Comics Review: iZombie

When it came to buying comics, I used to be a real Wednesday regular kind of guy, but over the last couple of years my regular purchases have dwindled, much to the chagrin of my local comic book store I'm sure. There are a lot of reasons for my lack of weekly purchases beyond a broad disinterest in the majority of comics being published. Truthfully, there are a lot of good comics being made right now, but I'm a very discerning customer whose time and money is limited. I can only pay for books that not only provide a consistent level of quality, but also speak to me personally.

iZombie, written by Chris Roberson and illustrated by Michael and Laura Allred is a book that does that.

The concept for iZombie is, at first, fairly straight forward. Gwen is a zombie. She appears to be a regular person with normal bodily functions save for a violet skin tone and of course, the craving to eat brains. According to Gwen, she has to eat one brain a month to keep from turning into a rotting, shambling, brain dead monster. Fortunately for her, she works as a grave digger and has easy access to the fresh brains buried there. Unfortunately for her, whenever she eats a brain she gains the dead persons memories, which haunt her and compel her to take care of their unfinished business.

I first bought this book for the Allred art. I'm a huge fan of the Allreds style and am always interested in anything they do. Writer Chris Roberson was a newcomer to me. He hasn't done a whole lot of comic work, but he's breaking in and on his way to exploding in the industry. This year in fact, he has two Eisner Award nominations, one of which is Best New Series for iZombie. He's also currently writing Superman, taking over for the...less than ideal...Grounded storyline started by J. Michael Straczynski. I hear it's a complete turn around from what JMS was doing and a vast improvement. But I didn't know any of that when I first picked up iZombie, it was just a book by a cool artist and an unknown writer.

The set up for iZombie is fairly familiar and I think it takes a few issues before the plot starts getting interesting, but that is to the books benefit. Gwen the Zombie has a ghost pal and a werewolf acquaintance. Well, technically, he's a were-terrier...

In the first couple of issues we get to know Gwen as she goes on her detective mission to solve murder of the man whose brain she ate. Along the way we see that there is a coven of Vampire women in the town, a mysterious mummy man, and a group of monster hunters.

As the book progresses, the plot really gains momentum with some real trippy mysticism and conspiracies. All the while, we also get to really know the characters and slowly learn more about Gwen and her past life.

My favorite thing about iZombie, is the way Roberson utilizes cliffhanger endings to each issue. I think the most common criticism launched at most modern comic books is their lack of value per issue, especially with prices as high as $3.99 an issue. In iZombie, Roberson deftly packs each issue's story with a beginning, middle, and end, often ending with an intriguing cliffhanger. And they aren't the kind of measly shock tactic cliffhangers that are undone in the first page of the next issue. The cliffhangers are revealing plot elements that stick with the series throughout further issues.

And last I checked, the issues are priced at $2.99. This is a must buy book with a great cast by a fantastic writer and a legendary artist.