Although Max Brooks’ first graphic novel, THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: RECORDED ATTACKS is branded after his 2003 how-to debut, it has more in common with his novel, WORLD WAR Z. But that’s from a different publisher.
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to, because they’re all his doing, and he’s striking the undead iron while it’s still hot. While WWZ chronicled how the four corners of the globe responded to an all-out zombie onslaught in modern day, RECORDED ATTACKS shows how different nations handled the occasional uprising across more than 60,000 years.
Presented chronologically, the comic — illustrated with care and cohesion by Ibraim Roberson throughout, whose detailed pencils recall the work of Richard Corben — begins in 60,000 B.C. Central Africa, when a tribal man’s spear-fishing is interrupted by the arrival of something that sees him as prey. Given one nightmarish image this story presents early on, it’s a terrific running start for the history lesson.
From there, we revisit the nights and days of the living dead in ancient Egypt and Roman times, on a Pacific island visit by Sir Francis Drake, to snowy Siberia and aboard a slave ship sailing the Atlantic. We see the French Legion fight them, and the Russians attempt to use them as weapons in the Cold War, leading up to a contemporary encounter in California’s Joshua Tree National Park.
Best of all, the zombies come face to face with ninjas in feudal Japan. Yes, ninjas. Now tell me that alone isn’t worth the price of admission.
Speaking of admission, this graphic novel — containing no dialogue, incidentally — convinces me that if WORLD WAR Z ever does make it to the big screen, it’ll be huge. Like Brooks’ novel, this illustrated offshoot feels a little repetitive, but he does his best to shake things up with changes of setting.
And ninjas. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• WORLD WAR Z: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE ZOMBIE WAR by Max Brooks
Related posts:
- World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
- Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide
- The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics
- Shanna, the She-Devil: Survival of the Fittest
- Essential Tales of the Zombie: Vol. 1
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Zombies throughout history? I haven’t been able to bring myself to read World War Z, since zombies terrify me, but this sounds like it’s definitely up my alley. I shall have to check it out!
Braaaaaaaains!
My Girlfriend got this for me for Christmas and it’s just like I pictured while reading the book. Some of my favorite outbreaks didn’t make this collection and I’m a little bummed, unless it does well enough and we get a sequel.