ZOMBIE TRAMP Vol. 2: The Taint Train of Terror Review

ZOMBIE TRAMP Vol. 2: The Taint Train of Terror TPB

Written by Dan Mendoza

Art by Dan Mendoza

Lettering by Zen

Action Lab: Danger Zone

This will be a Spoiler Free Review.

It is a new adventure with Janey as she meets a mysterious little girl named Morning. She gives help to Janey as long as she would kill her parents. As we find out that our Morning has more to her than meets the eye, we continue our little adventure on a train where a bunch of teenagers. And the grindhouse influence takes over as things go from bad to worse ... for the students on the train ... and even Janey.

THE GOOD:

Mendoza gives his signature style a great amount of flair with dynamically gory panels, limited use of colors and interesting use of inks ... or not. Mendoza really brings a great atmosphere to his work. The lack of color with few exceptions really help bring out a certain fair to the book. The brutality is in full spectacle. If you are a fan of zombies or grindhouse, Mendoza presents you with this love letter.  

Mendoza also does a great trick of putting flashbacks, keeping them strictly his finished pencils but no inking on it. We got a good amount of gory mixed with suspense and sexual situations.

Writing wise, Mendoza gives us an entertaining, yet gory rump from start to finish. We do get to know a bit more about Janey and Mendoza develops her by her meeting Morning, her gaining her new abilities and the flashbacks. Read separately, the issue are fairly good. But as one whole, complete story, this second volume of Zombie reads like a classic zombie/grindhouse, suspense movie. And while Janey shines, Mendoza does a good job developing Morning, the Omega Men and more. The pacing works as a whole and works better as a collection.

THE BAD:
            Like I mentioned, the single issues of it were good. But as a whole, this reads so much better. Yet, what happens to our teens is very predictable. Otherwise, nothing really bad.

THE VERDICT:

Mendoza’s style is something people will either love or hate but it captures Zombie Tramp well … a mix of horror with sex appeal while also giving nods to grindhouse movies and thrillers. Janey clearly has development here and there can be a whole lot more. While there is some predictability, the journey is still entertaining and Morning proves to be an interesting wild card. I give Zombie Tramp Vol. 2: The Taint Train of Terror a 3.5 out of 5.

Comics News: MARVEL Presents Romero's & Maleev's Empire of the Dead

New York, Feb 26 2014

Veteran film maker GEORGE ROMERO single-handedly helped kick-start the zombie genre back in the 1960s and during his new tenure at Marvel he could not have made a better team-up up then with modern day monster maestro, 'Zombie King' ARTHUR SUYDAM for a classic meeting of old and new on the Marvel Comics Empire of the Dead series.

Empire of the Dead #2 is scheduled for release February 26 and Empire of the Dead #3 is scheduled for release March 26th, 2014 and all the zombifying NYC variant covers will be done by award winning´Zombie King´ Arthur Suydam (Marvel Zombies, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Wolverine), with script by George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Crazies, Creepshow) and interior art by Alex Maleev (Daredevil, Spider-Woman, Moon Knight, Scarlet).

George Romero’s Empire of the Dead #2 (of 5)

Story: George Romero
Art: Alex Maleev
Cover: Alex Maleev
Variant Cover: ´Zombie King´ Arthur Suydam

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: Wed, February 26th, 2014

This February, Zombie Godfather George Romero’s next undead epic continues in EMPIRE OF THE DEAD #2 – written by George Romero and drawn by critically acclaimed artist Alex Maleev with gruesome variant cover by ´Zombie King´ Arthur Suydam!

Something is rotten in the big apple. And it’s not just the rotten flesh of the Zombies overrunning Manhattan! Deep in the pit of the bloody Circus Maximus – the undead battle for the amusement of the living. But not all here is as it seems. Amid the fury of the arena, vampires roam New York City, hiding in plain sight! What menacing secrets lie in the dark corners of the once bustling metropolis? And when the zombies and vampires prowl – where does that leave the humans?

Find out in GEORGE ROMERO’S EMPIRE OF THE DEAD #2 and order now the 'Zombie King' Arthur Suydam variant cover!

Empire Of The Dead #3

This March, the pulse-pounding horror epic continues in EMPIRE OF THE DEAD #3 – from the mind of Zombie Godfather George Romero and drawn by critically acclaimed artist Alex Maleev with gruesome variant cover by ´Zombie King´ Arthur Suydam! 

Zombies roam the streets of a plague-ridden Manhattan by day. And Vampires feast on humans by night! Something is rotten in the big apple. Someone moves to strike against the mayor from the shadows. Who is the firecracker known as Dixie Peach? And as whispers of a full-scale zombie uprising stir – where does that leave the last remaining humans? 

Find out when GEORGE ROMERO’S EMPIRE OF THE DEAD #3 shambles its way into comic shops this March and order now the 'Zombie King' Arthur Suydam variant cover!!

GEORGE ROMERO EMPIRE OF THE DEAD 3 (JAN140746)

Written by GEORGE ROMERO
Art & Cover by ALEX MALEEV
NYC Variant by ´Zombie King´ ARTHUR SUYDAM (JAN140747)
FOC – 3/3/14, On-Sale – 3/26/14

Comics News: ZOMBIE TRAMP Becomes Action Lab First In House Funded Book

For Immediate Release ACTION LAB’S ZOMBIE TRAMP GOES IN HOUSE! The popular Danger Zone series becomes Action Lab Entertainment’s first company funded series. PITTSBURGH P.A.- Dan Mendoza’s grindhouse revenge series, ZOMBIE TRAMP, started it’s undead rise as a critically acclaimed independent title that recently saw new life at Action Lab Entertainment’s mature readers Danger Zone imprint. The Story follows Janey Bell, Hollywood’s most popular high-priced call girl, who through the machinations of her transvestite madam and a crooked LAPD sheriff was bitten by a zombie and imbued with strange new powers, has been called an instant classic. Now with two fan favorite volumes of the creator-owned work nearly complete, Action Lab: Danger Zone is proud to announce that starting with a special introductory Free Comic Book Day issue, Zombie Tramp will be going to the next level as the first Action Lab funded series. Zombie Tramp will also become the companies second ongoing monthly series, joining Jeremy Dale's smash hit all ages fantasy series, SKYWARD.  Action Lab, which primarily works with creator owned and creator-generated material, will be financing the production of Zombie Tramp, and relaunching the series with the May FCBD issue, and brand new number one of the ongoing series to follow that up starting in July. Series creator Dan Mendoza will continue to write the series, while being joined by co-writer and editor, Jason Martin (Night of the 80’s Undead, Super Real), and future superstar artist TMChu. As we find our titular zombie-powered former call girl on the road, learning her budding abilities thanks to the newly acquired "book of the dead". Janey starts out in Sin City, taking on the local sex trade and the elusive mastermind who controls Las Vegas from the shadows. The series will feature covers and interiors by talented newcomer TMChu, including nude variant covers, and variant covers by series creator Dan Mendoza. The series begins it’s bold new direction in Action Lab: Danger Zone’s Free Comic Book Day offering, ZOMBIE TRAMP/EHMM THEORY, set to hit shelves on May 3, 2014. And you can follow Janey’s trademark mix of horror, kink, and supernatural mythology as she continues her path across the darker corners of society starting in July’s all new series debut! ABOUT ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT- Formed in 2010 with the purpose of pooling their collective talents into a single, powerful entity, the members of Action Lab Entertainment have countless years in multimedia publishing, design, and business.  Their first release, Fracture, was successfully funded through Kickstarter and since then they have continued their mission to produce high quality, genre-spanning entertainment.  Since its formation, the accolades for A.L.E continue to build on a daily basis.  Among its more popular titles are all ages material like the Eisner, Glyph, Shel Dorf Award nominated series PRINECLESS, NFL RUSHZONE (based on the Nickelodeon Television series), Jamal Igle's MOLLY DANGER, Artist/ Writer Jeremy Dale’s hit series SKYWARD, and Gale Middleton’s (My Little Pony, The Littlest Pet Shop) monstrously adorable VAMPLETS. Action Lab’s Mature Readers imprint ACTION LAB DANGER ZONE continues to push the envelope of comics entertainment with titles as varied as EHMM THEORY and Dan Mendoza’s over the top horror-comedy ZOMBIE TRAMP, THE FINAL PLAGUE and BO, PLUSHY GANGSTA.

1st Impressions: The Final Plague # 4

THE FINAL PLAGUE # 4
Written by JD Arnold
Art by Tony  Guaraldi-Brown & Manuel  Martinez
Action Lab Danger Zone

FLIPPING THROUGH:

                Holy $#iT!! Yeah … plague zombie animals killing people and people going crazy … understandably. 

ART:

                Guaraldi-Brown once again gives us a macabre picture of the world, dealing with a plague in this twisted zombie story. Guaraldi-Brown gives us a good amount of detail in his rougher, sketchy style as he gives us dead people, ravenous animals and humanity showing some of its worst quality in style.  Guaraldi-Brown and Martinez set up some great, graphic panels with a good sense of color that helps fit the mood of the story and really sucks you in to the bleakness of the chapter. The animals battling were quite epic to see as our artists render it well.

                The overall composition of panels with everything from animals attacking to people running were also set up well to display the faster pace of the story as it reaches its climax. There as a decent amount of gore but not overly splashed everywhere which helped the balance of the book. The people were drawn with some decent detail and really looked as it fit the story of the book. Once again, a supremely well done job by Guaraldi-Brown and Martinez.

WRITING:

                As we close in on the finale next issue, Arnold starts making sure we steamroll to the end of the story with some very interest scenes and powerful dialogue. Aforementioned, we see the very worse of humanity a couple of times in this issue to help express the dire straits the characters are in. Arnold gives us chilling dialogue in several scenes while also continue to develop the characters from the lab in New Jersey and the family out in Iowa.

                The fact that people were thinking this was an end of the world event was made believable through the strong dialogue to go along with the art this issue. It ran the gambit of people in natural disasters: from people who are scared that it’s the end of the world, to people stepping up to help others to people abandoning what they own or other people in other to survive to just people who have no idea what’s going on.

                Arnold shows all these very well throughout the issue. He also does a great job with pacing the issue so that little by little, things change and work out. The story continued to climb towards a pulse pounding cliffhanger which really sets up the final issue and builds on what came before.  A superb job by Arnold this issue.

OVERALL IMPRESSION:

                All of the story and work done by Arnold, Guaraldi-Brown and Martinez start leading to a grand climax and this issue sets things up for the end beautifully.  The plots are lining up for a big finale and the characterization is top notch. This is horror and comics at its best.

RATING:

                I give The Final Plague # 4 a 10 … out of 10! Buy it now!!

Comics News: The Final Plague Attacks The Horror Comic Awards

For immediate release THE FINAL PLAGUE ATTACKS THE HORROR COMIC AWARDS Action Lab: Danger Zone miniseries nominated for three awards Pittsburgh, P.A.-The Final Plague, Action Lab’s story of a rural Iowan family attempting to survive the initial onslaught of crazed, rabid animals, presumably the product of a mutated super-virus, has taken the world by storm. The series, written by J.D.Arnold (Top Shelf’s BB Wolf and the 3 LPs) and artist Tony Guaraldi-Brown (Tales of Red Hot Horror) has been nominated in three categories, Best Mini Series and Best Scene, while series letterer Chris Fenoglio  was also nominated for Best Letterer  in the 2013 Horror Comic Awards. "A huge THANK YOU to everyone on the nominating board, all the great people at Action Lab, and to my fellow creators Tony Guaraldi-Brown and Chris Fenoglio! We are very honored to be nominated alongside so many fantastic books and top notch creators.” Said writer/creator J.D. Arnold “ And a special big thanks to all the fans out there. We hope you are enjoying the book, and we hope you stay along for the ride. It's about to get crazy!” The staff of the Horror News Network has selected the nominees, and voting is currently open and will remain open until December 30, 2013. The 2013 Horror Comic Awards will be determined by fan voting via the following link: http://www.comicmonsters.com/horror-comic-awards.html To see the full list of nominees at: http://www.comicmonsters.com/item-8165-2013_Horror_Comics_Awards_Are_Here.html. For more information, retailers can contact Kelly Dale at kdale@actionlabcomics.com. For press and conventions you can reach Jamal Igle at jigle@actionlabcomics.com. ABOUT ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT- Formed in 2010 with the purpose of pooling their collective talents into a single, powerful entity, the members of Action Lab Entertainment have countless years in multimedia publishing, design, and business.  Their first release, Fracture, was successfully funded through Kickstarter and since then they have continued their mission to produce high quality, genre-spanning entertainment.  Since its formation, the accolades for A.L.E continue to build on a daily basis.  Among its more popular titles are all ages material like the Eisner, Glyph, Shel Dorf Award nominated series PRINCLESS, NFL RUSHZONE (based on the Nickelodeon Television series), Jamal Igle's MOLLY DANGER, Artist/ Writer Jeremy Dale’s hit series SKYWARD, and Gale Middleton’s (My Little Pony, The Littlest Pet Shop) monstrously adorable VAMPLETS. Action Lab’s Mature Readers imprint ACTION LAB DANGER ZONE continues to push the envelope of comics entertainment with titles as varied as EHMM THEORY and Dan Mendoza’s over the top horror-comedy ZOMBIE TRAMP, THE FINAL PLAGUE and BO, PLUSHY GANGSTA.

Straight Forward Reviews : Night Of The 80s Undead # 2

The totally 80s and totally coked out violence have come back for another issue! Action Lab Danger Zone is back with the over the top Night of the 80s Undead.

Writer - Jason Martin

Artist - Bill McKay

Publisher - Action Lab

Review by Jeremias de Leon

Story

Without any spoilers at all, the story can be summed up as carnage and mayhem in the most 80s pop way imaginable. The disaster is spreading and all the characters are doing what they can to survive with varying degrees of success.

The dialog is very smartly written with snark thrown in. So you're getting a comic that's not only clever but will make you laugh, despite the high amounts of gore and violence being thrown at you left and right.

Art

The art in this comic has a charm about it that's reminiscent of cartoons around this time and the 90s as well only much better detailed. The violence has this really meaty look to it where it looks like it really is extreme as the comic is trying to make it. The colors are great in this issue as well. It's something that caught my eye as it is not done in any traditional way and mixes two kinds of medium that creates a sort of gritty effect on the art which is perfect for a horror book.

Verdict

The Night of the 80s Undead is the dream of any old school horror fan and all the 80s references and funny dialog are icing on the cake. With even more delicious, sweet icing with the unique art style this comic boasts. I give Night of the 80s Undead a 9.5 out of 10. Just be sure you can handle the violence and brief nudity.

Interview With REX, ZOMBIE KILLER DaFu Yu

The comic book REX, ZOMBIE KILLER follows a pack of animals -- including a gorilla with a baseball bat -- as they try to survive the zombie apocalypse. Below, artist DaFu Yu, the co-creator of REX, ZOMBIE KILLER, talks about his art process on the new miniseries from publisher Big Dog Ink, hitting stores in October. Your art style in REX, ZOMBIE KILLER is very detailed, particularly the backgrounds. How long does it take you to produce a finished page? DAFU: For REX, I'm both penciling and inking so it usually takes me between two to three days to complete a page. I put in about 12 hours of drawing per day, give or take. To keep things fresh and interesting for me, I work on several consecutive pages at once. I never draw a page from start to finish, I bounce around pages. Can you talk about your approach to producing the art for REX, ZOMBIE KILLER? Are you working digitally or with old-school pencil and ink? DAFU: Once I receive the script from writer Rob Anderson, I read it through once to see if I have any questions. Then, as I read through it a second time, I start laying out the panels in stick figures onto the script itself. Next, I take the stick figure layouts and flesh them out into thumbnails for Rob to approve. Although for the REX miniseries I decided to skip the thumbnail stage and do a loose pencil layout onto the actual 11x17 bristol board for Rob. This saves me some precious time. As far as tools, I use 2H or HB lead pencils and I ink with Sakura micron pens and brush pens to fill in dark areas. So I am old-school when it comes to pencils and inks. You've changed up your style slightly from the REX, ZOMBIE KILLER ONE-SHOT from last year, especially on the gorillas. How did you approach drawing the animals in the new miniseries? Are you drawing from your head? Or from some sort of reference? When the REX ONE-SHOT debuted last year, we received favorable reviews but I also received a lot of constructive criticism. One common criticism was my rendering of the gorillas appeared a bit too human-like. Here’s something you might not notice in the book from last year -- Kenji the gorilla was standing and running sometimes like a human. It wasn’t until Rob pointed it out to me that I remembered that gorillas are normally on all fours! That’s why toward the end of the ONE-SHOT they were more gorilla-like, and why they are even more accurate in the new miniseries. Honestly, it was my first time drawing gorillas and I didn’t understand their anatomical structure or mannerisms last year. So for the REX miniseries I actually did some more research and even bought some to-scale animal figures to help me. The gorillas are now more naturalistic looking in the miniseries. Who do you consider your artistic influences? DAFU: Wow, there’s so many, where do I begin? I grew up reading and collecting comics in the late 80s and early 90s, so I was heavily influenced by the Image artists, especially Jim Lee. Then in the mid-90s with the influx of Manga into American comics, I was influenced by Joe Madureira which led me to Masamune Shirow’s GHOST IN THE SHELL. Manga, in general, just helped me add energy into my comics and improved my facial expressions. And there’s so many more, such as David Finch, Art Adams, Frank Cho, Alex Ross...the list just continues to grow. Who is your favorite character to draw and why? DAFU: It’s definitely Kenji. What artist wouldn’t want to draw a gorilla with a baseball bat smashing zombies!? Or two big gorillas going to war? But as I get deeper into the world of REX, ZOMBIE KILLER, I also have become fond of drawing Buttercup the Corgi mix dog. She’s just so bubbly and optimistic in a zombie-infested world. She gives everyone hope when there seems to be none, and she's part of why I'm happy to return to the world of Rex and his pack! DAFU YU's artwork has appeared in titles such as GRIMM FAIRY TALES, and the WONDERLAND ANNUAL from Zenescope, GREAT ZOMBIES IN HISTORY from McFarland Press, and SHATTERED: THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMICS ANTHOLOGY (SECRET IDENTITIES) collection, available in bookstores from The New Press. REX, ZOMBIE KILLER #1 is available for pre-order right now at your Local Comic Shop. It's listed in the August Diamond PREVIEWS catalog (Order number AUG131097) under publisher Big Dog Ink. For more information on REX, ZOMBIE KILLER, visit: http://www.RexZombieKiller.com ------------------------

Action Lab Month: Night of the 80s Undead review

Continuing on in our Action Lab month reviews we take a look at the, like, totally radical Night of the 80s Undead.

Review by Jeremias de Leon

Story

There's lots of cocaine and lots of gore as two girls seem to stumble into something they definitely didn't ask for.

There's plenty of references of course to the decade which are conveniently pointed out if you're not familiar with the fads of the era. The characters have some development in this issue though this issue is more about setting up the premise of the series. It does it in a funny, interesting way too. Celebrity references abound as what seems to be the ultimate 80s party is about to take place and the star of the party, cocaine, seems to pack even more of a punch than usual as it turns the guests into crazy killing coke heads all the while screaming for "more blow".

In the meantime there's two female friends who are looking for a crazy party as (at least one of them) is looking to get over boy troubles and get into altered state of minds. They find the party they look for with the celebrities, at least it seemed that way at first.

The story buildup is actually pretty good as it not only lets you know about the conflict but about the world and why this is going to be an interesting ride.

Characters

The characters don't seem to be badly written but I have to say I wish there were more backstory and development in their first issue. I understand there needs to be world building and these characters don't come off as totally flat, but having some more of their history explained would help the reader connect more. Especially with what seems to be the main character and her history with, a former boyfriend that looks to be a coming important character in the series.

Art

If you were to look at the cover then the inside you probably wouldn't expect that style in the comic. Besides a quick few color pages the comic is actually in pencil. That's right pencil, no inks and some bits of color. To be honest I like that, the pencil lets you focus on the details of the art and gives it a style that fits the story.

Verdict

The book is a heck of a lot of fun, though I wish the characters were just given a little more backstory though I'm sure the next issue will do just that. I give it an 8.5 out of 10