Review: The Gravediggers Union Vol. 1 by Wes Craig

I saw this book come up as a suggested read on Goodreads, and I'll admit that the title had me intrigued. I wasn't exactly sure what this book was about but I had my suspicions that this was a supernatural book just by the title alone.

Right from the start, we see the action and what the Gravediggers Union's main purpose is....to protect the living from the undead! We see them fight back hordes of zombies and vampires. We later learn just what kind of sinister world this is which is overseen by the rich who are in league with an evil cult called the Black Temple(sounds like the Illuminati, right?). These people hope to bring the dark gods back to earth so that they may reap their rewards. Typical selfish rich people...ya know. We also see the origins of the supernatural in this world which features Lovecraftian creatures...Cthulu anyone? Kinda like 2001 Space Odyssey with the monkeys and aliens...just plain weird and fun shit going on in these panels. 

It's kinda obvious that this is a horror comedy and not a super serious plot....if compared to a tv series I would compare it to Ash vs  Evil Dead. This book is kinda campy. If you are looking for a more serious horror/supernatural title I would check out Nailbiter or Harrow County. 

First off I was super impressed by the artwork of this and the use of color. Toby Cypress is the artist for this series. I kinda liked the sketchy way the figures are drawn and really liked the splash of color randomly placed on certain scenes which kinda gave this a 60's/70's horror vibe. To be honest that was the strong point of liking this book...that and it's campy horror vibe. Now I know that this is not a series for everyone. The ratings for this are not too high and I hope they do not cancel it before it really gets going. I myself rated this 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and am looking forward to reading more of this series. 

Review of Positive by David Wellington

I don't normally write reviews for average rated books(3 stars), but being that I have been a fan of this writer since his early days.  I felt that I needed to explain why I rated this book what I did. If you are not familiar with this author he wrote the Monster trilogy, which is his take on zombies, and his Laura Caxton series, which is his vampire stories. I really enjoyed these books, and while I have not read everything he has written I felt that this new book would still be as good as the previous ones I had read.

So I was quite excited to read this book after I had read the plot. Finn is a young man who may or may not have become infected by the zombie virus. In this post-apocalyptic world if a person potentially becomes infected they are marked with a plus sign tattoo on the back of their hand and exiled to a government camp until they either "zombie out" or are cleared to return home. Finn meets with some unexpected twists and turns in what should be a government escort to the Positive camp. In the wilds of the United States not only do people have to evade zombies, but looters and pirates. Sometimes people are more dangerous than the zombies.

First off I have to say if you wanted to read this because you are thinking it is a zombie read you will be sadly disappointed. It features zombies, but the main focus of this book is the dangers of the living and how they look to take advantage of others and sometimes even impose their beliefs on them. This is more of a post-apocalyptic read than a straight up zombie horror read. Quite honestly, it reminded me a lot of Mad Max more so than a zombie book. I had noticed that this once independent author is now being published by Harper. I wonder if this book was rushed and that the author felt like he needed to complete it soon under the direction of the publisher. I say this because the story seems to be written as if it were hastily finished. Once you pass the climax of the story it really seems to zip through events as if they were not really thought out before being committed to a final draft. It really seemed okay up until after this midpoint. I also thought that it was odd that the author would mention his vampire hunter character, and fail to mention her past from his series about her. This and the cob job ending really made me feel that this was not the quality writing that this author used to produce.  Would I read a sequel to this story? Maybe, but I would not rush to read it. I hope that any future works he puts out under this publisher are of the same quality that he once had as an independent writer.

 

Comics Weekly Wrap Up 11/7/15 Dark Skies and Spies

The books I have read for the week, just 7 books and only 12minutes long.

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

Unusual Gifts for the Undead Enthuiast

Supernatural Presents

A friend of mine had a wishlist item that he posted on Facebook, and it was of a zombie bird feeder. I had never seen nor heard of such a thing in my life.(at the time I originally wrote this for Squidoo, and Amazon had such an item) So I did some further research and found some other unique items for fans of zombie/horror genre to enjoy. I have compiled a list of some in no particular order. Some are silly, some are fun, but all are ghoulishly good. So have fun, and browse this list.

My Zombie Family - Family Car Stickers

My family stickers seem to be all the rage now, but who wants to be just like everyone else. Show your different with these zombie family stickers.

amazon

My Zombie Family - Family Car Stickers

Family car stickers, shaped like zombies!

Featuring zombie dad, mom, brother, sister, baby, cat and dog, as well as a heart-shaped brain

Easy to apply - simply peel and stick the vinyl sticker

Weatherproof ink - long lasting and not affected by rain or sun

Removable with no residue mess - simply pull off and clean window with glass cleaner

 Buy Now

Gingerbread Zombie Cat - Christmas Ornament

Gingerbread Zombie Cat - Christmas Ornament

It's a "gornament," a zombie-themed Christmas ornament shaped like a gingerbread zombie cat

Exquisite level of gory details - handcrafted by local indie artist

Material: tough urethane resin

Unique: no two are exactly alike - paint details may vary as they are hand painted

Hanging loop

 Buy Now

These were just a few of the items that I discovered. This was a fun thing to research, and if you click any of the above links you can find other things zombie related.

Rehabilitated Zombies (PDS- Partially Deceased Syndrome)

If you are a fan of the show  The Walking Dead then you need to check out this BBC America series called In The Flesh. Sadly I discovered this series, after it had already debuted, but better late than never. I started watching it from the start of the 2nd Series. SO I recently caught up on the event of the debut series by renting the first DVD.
If you have not heard of this series before it takes place in Wales(UK), and it's a world where the dead rose on a particular day. But not all of the dead came back to life...only certain random people. They did come back as flesh eating monsters, but people learned that they could be rehabbed by using a chemical injected into their spinal columns. These PDS "sufferers" as they are often called are ostracized by the community and are treated rather poorly. Those who have not received treatment are called "Rabids"

So these people are entering a world that is scared, hates them, and they are not sure where they fit in. Are they still human or Undead? This also gives rise to cult like religions on both sides dealing with the "Rising". All of these elements along with very likable cast of characters has made for quite the interesting and not the average zombie TV show.

Past episodes can either be rented or purchased on disc format, and viewed by streaming on Amazon. No one is paying me to review this show, and I receive a very small commission for my links.

The Revenant Movie Review

I just recently saw this film, and I recalled seeing the trailer a long time ago, and thinking that it looked like an interesting film.

Here is one of the trailers for this film.

The story of this movie is that a guy named Bart is in the service, and he gets killed while serving in the middle east. He awakens to find himself in bad shape, as his mouth is sewn shut, and he is filthy. He tries to rationalize that perhaps he was buried alive, and has no idea how long it has been. He tracks down his best friend, and approaches him to get some help figuring out just what is different about him.  His friend is kinda freaked to see him suddenly alive, and almost thinks it's someone playing a cruel joke on him. He let's him in and together they realize that Bart is decomposing, but seemingly alive at the same time. Through various experiments, and research online they come to the conclusion that he is a Revenant, which is an undead being that lives on the blood of the living. Bart has to drink blood to stop decomposing, and when it is daytime he returns to a dead like state. He seems like a vampire, but looks like a zombie. Together these friends decide that they best way to provide blood for his friends survival is to become vigilantes, and at the same time help save people from criminals. While they are pursuing this scheme Bart has unknowingly started something that is not revealed to almost the end of the film. I will not spoil this, and tell you just what happens, but it is a nice unexpected twist that further makes this a great movie.  I really enjoyed this movie, and think that if you have an interest in dark comedies or zombie/undead films that this is the movie for you. I rated this 4 out of 5 stars on Netflix.

2 Free Ebooks

As I mentioned in my last #fridayreads video upload I was thinking about mentioning some free ebooks that I thought were worthy of mentions. Mind you they are not free forever so the sooner you get them the better. I do not know how long they will be free. Below I will include the links to them.

Reign of Coins

If It Kills Me

The Walking Dead TV Series : Leaving Behind the Prison

Well it looks like The Walking Dead is going to start following the comics again, as the new poster for the rest of season 4 (found on the shows website) shows the Grimes leaving to destination unknown, and new actors have been hired to fill in the roles of characters from the comic series. I hope they discover the walled in city from the comics. This was a new approach to their survival, and I thought it was a great way to show that they are not alone. If you are wondering what I am talking about I just finished reading The Walking Dead Compendium 2, which I rated 4 stars on goodreads. While the tv series has been slightly different from the comic books it seems to be following the major themes from them. For more info about the rest of the season and quotes from Kirkman check out this story - The Walking Dead Season 4b .