So then Peter Gross looked at Mike Carey an said, “Why not zombies?”
This is the comic I used to sight when my fellow English majors attempted to dismiss comics as silly. So, it was a little hard for me to accept that these fellows, who had once staged a lengthy discussion between Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling, were moving on to subjects like full frontal nudity, casual sex, vampires, zombies, and procedural detective work.
Once I got through the silliness, and my disappointment that the Tom Taylor meets Bunny Lucifer in Hell story was not going to be sewn up for two months; I have to say it was a fairly successful issue. Mike Carey can write a young adolescent with pitch-perfect innocence and angst. He did so in his series Lucifer, with young Elaine Belloc; and here again with Jason, a young horror buff whose imagination is getting the better of him. Another highlight of this issue for me is the return of Midge, the Australian detective. I find her fascinating, and enjoy reading about most anyone who has ridden a unicorn to the rescue.
Peter Gross’ style remains consistent and accessible. He handles facial expressions with finesse and does a nice job driving home plot points visually. This issue did not leave me feeling that I had to know what happened next, or cursing the twenty-eight days before I will see it again. I am curious to see where it goes from here, but I miss the elevated concepts the series took on early in its run.
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