Tuesday, April 8, 2014

A VERY UNUSUAL ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: A DanCon review of APOCALYPSE MAN



You’ve seen all kinds of different zombie apocalypses, but this one is very different. In the world of this book, one moment you can be a regular guy, and the next your body is swelling up with alien eggs until you explode.  The eggs then hatch to become giant monsters. Well, it’s not that fast. You do have some time to stagger around like, well, like a zombie, but when it hits you, it comes fast.


The focus of this story is Bryan and his family of survivors: bad-ass with a shotgun Adrienne, snarky kid Blake and fat dude Aaron. They lament the passing of their loved ones, but in an odd way, they’re grateful that they didn’t survive to see how terrible the world is now. But mostly, their biggest problem is trying to get Aaron to stop eating all their food.


And then, the unexpected happens. They’re surrounded by zombies bursting with monster eggs and the very monsters that grow from them, and all hope seems to have left them . . . and if someone ruins the ending of this book for you, they should be thrown into a pit of horse cum.


The remarkable thing about APOCALYPSE MAN is that it’s a one-shot. It isn’t the first in a series, and there is no promise for a continuation. Not enough stories are handled this way in comics. As with TV and movies, there is always the greedy desire to get a story out there that turns out to be so popular, people want more of it. This is completely contained within itself, which is why it manages to make the strong statement that it does.


Writer and artist Brad Sun certainly knows what he’s doing. With the exception of the monsters, this could be any old story. It could have been made in a cookie cutter, but with the sudden turn of events near the end, it catapults itself into a whole new realm. The artwork is a perfect match. It’s dark and rough, just like the world it portrays. And the monsters are just disgusting.


If you’re looking for a quick, great read, look no further.


APOCALYPSE MAN
Written and illustrated by Brad Sun
Published by Sunbros Studios
40 pages

$5 (I think)

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