something along those lines. And while the bad guy has a different name, you can easily tell who the creative team had in mind for the look of the character. Of course I could be completely wrong in that little bit of thinking. Now part of why I am not entirely sure if this is a one shot, is due to what goes on in the end. Because it seems like our fair hero is in some seriously dire crap that Santibanez and Braun oh so cruely leave readers on a cliff hanger with.
Did I think this was a nice addition to the Zombie genre? Yes, I did think so. Will it be a potential stand out amongst all the others? Only time and your own opinion will be the answer to that. And if this is continued, I hope the likes of Martinez and Fasoli will be along for the ride. As they along with Santibanez did a really nice job with everything.
Editor's Note: To find out how you can acquire your own copy of Dead America: Know Your Enemy, head here!
Plan B Comics
Series Creator: F. Santibanez
Line Art Parts 1 – 2: F. Santibanez
Color Art Parts 1 – 2: Jun Martinez
Line-Color Art Part 3: Riccardo Fasoli
Story/Writer/Letterer: Keith Braun
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks (Also known as Robert McClelland)
Summary: Black Ops operative Dameon Spikes is one of the few, remaining human survivors left after a nuclear blast augmented with a biochemical nerve gas has changed the landscape of America. Now, the country is over-populated with infected citizens that have been altered into flesh eating ZOMBIES! Spikes ongoing mission is to protect human survival, but he's also on a personal crusade to find out who was behind this catastrophic turn of events that ravaged the country that he loves...and then make them pay. What will Spikes do when he finds himself face to face with the architect of this new world order...in a shocking turn of events that he never thought could be possible.
Review: One thing that really stood out for me with this book aside from the weird looking plant like Zombies. Is the feel of the pages themselves. I don't know what exactly the guys at Plan B used for their pages on this, but it has a certain texture to it that I found myself liking. Even the cover has that feel to it somewhat! While this may seem like a standard Zombie styled story, I wouldn't say its even like that. Heck at one point I found myself thinking one scene had a video game feel when the main character finds himself a weapons cache while on his way to Washington to get answers. Though I did find some dialogue to be repetitive a few times, which would work more if this was actually a trade and not a one shot. Though I do believe I'm off the mark a bit about it being a one shot. Heck one might get the impression on the cover that we're going to be reading about a bad guy who's all involved in this. Yay for first impressions, and yay for that not even being the case. Heck I think a relative or two of Voldemort's even shows up during all the fun the main character has while on his mission.
Personally though, I think I would have just gone awol and went off into hiding somewhere that was safe and as secure as can possibly be until someone else fixes the problem. Then again there would be that pesky court martial later on if that sort of thing was even really cared about by that point. The truth behind who started the mess in this title would likely get conspiracy theorists going “Oh yeah! These dudes are totally on the mark man! That's exactly how its gonna happen!” Or something along those lines. And while the bad guy has a different name, you can easily tell who the creative team had in mind for the look of the character. Of course I could be completely wrong in that little bit of thinking. Now part of why I am not entirely sure if this is a one shot, is due to what goes on in the end. Because it seems like our fair hero is in some seriously dire crap that Santibanez and Braun oh so cruely leave readers on a cliff hanger with.
Did I think this was a nice addition to the Zombie genre? Yes, I did think so. Will it be a potential stand out amongst all the others? Only time and your own opinion will be the answer to that. And if this is continued, I hope the likes of Martinez and Fasoli will be along for the ride. As they along with Santibanez did a really nice job with everything.
Editor's Note: To find out how you can acquire your own copy of Dead America: Know Your Enemy, head here!
Chem 19 #1
Created and Written by: Kevin Truglio
Artwork and Lettering by: Przemyslaw R. Dedelis
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks
Summary: A dystopian future where society as we know it has been altered by the drug Chem 19.
Review: Welcome to the black and white and a bit cruel world of Chem 19! (And I do mean black and white quite literally too since no coloring is used for this.) Where life in the world has basically gone to crap and snobby ladies need a good slap in the face. That is one particular moment right there that Kevin has in this book that makes me feel a bit angry and wanting to hit something cause of how she was towards a kid. Kevin also decides to be a tease at the beginning by showing a current present time scene at the beginning of this story and then taking us back into the past to show readers just why things are so crappy. And I'm not even sure if color would be a good thing for this book or not as the lack of it does show off everything fairly well. Maybe if this was adapted for a movie it could get the black and white treatment and make it feel slightly Noirish in the process too. Even though I don't necessarily think this would fit the Noir genre, course I could always be wrong. Dedelis does a nice job in showing how desolate things look, though I'm not sure having healthy looking trees around is a good thing. As it seems to ruin the desolate look. But for all I know he's doing that as a way to show that there is hope out there.
And nicely enough, Chem 19 isn't just only the name for this title, but also the cause of all the problems. (Problems that pretty much managed to segregate folks like how it was back in the day, only less racist this time around.) The huge downside in taking this is that one take makes you entirely dependent and acting potentially worse then a crack head desperate for his or her's next fix after not having any for a week or two for whatever reason. As for Jason Wagner, (The main character who I really couldn't even call a hero) he's not really someone I could find myself liking. Which is likely Kevin's intent with the man. Even when he's risking his own neck to do something for someone who's either his sister or his daughter. Which that right there would be my own private driving force to try and find a cure after being the cause of a bunch of crap. Another moment that'll punch you in your feelings in a big way is what happens to a kid on here. Which is why I went off about a snobby chick who needs a good thumping earlier. The Government drones are some cruel jerks for what they do, and makes me really hope that the way things have turned out in this world isn't what we in the real world will have to deal with.
I don't know what all Kevin has in store with this title, (hopefully Dedelis is along for the ride) but I look forward to it. And if there's more punches straight to the feelings one has, even better!
Editor's Note: For future updates on all things Chem 19, head to the Facebook page!
Created and Written by: Kevin Truglio
Artwork and Lettering by: Przemyslaw R. Dedelis
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks
Summary: A dystopian future where society as we know it has been altered by the drug Chem 19.
Review: Welcome to the black and white and a bit cruel world of Chem 19! (And I do mean black and white quite literally too since no coloring is used for this.) Where life in the world has basically gone to crap and snobby ladies need a good slap in the face. That is one particular moment right there that Kevin has in this book that makes me feel a bit angry and wanting to hit something cause of how she was towards a kid. Kevin also decides to be a tease at the beginning by showing a current present time scene at the beginning of this story and then taking us back into the past to show readers just why things are so crappy. And I'm not even sure if color would be a good thing for this book or not as the lack of it does show off everything fairly well. Maybe if this was adapted for a movie it could get the black and white treatment and make it feel slightly Noirish in the process too. Even though I don't necessarily think this would fit the Noir genre, course I could always be wrong. Dedelis does a nice job in showing how desolate things look, though I'm not sure having healthy looking trees around is a good thing. As it seems to ruin the desolate look. But for all I know he's doing that as a way to show that there is hope out there.
And nicely enough, Chem 19 isn't just only the name for this title, but also the cause of all the problems. (Problems that pretty much managed to segregate folks like how it was back in the day, only less racist this time around.) The huge downside in taking this is that one take makes you entirely dependent and acting potentially worse then a crack head desperate for his or her's next fix after not having any for a week or two for whatever reason. As for Jason Wagner, (The main character who I really couldn't even call a hero) he's not really someone I could find myself liking. Which is likely Kevin's intent with the man. Even when he's risking his own neck to do something for someone who's either his sister or his daughter. Which that right there would be my own private driving force to try and find a cure after being the cause of a bunch of crap. Another moment that'll punch you in your feelings in a big way is what happens to a kid on here. Which is why I went off about a snobby chick who needs a good thumping earlier. The Government drones are some cruel jerks for what they do, and makes me really hope that the way things have turned out in this world isn't what we in the real world will have to deal with.
I don't know what all Kevin has in store with this title, (hopefully Dedelis is along for the ride) but I look forward to it. And if there's more punches straight to the feelings one has, even better!
Editor's Note: For future updates on all things Chem 19, head to the Facebook page!