I was extremely excited about the Night of the Living Dead comic series when I first found out about it. I didn't even know they actually created it until the second story line had begun, so I hurriedly bought volume one to see what was going on.
Initially, I was enthralled with the concept, volume one is a prequel to the original movie. You get the story of Ben in the Diner, how the little girl with the abusive father was bitten, how the first zombies that attacked the town came to be, new characters are added to spice things up, and Barbara and her brother make a small cameo! Another good part of the comic is it branches off with the new characters with their own stories. All-in-all great, except for two things that derailed the story in my opinion.
First is the amount of sex in the comic. The creators took something great and that could stand on its own and injected a modern necessity to keep the readers attention. The original movie doesn't rely on sex to drive the story or get the viewers attention. It uses suspense and horror, and is a cinematic gem. Then there's the comic which has several young couples in each issue having sex, and it shows everything on a woman, and almost no male nudity (and if it is present its blacked out which is a sore point for me). Everywhere you turn though is sex, and it does overpower the story. I am not being a prude, trust me, I am fine with nudity and the art in this story is amazing. I can say that the naked spread-eagle ladies are drawn and inked beautifully. It's just too much.
Another problem (though not a big one) with the comic I have is the way that everybody dies in the story. It is often repetitive, and got a little boring by the end of the comic. Lets see, all the men get their eyes gouged out, then ripped apart, and the women get their breasts ripped off, then get eviscerated. It's okay for the first two issues, but by the fifth its *yawn.*
Minus the sex, and I can deal with the manner in which people are killed this is a great comic, the art was amazing; all the characters are drawn well, and the zombies are fabulous. The creativity is another good point in this series. The way things tied into the original movie is great and it does capture the original characters to a 'T,' plus the new additions stand on their own as strong characters.
I would read this again, which I am, and I would recommend it to others, not strongly but it is good enough to pass it on.
Below are images and links to the imdb websites for the original and remake of Night of the Living Dead so that you can get further information on the movies if you are interested. I would recommend both films because they are both amazing!
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