Steve Saunders Reviews…

Hypergeek would like to welcome guest reviewer Steven G. Saunders to the site. You may know Steve as a former writer of the All the Rage column at Comics Bulletin, or from his fledgling comic writing work on titles such as Secret Cross & Sorgon (featured in Orang Utan Comics‘ FTL #2 & #3), the Orsuville Webcomic, and many other upcoming projects. Steve recently became a featured reviewer at DriveThruComics, and because I’m a big fan of the DriveThruComics site Steve has asked whether he could cross-post his featured reviews. They agreed, and so here we are…

Today, Steve will be reviewing HumpDay #1 by Adam Buchler, from Brain Scan Studios.

The solicitation for the issue reads:

A deadly virus spreads throughout the world. The survivors have to contend with the “infected”, zombies who wander the countryside killing without prejudice. The best the government could come up with? Ed & Jake, two slackers who protect us from the hoards and try to live normal lives. The question is, who’s going to protect them?

Upon seeing the cover for this book, in which a mime runs from zombies as his mime pal is set upon by them, I knew the bar was set pretty high. I mean, that’s genius right there. With eager, ravenous, mime-loathing eyes I read on…

The first thing that struck me about HumpDay – well, other than the cover – is the competency of the creative team. The art, while in rather simple black & white, has strong lines, great shadowing and fantastic inking. The layout itself is nothing special, but it suits the purpose of facilitating a good story and never gets in the way. I also noticed the lettering is top-notch – a big deal to me, you see. Too many indie comics are horribly ruined by terrible lettering and word-balloon placement. HumpDay totally succeeds in the technical department. A refreshing thing, if you ask me.

But what about the story? At first it seems pretty to be standard zombie-plague fare, opening with a plane en route to Scotland from Mumbai and the crew discovering they are to be killed instead of having a cuppa. Then, of course, there’s a nice exposition page with a main character (and reader) learning about the “infection” via a news program. We also learn that it has spread to all seven continents. Yes, even Antarctica.

We are then treated to the main character showing up for work, and it seems he’s apart of some kind of zombie killing taskforce, called “Tendart”. It’s not explained what Tendart is in the first issue (or if the infected are really zombies – that’s just an assumption on my part), but we are treated to characters Jake and Ed’s workplace, and they are assigned a mission in Paris. Once there they enter some creepy catacombs and are attacked by some kind of new creature, ones they don’t recognize. In the end, the new creatures prove to be quite bold and attack Jake, Ed and those with them openly.

The writing is fresh, funny and never too cliché… but just cliché enough when it needs to be. HumpDay paints itself to be pretty tongue-in-cheek and downright hilarious in place. Think Shaun of the Dead here, folks.

Now, overall this comic is a very solid offering. Still, some folks may be a bit confused as to who Ed and Jake are and what they do (as I was slightly). This is all solved by reading issue #0, which sets up everything quite nicely. To quote the copy for the #0 issue:

Ed and Jake are “dog-catchers” that have been specifically trained to go into tourist areas (like Paris, France) and destroy the hordes of undead tourists and vacationers who died while overseas. One thing, in accordance with certain laws and guidelines, dog-catchers are only permitted to destroy their particular homeland’s undead (i.e. American soldiers can only kill American Zombie tourists). With extreme emphasis on being politically correct, tempers easily flair between governments. For Ed and Jake this could mean the end!

It’s only… let’s see… 72 cents currently, or you can read the preview which also let’s you know what’s up setting-wise. I say buy it, as it’s worth every penny. Then go buy this issue (#1.)

In a market full-on glutted by hordes of zombie comics, it’s always pleasant to see fast-paced witty action paired with undead killin’. If I have to read yet another zed-word offering, then it better be either 1) damned good or 2) make me laugh. HumpDay manages to do a whole lot of both, and I’m eager to see what happens next!

Rating: Four out of Five!

Review by Steven G. Saunders
http://www.baconlord.com

HumpDay #1 is available to buy from DriveThruComics, as a downloadable watermarked PDF by clicking here

You can also see a six page preview of the comic by clicking here

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