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The Other Dead
The world's first Zombie Animal epic is here! A deadly hurricane threatens New Orleans just as a frightening and mysterious outbreak hits the animal kingdom! Join all-star creators Kevin Eastman, Joshua Ortega, and Digger T. Mesch for this highly anticipated new horror series! With art by rising star Qing Ping Mui.
138 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2014
About the author
Joshua Ortega
92 books16 followersJoshua Ortega is an author and journalist best known for his novel Frequencies, as well as his comic book and graphic novel work on entertainment properties such as Star Wars, Spider-Man, Batman, Star Trek, The Escapist, and The Necromancer.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 22, 2014
Ok, so the art work was amazing! Without the illustrations, my rating would have been at least one star lower. And I will probably buy a full copy of this when it comes out, if only for the art work.
The story seemed not sure where to situate itself. It wasn't deep, serious, and compelling like The Walking Dead. It didn't have characters we could relate to, or people we were worried about not surviving.
When the characters of The Other Dead did die, it was sudden, but not a shock.
I didn't find myself reeling at anyone's death, and at one point actually had to go back and find the "death scene" after they said they couldn't believe he was dead, and I was all "What now? When did that happen?" The death scene was there, in all of its two frames, but it failed to register with me at all.
It was a fun read, it was a quick read, but if it hadn't have been such a quick read, I don't know that I would have stuck around. Something I read because it was there, not because I was desperate to know the outcome. A little like an Archie comic, but with better illustrations.
The reason for the zombie animals was very... B grade horror movie. Not dissimilar to the one where a group of island party-goers find an old book and read from it, starting a zombie outbreak on the island. So silly that the only thing that helps is laughing at it.
And, given that the ritual that brought about the zombie animals was directly tied to Jude, I would have expected The end of the final episode was anticlimactic, with no real resolution to the story. That kind of ending is not uncommon with zombie stories, but I really felt like this could have been executed a little better.
I'd recommend this to people wanting a quick read, and people who appreciate some good, gruesome art work.
This graphic novel was provided free of charge via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The copy reviewed may not be the final copy that goes to print.
On a side note: I understand why they had the watermark over the top of the pages, to stop people from distributing it illegally, but it did make it hard to read the writing sometimes, and stopped us from being able to truly appreciate some of the full page images.
It would have been more bearable if the watermark had only appeared on every fifth or tenth page, instead of EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Or maybe if it had been a touch more transparent. Anyway, that won't affect those of you purchasing it, so back to the main review.
The story seemed not sure where to situate itself. It wasn't deep, serious, and compelling like The Walking Dead. It didn't have characters we could relate to, or people we were worried about not surviving.
When the characters of The Other Dead did die, it was sudden, but not a shock.
I didn't find myself reeling at anyone's death, and at one point actually had to go back and find the "death scene" after they said they couldn't believe he was dead, and I was all "What now? When did that happen?" The death scene was there, in all of its two frames, but it failed to register with me at all.
It was a fun read, it was a quick read, but if it hadn't have been such a quick read, I don't know that I would have stuck around. Something I read because it was there, not because I was desperate to know the outcome. A little like an Archie comic, but with better illustrations.
The reason for the zombie animals was very... B grade horror movie. Not dissimilar to the one where a group of island party-goers find an old book and read from it, starting a zombie outbreak on the island. So silly that the only thing that helps is laughing at it.
And, given that the ritual that brought about the zombie animals was directly tied to Jude, I would have expected The end of the final episode was anticlimactic, with no real resolution to the story. That kind of ending is not uncommon with zombie stories, but I really felt like this could have been executed a little better.
I'd recommend this to people wanting a quick read, and people who appreciate some good, gruesome art work.
This graphic novel was provided free of charge via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The copy reviewed may not be the final copy that goes to print.
February 8, 2014
This review is courtesy of an Advanced Review Copy through the good folks at NetGalley.
Ok. Give me a second to gather my thoughts here.
I get that zombie stories aren't for everybody, especially since we live in a world where franchises like The Walking Dead are the catalysts for full-on undead saturation on television, within comics and in spin-off literature. The tropes surrounding stories about the living dead are well-worn and old-hand chestnuts, and as such we might be getting a bit bored with the whole effort.
So when a zombie story appears touting itself as something different, in much the same way Sheltered marketed itself as 'pre-' rather than 'post-' apocalyptic, I'm wary. Usually, this is a scenario where an undead tale is different the same way Zombieland differentiated itself from, say, 28 Days Later - where once there was gritty survival horror is now Woody Harrelson kicking undead teeth in with a banjo and a pair of hedge clippers. The broad strokes are similar, but the devil in the details sets it apart.
The Other Dead is most definitely apart from any other zombie narrative I have ever experienced; namely, since it's a singularly stupid, aimless, convoluted-yet-childishly-simplistic and utterly ridiculous fictional venture. And that's coming from someone who read Cry for Justice.
Ok, before I open with both barrels I should highlight that the idea of zombie animals rather than people is a neat concept, and while I'd be wary to carry an ongoing series on that idea alone it is interesting to see it explored. Granted, it's nowhere near as exciting, nerve-wracking or sad as seeing humans, like the ones we live beside, becoming undead killing machines, but it's still intriguing. And I will say, despite the utter bile I'll dispense on it shortly, that the idea of the American President wading in and fighting flying zombie ducks is a pretty cool idea on its own.
Now that's over with, let's get to the remaining 95% of this dross.
First, characters. There aren't any. Oh, there are certainly people walking around and spouting inane dialogue, but they aren't characters. I've firmly got it in my head that the planet Earth we're viewing is actually a simulacra populated by half-programmed robots, which is far more interesting than the reality The Other Dead presents.
Of the many drawling nonces on display we have Az - a wannabe occult fanatic who looks like Lobo from the DC 'verse lost weight and diversified into being a punkish jerk without any of the badass appeal - his brother Tommy - a Littlest Cancer Patient who resembles the kind of ghost-child that Haley Joel Osment wishes he could've acted as back in the day - and Az's girlfriend Jelinda-something-or-other - who apparently wants EVERYBODY to call her by her full, slightly-exotic name, probably for some kind of sexual gratification. There are others who are less protagonists than they are named Redshirts, but since they're unceremoniously killed off at the drop of a hat after a meagre attempt at characterisation they're not worth mentioning.
Oh, and also President Freakin' Obama is in this as a much fuller-haired, common-sense-impaired world leader who hits upon the world-beating idea of taking a trip to Louisiana to check out this zombie business. Because, y'know, not like he's going to be needed for more important stuff in the White House, and nor is it necessary for him to take the Secret Service or any kind of protection besides a meek little advisor guy named Chip who's apparently a dab hand at making sandwiches.
Now, all of the above sounds like it should be the opening act of a hilarious, camp and over-the-top parody with all these disparate elements thrown up against a Southern monsoon and a legion of undead crocodiles. Indeed, if this had been the book's gameplan and the tone it had shot for I probably would've been kinder. One of the many, many problems plaguing The Other Dead, however, is it's trying its damnedest to be taken seriously when it most certainly cannot be.
None of the characters are the least bit relatable, interesting or engaging. We're asked to feel sad when the aforementioned Redshirts are gored and thrown around by the aforementioned crocodiles, but we know nothing about them to have any emotional connection warranting such a reaction. If they were actual Redshirts, similar to the one-shot characters Walking Dead routinely kills off right after introducing, it'd be different, but The Other Dead takes a brief stab at fleshing out these guys and girls pages before death so that their passing carries some kind of impact. Suffice to say, it don't.
Neither do we give two hoots about our protagonists who, as stated above, spout inane dialogue that feels like it was scribed by the translators of Backstroke of the West. As well as the usual cliches of "What are we going to do?", "I'm just glad you're ok" and "Aren't you responsible for starting this apocalypse because you and your friends did that blood ritual in the backyard last night?", we also have curse words aplenty and deployed for no reason. "Shit" seems to be the word of the day and used, I gather, to try and add to the edgy, adult atmosphere the book is shooting for. There is such a thing as overdoing swearing, and The Other Dead kinda bypasses that stage to just make it tedious and repetitive.
What's that, I haven't covered the plot? Probably because it's a zombie apocalypse - there's only so much you can innovate in that regard, even with the reanimated corpses of squirrels as antagonists. They attack, people scream and die, rinse and repeat.
Now, I was thinking of maybe giving the book a pass at two stars and leaving it there. My immediate thought of going to one star by default seemed a little cruel, especially since it's clear the book is at least, however meekly, trying something different from the norm. And realistically, I don't want to say all these things to sound nasty or vitriolic. It is, after all, still a first volume, so maybe it's just finding its feet, right?
But then we reach the end of the book, where I should probably put up a SPOILER WARNING before proceeding.
At that point, I just went "Nope. Nope. Sorry. Nope." Out loud. That's how ridiculous it was. One star for you, Other Dead. What tiny shred of credibility you had with me just got eaten by those deer.
Like I said, if it was trying to be a parody I could definitely roll with that. It has the kind of meta-ingredients and overuse of certain tropes that a master like John Scalzi or Yahtzee Croshaw could work well with to form something funny and off-beat that takes jabs at the genre's source material. The problem is that there are almost no intentional laughs to be found in this dreck, and if they actually are intended to be funny they could do a better job of telegraphing that.
The serious moments that a good drama would use for character development come off as laughable, especially since we don't know enough about these two-dimensional human sandwich boards to give a crap about what's happening to them. The facepalmingly awful humourous bits that are intentionally included come off as both forced and as unfunny as one can get without hiring Adam Sandler for writing duties. The political jabs at Obama or his detractors - since it's impossible to tell which side the author is on in that regard - fall flat because they're heavy-handed and at the same time targetless. Is the point of mocking Stephen Colbert in the middle of a zombie animal apocalypse because the author genuinely finds him tiresome, or does the quick defence of the talk show host by one of the characters as being "ironic" indicate the author's a voice of reason against those who think Colbert's pretty terrible?
I'd say clarity of purpose is the only thing that could potentially save The Other Dead, since there's no way its one-trick-pony new idea (which probably isn't even that new, if one could be bothered to research other stories with undead animals) can carry it as anything other than a memorable and slightly innovative trainwreck. The Other Dead was a slow experience, which is surprising given the brevity of the ARC, that rather than following its arc to a crescendo of action and character drama is instead on a determined one-way trip straight to the discard pile.
Ok. Give me a second to gather my thoughts here.
I get that zombie stories aren't for everybody, especially since we live in a world where franchises like The Walking Dead are the catalysts for full-on undead saturation on television, within comics and in spin-off literature. The tropes surrounding stories about the living dead are well-worn and old-hand chestnuts, and as such we might be getting a bit bored with the whole effort.
So when a zombie story appears touting itself as something different, in much the same way Sheltered marketed itself as 'pre-' rather than 'post-' apocalyptic, I'm wary. Usually, this is a scenario where an undead tale is different the same way Zombieland differentiated itself from, say, 28 Days Later - where once there was gritty survival horror is now Woody Harrelson kicking undead teeth in with a banjo and a pair of hedge clippers. The broad strokes are similar, but the devil in the details sets it apart.
The Other Dead is most definitely apart from any other zombie narrative I have ever experienced; namely, since it's a singularly stupid, aimless, convoluted-yet-childishly-simplistic and utterly ridiculous fictional venture. And that's coming from someone who read Cry for Justice.
Ok, before I open with both barrels I should highlight that the idea of zombie animals rather than people is a neat concept, and while I'd be wary to carry an ongoing series on that idea alone it is interesting to see it explored. Granted, it's nowhere near as exciting, nerve-wracking or sad as seeing humans, like the ones we live beside, becoming undead killing machines, but it's still intriguing. And I will say, despite the utter bile I'll dispense on it shortly, that the idea of the American President wading in and fighting flying zombie ducks is a pretty cool idea on its own.
Now that's over with, let's get to the remaining 95% of this dross.
First, characters. There aren't any. Oh, there are certainly people walking around and spouting inane dialogue, but they aren't characters. I've firmly got it in my head that the planet Earth we're viewing is actually a simulacra populated by half-programmed robots, which is far more interesting than the reality The Other Dead presents.
Of the many drawling nonces on display we have Az - a wannabe occult fanatic who looks like Lobo from the DC 'verse lost weight and diversified into being a punkish jerk without any of the badass appeal - his brother Tommy - a Littlest Cancer Patient who resembles the kind of ghost-child that Haley Joel Osment wishes he could've acted as back in the day - and Az's girlfriend Jelinda-something-or-other - who apparently wants EVERYBODY to call her by her full, slightly-exotic name, probably for some kind of sexual gratification. There are others who are less protagonists than they are named Redshirts, but since they're unceremoniously killed off at the drop of a hat after a meagre attempt at characterisation they're not worth mentioning.
Oh, and also President Freakin' Obama is in this as a much fuller-haired, common-sense-impaired world leader who hits upon the world-beating idea of taking a trip to Louisiana to check out this zombie business. Because, y'know, not like he's going to be needed for more important stuff in the White House, and nor is it necessary for him to take the Secret Service or any kind of protection besides a meek little advisor guy named Chip who's apparently a dab hand at making sandwiches.
Now, all of the above sounds like it should be the opening act of a hilarious, camp and over-the-top parody with all these disparate elements thrown up against a Southern monsoon and a legion of undead crocodiles. Indeed, if this had been the book's gameplan and the tone it had shot for I probably would've been kinder. One of the many, many problems plaguing The Other Dead, however, is it's trying its damnedest to be taken seriously when it most certainly cannot be.
None of the characters are the least bit relatable, interesting or engaging. We're asked to feel sad when the aforementioned Redshirts are gored and thrown around by the aforementioned crocodiles, but we know nothing about them to have any emotional connection warranting such a reaction. If they were actual Redshirts, similar to the one-shot characters Walking Dead routinely kills off right after introducing, it'd be different, but The Other Dead takes a brief stab at fleshing out these guys and girls pages before death so that their passing carries some kind of impact. Suffice to say, it don't.
Neither do we give two hoots about our protagonists who, as stated above, spout inane dialogue that feels like it was scribed by the translators of Backstroke of the West. As well as the usual cliches of "What are we going to do?", "I'm just glad you're ok" and "Aren't you responsible for starting this apocalypse because you and your friends did that blood ritual in the backyard last night?", we also have curse words aplenty and deployed for no reason. "Shit" seems to be the word of the day and used, I gather, to try and add to the edgy, adult atmosphere the book is shooting for. There is such a thing as overdoing swearing, and The Other Dead kinda bypasses that stage to just make it tedious and repetitive.
What's that, I haven't covered the plot? Probably because it's a zombie apocalypse - there's only so much you can innovate in that regard, even with the reanimated corpses of squirrels as antagonists. They attack, people scream and die, rinse and repeat.
Now, I was thinking of maybe giving the book a pass at two stars and leaving it there. My immediate thought of going to one star by default seemed a little cruel, especially since it's clear the book is at least, however meekly, trying something different from the norm. And realistically, I don't want to say all these things to sound nasty or vitriolic. It is, after all, still a first volume, so maybe it's just finding its feet, right?
But then we reach the end of the book, where I should probably put up a SPOILER WARNING before proceeding.
At that point, I just went "Nope. Nope. Sorry. Nope." Out loud. That's how ridiculous it was. One star for you, Other Dead. What tiny shred of credibility you had with me just got eaten by those deer.
Like I said, if it was trying to be a parody I could definitely roll with that. It has the kind of meta-ingredients and overuse of certain tropes that a master like John Scalzi or Yahtzee Croshaw could work well with to form something funny and off-beat that takes jabs at the genre's source material. The problem is that there are almost no intentional laughs to be found in this dreck, and if they actually are intended to be funny they could do a better job of telegraphing that.
The serious moments that a good drama would use for character development come off as laughable, especially since we don't know enough about these two-dimensional human sandwich boards to give a crap about what's happening to them. The facepalmingly awful humourous bits that are intentionally included come off as both forced and as unfunny as one can get without hiring Adam Sandler for writing duties. The political jabs at Obama or his detractors - since it's impossible to tell which side the author is on in that regard - fall flat because they're heavy-handed and at the same time targetless. Is the point of mocking Stephen Colbert in the middle of a zombie animal apocalypse because the author genuinely finds him tiresome, or does the quick defence of the talk show host by one of the characters as being "ironic" indicate the author's a voice of reason against those who think Colbert's pretty terrible?
I'd say clarity of purpose is the only thing that could potentially save The Other Dead, since there's no way its one-trick-pony new idea (which probably isn't even that new, if one could be bothered to research other stories with undead animals) can carry it as anything other than a memorable and slightly innovative trainwreck. The Other Dead was a slow experience, which is surprising given the brevity of the ARC, that rather than following its arc to a crescendo of action and character drama is instead on a determined one-way trip straight to the discard pile.
June 16, 2014
I can see that in many of the other reviews Obama has been a problem for some people. Honestly, I liked it. And I loved, loved, loved all the zombie animals.
February 13, 2022
Have you ever heard the joke "A little boy with cancer, a couple of strippers, three satan worshipping rockers, a few doomsday preppers, and Obama walk into the zombie-animal apocalypse?" It should be a hilarious joke; that's a killer setup. If there's a person who should enjoy this comic/joke it's me. Alas, there's no fun, joy, or laughs to be had in this comic. Despite its outlandish premise, it's actually quite dull.
Often the way to kill zombies is to remove the head or destroy the brain. It's a rule so ubiquitous everyone's grandmother knows it. There's a reason why it's so popular. It makes it very easy for the viewer to understand when a creature is dead. In this comic zombies are immune to headshots. The only thing that seemingly kills them is when the author has decided they're dead. It makes for completely random inane action scenes.
The art is good with one huge but. And that is Mui can't draw faces. I've seen countless pictures over the years and I've never come across one close to as bad as this rendition. Everyone person looks like some horrid ghoul.
The only strong part of this comic is the art, apart from the faces obviously, and the premise.
Often the way to kill zombies is to remove the head or destroy the brain. It's a rule so ubiquitous everyone's grandmother knows it. There's a reason why it's so popular. It makes it very easy for the viewer to understand when a creature is dead. In this comic zombies are immune to headshots. The only thing that seemingly kills them is when the author has decided they're dead. It makes for completely random inane action scenes.
The art is good with one huge but. And that is Mui can't draw faces. I've seen countless pictures over the years and I've never come across one close to as bad as this rendition. Everyone person looks like some horrid ghoul.
The only strong part of this comic is the art, apart from the faces obviously, and the premise.
July 29, 2016
Here is a new twist on the zombie apocalypse that I haven't read before. The humans seem safe, at least from becoming the living dead. The danger lies in the animals having become cursed into zombies, every creature small to large, from birds to mammals. A heaping good dose of gore and violence but not over-the-top and a tight, believable (for the genre) plot made for a fast-paced page-turner read. Very well done and I highly enjoyed it! I do, however, have one problem with it; that being the unfortunate choice to cast President Obama as a main character. Liking the real President or not has nothing to do with his involvement in the story; it just becomes a corny element. The President as an action hero, yeah right; this had me rolling my eyes at the pure campiness. Putting a real-life president in this role, no matter who it is, just doesn't work. The author would have been better off leaving the President unnamed and letting the reader decide for themselves whether it was "a" president or "the" president. The artist made no attempt whatsoever to make the character look like the real Obama, except of course skin colour, and this worked for me until he was actually named, then it became a farcical character. I would have felt the same way had it been former president Bush running around as an action hero as well. It just made a good, serious, zombie apocalypse story ... corny. The ending is good though with the classic horror "oh no! It's not really over, is it?!" finish.
May 18, 2014
'The Other Dead' combines enough plotlines for at least three good stories, and that might be it's biggest fault. It's crazy, over the top, has zombie ducks and squirrels, and it may appeal to some, but I wasn't a fan.
In the opening, a group of hunters shoots a deer in the head. They think the deer is dead, and yet it gets up and kills the hunters. We learn later that one of the hunters was former Vice President Dick Cheney. Meanwhile, a group of musicians seeking fame sacrifices some ducks in an arcane ritual, then the ducks reappear and try to kill them. Meanwhile, in Lousiana, where the story takes place, another Katrina sized storm is heading in and President Obama decides to visit, in time to be attacked by zombie dogs. He is rescued by a survivalist redneck. Are you tired yet? It's a lot to follow.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the zombie genre and even over the top stuff, but combining zombie animals, supernatural elements, natural disasters and presidential visits was just too much for me. The story is a mess, but the art was actually decent. The art is the only reason I kept reading.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
In the opening, a group of hunters shoots a deer in the head. They think the deer is dead, and yet it gets up and kills the hunters. We learn later that one of the hunters was former Vice President Dick Cheney. Meanwhile, a group of musicians seeking fame sacrifices some ducks in an arcane ritual, then the ducks reappear and try to kill them. Meanwhile, in Lousiana, where the story takes place, another Katrina sized storm is heading in and President Obama decides to visit, in time to be attacked by zombie dogs. He is rescued by a survivalist redneck. Are you tired yet? It's a lot to follow.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the zombie genre and even over the top stuff, but combining zombie animals, supernatural elements, natural disasters and presidential visits was just too much for me. The story is a mess, but the art was actually decent. The art is the only reason I kept reading.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
February 21, 2014
3 stars because of the art!
A visually stunning comic that lacks a little energy and strengh in the plot.
The idea of having animals turning into zombie seemed interesting while reading the synopsis. The problem is that the origin of the epidemic is unclear. Is it because of the ritual performed on the ducks ? In this case, how can Obama be aware of the epidemy so quickly?
In terms of characters, the story is a little wild and confusing. All heros are rather idiots and none is really nice. Difficult in these conditions to enjoy them. When someone's dead, you don't care...A little bit strange since you're supposed to bond with your characters!
Another detail that disturbed me: the animals attack humans but they do not infect them after having bitten them ... Strange, as I thought it was the norm with zombies?
As for the art, the drawings are superb, very realistic and detailed. It's worth a look!
Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr...
A visually stunning comic that lacks a little energy and strengh in the plot.
The idea of having animals turning into zombie seemed interesting while reading the synopsis. The problem is that the origin of the epidemic is unclear. Is it because of the ritual performed on the ducks ? In this case, how can Obama be aware of the epidemy so quickly?
In terms of characters, the story is a little wild and confusing. All heros are rather idiots and none is really nice. Difficult in these conditions to enjoy them. When someone's dead, you don't care...A little bit strange since you're supposed to bond with your characters!
Another detail that disturbed me: the animals attack humans but they do not infect them after having bitten them ... Strange, as I thought it was the norm with zombies?
As for the art, the drawings are superb, very realistic and detailed. It's worth a look!
Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr...
February 16, 2014
Gruesome artwork & zombie manatees for the win.
Yeah, not much as far as character development, but I really like the premise of a zombie outbreak affecting the animals instead of humans (the film Black Sheep is a guilty pleasure).
I have no idea as to the thoughts or reasoning behind the creators throwing Obama into the mix and I'm sure that them doing so is going to bunch up a whole lot of panties. But, seriously, it's a comic book and they are generally meant to be amusing or entertaining. Personally, I thought it was pretty freaking hysterical to see Obama getting ready to kick undead animal ass with punk rockers and a redneck.
This definitely hooked me in and I'm intrigued to see where the story leads.
*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.
Yeah, not much as far as character development, but I really like the premise of a zombie outbreak affecting the animals instead of humans (the film Black Sheep is a guilty pleasure).
I have no idea as to the thoughts or reasoning behind the creators throwing Obama into the mix and I'm sure that them doing so is going to bunch up a whole lot of panties. But, seriously, it's a comic book and they are generally meant to be amusing or entertaining. Personally, I thought it was pretty freaking hysterical to see Obama getting ready to kick undead animal ass with punk rockers and a redneck.
This definitely hooked me in and I'm intrigued to see where the story leads.
*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.
May 8, 2015
Me encantan los zombis. Cualquier historia sobre apocalipsis de no-muertos me encanta, de verdad. Sin embargo, nunca había leído ni visto nada sobre animales zombis, por eso no he dejado escapar la oportunidad de leer The Other Dead. No tiene una trama compleja, con una explicación sobre cómo se originó el brote realmente creíble, ni muchísimo menos de personajes (hay varios, pero realmente no se profundiza en ninguno de ellos porque en 144 páginas no da para mucho). Pero es un cómic muy entretenido, que engancha, con mucha sangre, muerte y unos dibujos a todo color geniales. No aporta nada nuevo ni original al género, pero si disfrutáis con este tipo de historias, The Other Dead es una apuesta casi segura.
April 25, 2014
I am a fan of the zombie genre. I watch Walking Dead. I read zombie fiction. I watch zombie movies. Please keep in mind that my opinion might be a little biased.
Having said that... I enjoyed this. It was an unusual take on the zombie culture - animal zombies! Interesting. One of my favorite parts was the hunter being killed by the animals he had killed! Wonderful irony!
The story lacked some zing but I am hoping that improves with the future additions to this storyline. I will repeat what others have said - the artwork was awesome!
This is a definite recommendation to those fans of horror comics, zombie anything, and anyone looking for something a little different.
Having said that... I enjoyed this. It was an unusual take on the zombie culture - animal zombies! Interesting. One of my favorite parts was the hunter being killed by the animals he had killed! Wonderful irony!
The story lacked some zing but I am hoping that improves with the future additions to this storyline. I will repeat what others have said - the artwork was awesome!
This is a definite recommendation to those fans of horror comics, zombie anything, and anyone looking for something a little different.
March 18, 2014
A want-to-be rock band outside New Orleansperforms a magic ceremony involving duck blood that may (or may not) have caused zombie animals to begin attacking humans. Dick Cheney gets killed by a deer he just killed. President Obama flew in to New Orleans due to an approaching hurricane and gets trapped due to animals and weather. The book ends with the surviving band members, Obama, and a right-wing survivalists preparing to endure an attack. A ironic horror comic that pokes fun at all sides. Enjoy!
March 24, 2014
Great premise, where the zombie apocalypse affects animals instead of humans. It follows a group of survivors (including Barack Obama) escaping Louisiana, where the outbreak started. I wouldn't want to be part of their rescue team, because every team expect the last one, dies trying to rescue the president. Artwork was different. There was definitely a lot of gore with the zombie animals, but aside from that, eh.
February 12, 2014
In trying to get famous, a band casts a spell which unleashes a zombie curse effecting animals. The reanimated animals are really angry and out for revenge.
Highly detailed illustrations add depth to scenes, characters, and plot.
Characters are quirky, from a range of backgrounds, and fun.
The narrative, while somewhat simplistic or formulaic, is well constructed and develops as the characters and action build.
Overall, a fun read.
Highly detailed illustrations add depth to scenes, characters, and plot.
Characters are quirky, from a range of backgrounds, and fun.
The narrative, while somewhat simplistic or formulaic, is well constructed and develops as the characters and action build.
Overall, a fun read.
March 22, 2016
Oh god I love the Obama depiction so much! I'm a bit of an emotional sook, so the animal deaths bummed me out a bit. But overall a good story and amazingly gruesome illustrations.
May 23, 2021
What a rinse and repeat story..
It started pretty cool, decent artwork but then the story starts repeating itself.
Group trapped, rescue arrives, rescue crew dies and group takes transportation, this happens 3 to 4 times and thats about it.
Was going to give it a 3/5 for the artwork and hoping for some explanation for Tommy's condition but nope., so 2.5 due to the way the book ends..
It started pretty cool, decent artwork but then the story starts repeating itself.
Group trapped, rescue arrives, rescue crew dies and group takes transportation, this happens 3 to 4 times and thats about it.
Was going to give it a 3/5 for the artwork and hoping for some explanation for Tommy's condition but nope., so 2.5 due to the way the book ends..
October 4, 2023
An interesting concept with an uninteresting story and characters. It was fun to have Obama as one of our protagonists, but nothing special was really done with him, he could have been any random/made up President or government figure and it would have been the same story wise. My favorite part was actually all the guest artist cover art in the back of the volume.
January 15, 2017
Wonder what President Obama (still President as of this writing 15/1/1017) while not a fan of the zombie genre I found this enjoyable. The story, your typical survival horror, moves along at a very good pace with an interesting array of characters (the ones that survive this is)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2020
Me ha gustado mucho esta novela gráfica pero sinceramente me la compré porque costaba 4€.
July 3, 2021
Read for Summerween and I was completely surprised to discover it was an zombie animal hunter book starring Obama. Very entertaining!
October 14, 2016
That was fun. Loved the coloring, and a bad ass Obama.
November 18, 2015
Reseña de Sergi Viciana · Nota: 6,5 · Reseña en Fantífica
La idea de los animales zombis es casi tan vieja como el género tal y como lo entendemos hoy en día. Simplemente no se ha explotado demasiado, porque tiene un problema de raíz: si todos los animales se convirtieran en zombis, la humanidad desaparecería en horas. Y cuando alguien ha intentado plantearlo en serio, el resultado ha sido siempre el mismo: la verosimilitud ha saltado por los aires. Y que en una historia cuya premisa es que los muertos vuelven a la vida con ansias antropófagas la credibilidad del lector sufra no tiene perdón de dios. El siguiente paso suele ser poner zombis inteligentes, y nunca funcionan. Pueden ser muertos vivientes, pero no son zombis. Echad un ojo a las novelas de David Wellington y veréis a qué me refiero.
Claro que hay otra opción: no hacerlo en serio. Por algún extraño motivo, un animal muerto que se mueva puede ser muy gracioso. Quizás sea esa mezcla de ternura y asquerosidad, pero desde la película Zombeavers hasta la novela corta Racoon zombies, pasando por la rata de Sumatra de Braindead, esos bichos son graciosos.
The Other Dead opta claramente por esta segunda posibilidad. Se regodea en presentar tópicos: adolescentes conflictivos, un paleto sureño con muchas armas, cazadores con pocas luces... todo bañado con humor negro, referencias a películas y un ritmo muy rápido, no sea que el lector se pare por un momento a pensar en lo que está leyendo.
A nivel de guión la historia es básicamente lo que uno espera. En ese sentido, nada que objetar. El problema está en el tono, porque aunque opta por el humor negro y la autoparodia (me hizo pensar varias veces en las películas de Syfy), no se acaba de dejar llevar. Falta más humor negro, más gore, más sangre y más mala leche. Poner al presidente Obama como secundario podría haber sido un gran acierto, y las escenas en la casa del paleto sureño ponen los gags en bandeja, pero luego no acaban de estar. Hay algún chiste, sí, pero justo esas son las escenas más serias.
Pero el gran problema de The Other Dead no es de guión, sino de dibujo. Las portadas como la de aquí encima son de otros autores, pero el interior es de Qing Ping Mui, que no está a la altura en casi ningún momento. Al margen de su estilo feísta, que puede gustar más o menos, tiene serios problemas con la perspectiva. No parece que sea consciente de ello, porque algunos planos son especialmente exigentes en ese aspecto y ponen aún más de manifiesto sus carencias. Tampoco se le da bien la anatomía, especialmente la de los animales, y algunos dibujos son realmente bochornosos. Y ni el entintado ni el mediocre color consiguen compensarlo.
En resumen, The Other Dead deja un sabor agridulce. No es un mal cómic, tiene un buen ritmo y hace pasar un buen rato. Pero podría haber sido mucho, mucho mejor.
La idea de los animales zombis es casi tan vieja como el género tal y como lo entendemos hoy en día. Simplemente no se ha explotado demasiado, porque tiene un problema de raíz: si todos los animales se convirtieran en zombis, la humanidad desaparecería en horas. Y cuando alguien ha intentado plantearlo en serio, el resultado ha sido siempre el mismo: la verosimilitud ha saltado por los aires. Y que en una historia cuya premisa es que los muertos vuelven a la vida con ansias antropófagas la credibilidad del lector sufra no tiene perdón de dios. El siguiente paso suele ser poner zombis inteligentes, y nunca funcionan. Pueden ser muertos vivientes, pero no son zombis. Echad un ojo a las novelas de David Wellington y veréis a qué me refiero.
Claro que hay otra opción: no hacerlo en serio. Por algún extraño motivo, un animal muerto que se mueva puede ser muy gracioso. Quizás sea esa mezcla de ternura y asquerosidad, pero desde la película Zombeavers hasta la novela corta Racoon zombies, pasando por la rata de Sumatra de Braindead, esos bichos son graciosos.
The Other Dead opta claramente por esta segunda posibilidad. Se regodea en presentar tópicos: adolescentes conflictivos, un paleto sureño con muchas armas, cazadores con pocas luces... todo bañado con humor negro, referencias a películas y un ritmo muy rápido, no sea que el lector se pare por un momento a pensar en lo que está leyendo.
A nivel de guión la historia es básicamente lo que uno espera. En ese sentido, nada que objetar. El problema está en el tono, porque aunque opta por el humor negro y la autoparodia (me hizo pensar varias veces en las películas de Syfy), no se acaba de dejar llevar. Falta más humor negro, más gore, más sangre y más mala leche. Poner al presidente Obama como secundario podría haber sido un gran acierto, y las escenas en la casa del paleto sureño ponen los gags en bandeja, pero luego no acaban de estar. Hay algún chiste, sí, pero justo esas son las escenas más serias.
Pero el gran problema de The Other Dead no es de guión, sino de dibujo. Las portadas como la de aquí encima son de otros autores, pero el interior es de Qing Ping Mui, que no está a la altura en casi ningún momento. Al margen de su estilo feísta, que puede gustar más o menos, tiene serios problemas con la perspectiva. No parece que sea consciente de ello, porque algunos planos son especialmente exigentes en ese aspecto y ponen aún más de manifiesto sus carencias. Tampoco se le da bien la anatomía, especialmente la de los animales, y algunos dibujos son realmente bochornosos. Y ni el entintado ni el mediocre color consiguen compensarlo.
En resumen, The Other Dead deja un sabor agridulce. No es un mal cómic, tiene un buen ritmo y hace pasar un buen rato. Pero podría haber sido mucho, mucho mejor.
October 30, 2014
The story follows a group compiled of one boy with cancer, two strippers, three wannabe rockstars, Obama and his assistant, and a racist redneck; with a cameo by a zombie manatee.
Okay, so this book is ridiculous. Whether or not that is a bad thing is a personal opinion. If you enjoy watching bad horror movies simply because they're amusing, then you'll probably like this; if you prefer serious stories then you won't. I was entertained by this, but that's about it.
I was not blown away by the art. The style was just detailed enough to be effective at portraying the zombies and general gore, but not detailed enough to gross me out. I was put off by the way the shadows were drawn; they were done in a sketchy style, where as all the other shading and colouring was smooth. It seemed lazy and clashed with the overall art style, I would have preferred the shadows to be omitted altogether.
The characters were as developed as one could expect from a story of this length and played their roles well. The odd assortment of characters made the comic rather amusing. I liked the addition of President Obama but he seriously looked nothing like the actual man. I wonder if the person who coloured the images has ever seen what Obama looks like or if he just coloured him like a generic black person. It would have been better if they made up a fictional president instead of failing to representing a real one. The art aside, the story definitely got better when the president was involved.
The plot was nothing special. It moved along quickly, it entertained me. That's it. Didn't scare me as the blurbs on the back of the book promised, but when are those things ever honest?
In conclusion: it was entertaining, but not life changing.
Okay, so this book is ridiculous. Whether or not that is a bad thing is a personal opinion. If you enjoy watching bad horror movies simply because they're amusing, then you'll probably like this; if you prefer serious stories then you won't. I was entertained by this, but that's about it.
I was not blown away by the art. The style was just detailed enough to be effective at portraying the zombies and general gore, but not detailed enough to gross me out. I was put off by the way the shadows were drawn; they were done in a sketchy style, where as all the other shading and colouring was smooth. It seemed lazy and clashed with the overall art style, I would have preferred the shadows to be omitted altogether.
The characters were as developed as one could expect from a story of this length and played their roles well. The odd assortment of characters made the comic rather amusing. I liked the addition of President Obama but he seriously looked nothing like the actual man. I wonder if the person who coloured the images has ever seen what Obama looks like or if he just coloured him like a generic black person. It would have been better if they made up a fictional president instead of failing to representing a real one. The art aside, the story definitely got better when the president was involved.
The plot was nothing special. It moved along quickly, it entertained me. That's it. Didn't scare me as the blurbs on the back of the book promised, but when are those things ever honest?
In conclusion: it was entertaining, but not life changing.
February 24, 2014
This is more than just a animals-turn-into-zombies comic. It's a weird little combo of super gory illustrations and an almost comical storyline. We start with a group of punk rockers trying to make it big. They haven't had any real success, so they try to cook up some voodoo magic to gain fame. The ducks they sacrificed, though? They don't stay dead. And despite the punks' fears that they started this whole zombie outbreak, I'm not entirely sure if that's true yet. We'll have to wait and see.
Full review at Bite Club: http://vampchix.blogspot.com/2014/02/...
Full review at Bite Club: http://vampchix.blogspot.com/2014/02/...
October 30, 2014
wasn't a bad little yarn. the concept of the story was very original and compelling in the beginning, but once they meet with the president things got a little dicey in my opinion.
how can you stop a rampaging rhinoceros when damaging the brain doesn't slow out down? you don't, you accept the fact that you're not going to sleep that night.
how can you stop a rampaging rhinoceros when damaging the brain doesn't slow out down? you don't, you accept the fact that you're not going to sleep that night.
October 16, 2014
Obama in New Orleans vs zombie animals. Just... wow :D
July 15, 2015
Okay, animals are the dead, Cheney, Obama, and Louisiana. This moves, a lot....
Fast paced. Be interested to see if Animal Planet finishes the development deal or if we get to see more books.
Fast paced. Be interested to see if Animal Planet finishes the development deal or if we get to see more books.
April 25, 2017
sooooo much goodness crammed in-between these covers.
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