Zombie Webcomics > Geek Webcomics
This article was originally supposed to be summaries of geek culture webcomics, as a sort of guide to the new reader to the most popular material out there. However, in researching these geek culture webcomics, I found myself writing lots and lots of negative things. As it turns out, I hate geek culture webcomics. Most of them are comedies that aren't actually funny, and when the jokes aren't crude or inept, they're boring or ripped off wholesale from another source. The art is also often terrible, ranging from God-forsaken stick figures to copycats of anime or Penny Arcade without one whit of real imagination that makes anime or Penny Arcade any good. Finally, if there is a story to be had in any of these geek culture webcomics, it's usually about how the creator's sad self-insert had to build himself a robot girlfriend because said creator couldn't get laid if he went to Las Vegas with a stack of cash and a bag of blow tied around his neck. Or something pathetic like that. In short, I loathe 90% of geek culture webcomics and I'm not wasting one more word on them beyond that.
Once I stopped foaming at the mouth, I decided to shift my focus in another, more awesome direction. In light of Halloween coming up, I thought there is no better time to spotlight: ZOMBIE COMICS ON THE WEB.
Zombie content has always been an undercurrent of pop culture. Ever since the 1960's "Night of the Living Dead," creators have drawn to and inspired by stories of the undead, the reanimated, soulless cannibals of the night. And why not? Said stories always revolve around the most visceral of themes: raw, human survival against the greatest of odds. They often have social commentaries about the morality of men in desperate situations and how humanity is truly its own worst enemy. At the very least, it's pretty damn cool to watch people splatter the brains of a bunch of zombies across the pavement. There's a lot to love about zombie-themed stories.
However, I haven't seen a lot of love given to Zombie webcomics, which is a shame because I've found that there is a lot of great stuff out there. These webcomics have it all: violence, action, humor, drama, and tension (much better than the majority of the geek culture garbage that's out there). There's so much good stuff to be had here, let's just get on with it.
The Zombie Hunters by Jenny Romanchuk
http://www.thezombiehunters.com
I had advertised my comic on this website a couple times before reading it and I can tell you it's AWESOME. The story follows a team of zombie hunters (hence the name) who have become stranded on a seemingly simple mission. A few bad calls from the leadership are all it takes to land our heroes surrounded by zombies and fighting for their lives. The art style starts off a bit too cartoonish, harkening on the anime style too much for me to take it that seriously. I kept hoping creator Jenny Romanchuk would start drawing more gritty, realistic characters to compliment her gritty story, and fortunately, she heard my prayers. The art eventually evolves into a very cool, realistic style, while falling back on the manga stuff only in the humorous parts. Romanchuk also dedicated a great deal of time in developing her characters' world, which is kind of rare for a webcomic. So much care and effort has gone into this comic, and the payoff is clear. The net result of pure, unadulterated AWESOME. I'm so gay for this comic now, I'd make out with it and film it for Girls Gone Wild, well, that is, if it were possible to make out with a webcomic. I'm pretty sure licking my screen doesn't count.
Everyday Decay by Derrick Ravey
http://www.everydaydecay.com
Another excellent entry into the pantheon of killer Zombie comics. Unlike The Zombie Hunters, Everyday Decay takes place around a much simpler premise: what it's like to live one's everyday life in a world that's been taken over by zombies. Simple, mundane things like going to the store for supplies we take for granted such as food, clothing, even tampons (yes, tampons, people, it sucks to be a woman) become a life-or-death task for our main characters, husband and wife Dorian and Emi. Between battling zombies and other crazed people, a day in the life of an otherwise normal married couple makes for some great webcomickery. The art in this one starts off sort of awkward, but towards more recent updates, creator Derrick Ravey has really improved, especially on his rendering techniques. The whole comic has this ghostly, painted feel to it that really adds to the atmosphere of the story. The story also has a good rhythm to it, not getting bogged down in the "mundane" parts. The dialogue is seldom wasted and the artwork is has evolved into something truly remarkable. Still a relatively young comic, this is definitely one to watch for the future.
Dead Winter by S. Dave Shabet
http://www.deadwinter.cc
Dead Winter turned out to be a surprise hit to me. It sports an unassuming and cute art style one would never suspect would accompany a zombie webcomic, but it's the writing that really ties it all together. The highly character-driven story has many subplots to it that keeps you wondering what happens next to each character, and the tension isn't always tied to the zombies. Sometimes these characters' own worst enemies are each other. The story is very engaging and the character development is top notch (Black Monday is probably the best one), and if you can get past the oddly rough artwork in the beginning, this is a winner. Awesome action, awesome characters, awesome stories. These are the ingredients to a good webcomic.
So there we have it. Three excellent zombie-based webcomics, each taking their own approach to the genre and bringing something new and interesting every time. Given that there are plenty more zombie webcomics out there, I'll have to do a second sweep of them to bring you lovely weblings more gems.
As for that hate-filled denouncement of geek webcomics, I'll save that for Christmas.
- Jules Rivera
Check out Jules Rivera's Series
www.marsh-rocket.com
Marsh Rocket is an action/black comedy web comic that takes place several centuries into the future. Marsh, a corporate hitman, must retrieve a mysterious briefcase for a sleazy loan shark at the risk of betraying his own people. With warring factions after Marsh, the briefcase, and each other, the blood, knives, and even breakfast foods are bound to fly.
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