My buddy Sam Humphries is on a roll this year.  First up was the self-then-Image published Our Love is Real, bushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable in comics with it’s vegesexuals, minerasexuals and a cover with a gun boning a dog; then the time-traveling, epileptic tripping Aztec Warriors meets Joy Division indie sensation Sacrifice; and Marvel’s upcoming John Carter: God of Mars, with art by the great Ramon Perez and time for the movie based on the same Edgar Rice Burroughs character.

It seemed like Sam Humphries could do no wrong.  Then, courtesy of Boom! Studios, comes Fanboys vs. Zombies.  Oh no.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a killer concept, one of those “why didn’t I think of that” that’s a license to print money.  It’s got a painted cover by Marvel Zombies’ (and Hard Case Crime novel) artist Arthur Suydam.  It seems like a surefire hit if there ever was one.

But what poor Sam doesn’t realize is that with every interview, signing and review journalists and fans are going to be asking him the same question Paul Azaceta and I got hit with in Graveyard of Empires: why another zombie comic?

I understand why people ask that question.  There was a surge in zombie comics following The Walking Dead, and a surge in popular culture with the remake of Dawn of The Dead, AMC’s TV adaptation of The Walking Dead, Max Brooks World War Z etc. 

But this is comics.  If we’re going to talk about a genre that’s overpopulated…why not start every review with “why another superhero comic”.  I would have loved to have seen that question asked of every DC creator 52 times last fall.

Welcome to the world of zombie fiction, Sam Humphries…hope you survive the experience!

In all seriousness…when I look at this cover I don’t even think zombies.  I’ve been saying for years that San Diego Comic-Con is the one of the softest terrorist targets in America.  Tens of thousands of people trapped in a poorly ventilated, confined space with little to no security.  Hell…YOU’RE ALLOWED TO CARRY WEAPONS IN.

And don’t get me started on the germs…no matter how many bottles of Purell you bring it’s almost impossible not to catch the dreaded con flu…that place is an incubator for bio-warfare if I ever saw one.

Maybe this comic is a warning to all of us who attend San Diego.  Regardless, it’s one zombie comic you should be picking up.

samhumphries:

Sam Humphries Pits “Fanboys vs. Zombies”

An interview with me at CBR about my next new book, FANBOYS VS. ZOMBIES, coming out in April! 

The heroes are a group of fanboys and fangirls who have been experiencing and disgracing Comic-Con together, every year. This year, the group is in crisis because of an ill-considered romantic complication. They’re hungover, frustrated and angry at each other, and trapped in a giant steel-and-glass greenhouse with a hundred-thousand-and-change zombies. These are not ideal conditions for repairing friendships for the ages.