Reviewer: Jimmy Lin
Story Title: n/a
Adapted by: Chris Rayall
Art by: Gariel Rodriguez
Colored by: Jay Fotos
Lettered by:Tom B. Long
Editor: Dan Taylor
Publisher: IDW
IDW confounds me in its editorial choices. They’ve published some remarkable stuff (the Hell House adaptation), but they’ve also descended into some real crap (Karney, ugh). Land of the Dead issue 1 falls somewhere in the middle – it ain’t bad, but it’s not as intriguing as some of their other current titles (Shadowplay being a case in point).
I haven’t seen the movie, but as far as I can tell, Rayall’s adaptation doesn’t make any significant deviations from the movie trailer. The zombies in this latest outing by Romeo aren’t quite as mindless as in his previous stories; in LoftD they’re aping their long-gone lives. There seems to be an entire society and economy built up around killing zombies and salvaging usable supplies, and so the setup is already somewhat intriguing. It’s a little like Bartertown surrounded by the undead – a nearly lawless gambling and brawling yellow cake enveloping the highly gentrified creamy center. This, in itself, is intriguing – one can imagine some pretty interesting stories happening in this place.
Beyond the setup, we’re really not given a whole lot to work with. There’s some character exposition – one who’s the “responsible leader” and another who’s the “f*ck everyone, I’m in this for myself” rebel-type. There’s a couple of double-crosses, and when the book ends, we’re shown what must be Thunderdome. I can only hope that Tina Turner and Master-Blaster make an appearance sometime later, because we’ve already got MadMax if you combine the main characters.
Rodriguez turns out some pretty fine art here. It’s clean and communicates well. The characters look much like the actors, and the action works well. I particularly dig his level of detail: fairly intricate but without getting in the way of what’s important. Good stuff, Rodriguez. I salute you with my bottle Negra Modelo, hombre; you gots the goods, and you shake it for all its worth.
