Writers: Andrew Cosby & Johanna Stokes
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Company: BOOM! Studios

Zombies! We don’t need your stinkin’ zombies! Or maybe we, as a society, really do need them.

I once thought that this zombie sub-genre that has become so popular would eventually end up being a passing phase, that it would hit its apex and come crashing back down to earth with a heavy thud. It’s come and gone before over the years and I reckoned it would follow the same pattern. So far, that hasn’t been the case.

Okay, so the shelves are saturated with crap zombie books, is that what you think I’m saying? Well, you’d be wrong because they aren’t. Well okay, some are not exactly carved to my liking, but I can honestly say that I’m a fan of the genre in general. Two of my favorites, as of late, would have to be Marvel’s: Marvel Zombies and Image’s: Walking Dead. They both are different in their own right, one ranging from the absurd, violence riddled gore-fest that you’d normally expect, to the other where the dramatic human interaction is the singular base of the project.

Where exactly upon my scale of zombie greatness does Savage Brothers fall? I’d say somewhere in the middle, leaning more towards the gore-fest and laugh out loud end of the spectrum. The book is an action story first and foremost, over the top and imbued with the same dry, demented sense of humor that can be found in books such as Goon and Preacher. Andrew Cosby ( Damn Nation/ X-Isle) & Johanna Stokes (Zombie Tales), the writers behind Sci-Fi’s new television show Eureka (something that I really am enjoying at the moment) and Rafael Albuquerque (Rumble in La Rambla) assemble this simplistic but fun tale in which we hitch a ride into the zombie infested countryside with brothers Otis and Dale Savage. Their ultimate goal in this post-Apocalyptic, zombie-ridden world? Killin’ zombies and makin’ money, exactly what any old fashioned, red blooded american would want, right? But when they get involved with what’s left of America’s crippled government and find themselves in a precarious situation, can they become something more?

Much about this book interested me, but what really caught my eye was the excellent art. Albuquerque isn’t a person that I’m really familiar with but his style is bold. In some ways, it tends to resemble Jock’s (Losers) look and feel but Albuquerque’s layouts and his ability to put just enough in a single frame to capture the perfect image, sets them apart. His background art is especially nice in its simplicity and sparseness (well, it is the Apocalypse, isn’t?), allowing the vivid characters, the humor and the action of the book to really shine.

I guess the only thing that could really put me off of the book is the somewhat sketchy schedule that BOOM! Studios sometimes follows. Add that minor inconvenience to the $3.99 price-point and I can understand how some people might find it hard to give the book a chance. Don’t fret though, the zombie genre hasn’t hit bottom yet, it continues to survive and with Savage Brothers, it yet again delivers a stylized and well crafted take that is more than worth checking out.