Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 10:55 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/alternative/notld1.jpg"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/alternative/notld1.gif" hspace=10 align=left alt="George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead: The beginning #1"></a>Reviewer: Alan Bergin, alan_bergin@yahoo.com
What's the matter? Never seen a dead guy before?
Story: John Russo
Sequential adaptation: Mike Wolfer
Artwork: Sebastian Fiumara
Color: Andrew Dalhouse
Regular, rotting, splatter, terror covers: Sebastian Fiumara
Leather, intruders, auxilliary covers: Jacen Burrows
Gore cover: Tim Vigil
Painted cover: Matt Busch
Editor-in-chief: William Christensen
Creative director: Mark Seifert
Published by: Avatar press (http://www.avatarpress.com)
Mature content. Suggested for older readers.
Zombie tales are a dime a dozen these days, with only a select few managing to raise their rotting heads above the rest of the pack. In recent times, a number of the smaller publishing houses have been keen to churn out undead stories, in an attempt to woo the audiences of the breakout successes that were/are Marvel Zombies and The Walking Dead. Up until now, my only really experience of the Avatar press line of comics had been Warren Ellis’ sleeper hit BlackGas. An unexpected success with readers and critics alike, any zombie tale that was to follow, was imbued with the rather unenviable task of proving its worth, not only alongside Ellis’ undead baby, but against the litany of zombie stories that are lurking into the solicitation pages of seemingly every publishing company. This particular title could be perceived to have taken things a little too far, when you consider that the creators have taken the undeniably cheeky step of adapting the name of the zombie masterpiece that started it all, Night of the Living Dead. The zombie craze didn’t begin with the introduction of the Resident Evil franchise back in 1996, rather it began almost forty years ago, when a little known New York-director by the name of George Romero enlisted the aid of some townies from Evan City, Pennsylvania to make a monster movie. Little did he (or anyone for that matter) know that his movie with its miniscule $114,000 budget would become a cornerstone of the horror genre for decades to come. Claustrophobic, edgy and undeniably unnerving, Romero reinvented the horror genre and single-handedly put the ‘zombie’-monster on the map.
Avatar press have been publishing quite a number of zombie comics in recent times. Their Escape of the Living Dead title went so far as to borrow the exact same font used in the advertisements for Romero’s original film, but the slight measure of audacity attached to this cheeky gesture pales into significance with the arrival of a book which not only flaunts Romero’s own name, but proposes to add something of a back story to the events of Night of the Living Dead. The cheek! If I’m being honest however, the book was a lot better than I thought it’d be. IDW released a comic adaptation of Romero’s famed sequel Dawn of the Dead, back in 2004, but even though Steve Niles’ (famed horror writer) name was attached to the project, it suffered from a lack of innovation. It was essentially a re-telling of the movie’s script with a bucket-load of gore added for good measure. It was fun, but a little safe. Where NOTLD:TB succeeds however is in the aforementioned liberties that are taken in the retelling of the original story. Aptly dubbed, ‘the beginning’, the book’s creators John Russo, Mike Wolfer and Sebastian Fiumara attempt to provide something of a lead-in to the events of the film.
The main draw of this work has to be the artwork of the Fiumara. The issue opens with brief snapshots of the issue's various environs; an old farmhouse, an empty cemetery and a seemingly abandoned diner. Throughout each scene there’s an almost tactile sense of foreboding, as if to say that each of these abandoned locations won’t remain that way for very long. Settings such as a deserted graveyard point to the rather obvious assumption that not all of these impending visitors will be of the living & breathing variety. As previously mentioned and unlike the aforementioned Dawn of the Dead adaptation, NOTLD:TB tinkers with the story of the original by the incorporation of snippets of back-stories for a number of the characters. For example, the conclusion of the issue sees the introduction of Ben, the hero of the film as he sits in the diner, closely monitoring the group of individuals, slowly lumbering towards his location. Fans of the film might recall the scene in which he tells Barbra of his experience in the diner, when he bore witness to a near total massacre. The knowledge of what’s to come really shouldn’t be a cause of complaint however. If anything, it allows the Romero fan to indulge in a scenario which for the past forty years, has only been conceivable through the imagination. We never actually saw what happened to Ben in the diner, but now we have the opportunity. Elsewhere, other film protagonists Tom and Judy are referenced by the latter’s sister and the infamous naked zombie makes a rare pre-zombified appearance in the diner. For the Romero die-hards, this book is an absolute treat. There’s an element of excitement in that it’s possible to recognize different facets of and pointers to the original film. We’re privy to increased back-story and can revel in the knowledge of what’s to come. For the casual reader, there’s enough here to provide a nice set-up to what should be a solid zombie-story. Both living and deceased cast members are introduced, there’s a degree of exposition in terms of the cause of the plague and the different character roles are mapped-out in preparation of what’s to come. As an introductory installment, it’s an undoubted success. By the same token, zombie nutjobs will delight in the return to one of the most iconic stories in horror history. Definitely a must for any undead enthusiast.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdnone.jpg
<a href=http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplaycategories.asp?id=1007&cat=AVATAR+PRESS+COMICS >Buy George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead: The beginning #1 online from X-World and Save!</a>
What's the matter? Never seen a dead guy before?
Story: John Russo
Sequential adaptation: Mike Wolfer
Artwork: Sebastian Fiumara
Color: Andrew Dalhouse
Regular, rotting, splatter, terror covers: Sebastian Fiumara
Leather, intruders, auxilliary covers: Jacen Burrows
Gore cover: Tim Vigil
Painted cover: Matt Busch
Editor-in-chief: William Christensen
Creative director: Mark Seifert
Published by: Avatar press (http://www.avatarpress.com)
Mature content. Suggested for older readers.
Zombie tales are a dime a dozen these days, with only a select few managing to raise their rotting heads above the rest of the pack. In recent times, a number of the smaller publishing houses have been keen to churn out undead stories, in an attempt to woo the audiences of the breakout successes that were/are Marvel Zombies and The Walking Dead. Up until now, my only really experience of the Avatar press line of comics had been Warren Ellis’ sleeper hit BlackGas. An unexpected success with readers and critics alike, any zombie tale that was to follow, was imbued with the rather unenviable task of proving its worth, not only alongside Ellis’ undead baby, but against the litany of zombie stories that are lurking into the solicitation pages of seemingly every publishing company. This particular title could be perceived to have taken things a little too far, when you consider that the creators have taken the undeniably cheeky step of adapting the name of the zombie masterpiece that started it all, Night of the Living Dead. The zombie craze didn’t begin with the introduction of the Resident Evil franchise back in 1996, rather it began almost forty years ago, when a little known New York-director by the name of George Romero enlisted the aid of some townies from Evan City, Pennsylvania to make a monster movie. Little did he (or anyone for that matter) know that his movie with its miniscule $114,000 budget would become a cornerstone of the horror genre for decades to come. Claustrophobic, edgy and undeniably unnerving, Romero reinvented the horror genre and single-handedly put the ‘zombie’-monster on the map.
Avatar press have been publishing quite a number of zombie comics in recent times. Their Escape of the Living Dead title went so far as to borrow the exact same font used in the advertisements for Romero’s original film, but the slight measure of audacity attached to this cheeky gesture pales into significance with the arrival of a book which not only flaunts Romero’s own name, but proposes to add something of a back story to the events of Night of the Living Dead. The cheek! If I’m being honest however, the book was a lot better than I thought it’d be. IDW released a comic adaptation of Romero’s famed sequel Dawn of the Dead, back in 2004, but even though Steve Niles’ (famed horror writer) name was attached to the project, it suffered from a lack of innovation. It was essentially a re-telling of the movie’s script with a bucket-load of gore added for good measure. It was fun, but a little safe. Where NOTLD:TB succeeds however is in the aforementioned liberties that are taken in the retelling of the original story. Aptly dubbed, ‘the beginning’, the book’s creators John Russo, Mike Wolfer and Sebastian Fiumara attempt to provide something of a lead-in to the events of the film.
The main draw of this work has to be the artwork of the Fiumara. The issue opens with brief snapshots of the issue's various environs; an old farmhouse, an empty cemetery and a seemingly abandoned diner. Throughout each scene there’s an almost tactile sense of foreboding, as if to say that each of these abandoned locations won’t remain that way for very long. Settings such as a deserted graveyard point to the rather obvious assumption that not all of these impending visitors will be of the living & breathing variety. As previously mentioned and unlike the aforementioned Dawn of the Dead adaptation, NOTLD:TB tinkers with the story of the original by the incorporation of snippets of back-stories for a number of the characters. For example, the conclusion of the issue sees the introduction of Ben, the hero of the film as he sits in the diner, closely monitoring the group of individuals, slowly lumbering towards his location. Fans of the film might recall the scene in which he tells Barbra of his experience in the diner, when he bore witness to a near total massacre. The knowledge of what’s to come really shouldn’t be a cause of complaint however. If anything, it allows the Romero fan to indulge in a scenario which for the past forty years, has only been conceivable through the imagination. We never actually saw what happened to Ben in the diner, but now we have the opportunity. Elsewhere, other film protagonists Tom and Judy are referenced by the latter’s sister and the infamous naked zombie makes a rare pre-zombified appearance in the diner. For the Romero die-hards, this book is an absolute treat. There’s an element of excitement in that it’s possible to recognize different facets of and pointers to the original film. We’re privy to increased back-story and can revel in the knowledge of what’s to come. For the casual reader, there’s enough here to provide a nice set-up to what should be a solid zombie-story. Both living and deceased cast members are introduced, there’s a degree of exposition in terms of the cause of the plague and the different character roles are mapped-out in preparation of what’s to come. As an introductory installment, it’s an undoubted success. By the same token, zombie nutjobs will delight in the return to one of the most iconic stories in horror history. Definitely a must for any undead enthusiast.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/wdnone.jpg
<a href=http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplaycategories.asp?id=1007&cat=AVATAR+PRESS+COMICS >Buy George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead: The beginning #1 online from X-World and Save!</a>