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Review: Key of Z #1

Review by: Connor Russell Zombies are seriously everywhere now. They are in games, lots of movies and then a lot more in comic books. If they aren't in their own stand alone series like The Walking Dead, there may be an alternate universe like Marvel Zombies or IDW's crossover event Infestation. Yeah so zombies are a bit of an overkill at the moment, I don't even know when or what brought them back to the surface but something in me will always wanna see a cool zombie story. Because of this I picked up Key of Z, which is going to be a four-part mini-series.

We are introduced to a family on a Christmas Eve where there is a moment of happiness, only to be rudely interrupted by a santa eating a man alive. We then fast forward to the post apocalyptic world of New York. There are two warring factions that each house in baseball stadiums. We are then brought to Ewing (the father at the beginning) and he's gruff and a great survivalist against the Sleepers (they haven't been referred to as zombies, maybe to be different?) and he teams up with another man and they scour through New York.

KeyofZ_01_rev_Page_1The writers behind this new mini series are Claudio Sanchez (front man of Coheed and Cambria) and Chondra Echert (wife of Claudio) the two behind Kill Audio. I am a fan of Coheed and Cambria but I must admit I have never read any of Sanchez's comics. I've always been meaning to and now I have without even knowing it.It is hard to write a zombie story that is different. Location is normally America and well the bad guys are zombies so what can you do? The answer is the characters and how mankind has tried to survive. So it is a little different to see that humanity is trying to restore and is split down the middle to which faction they should work for. You can't help but like Ewing.

So the art is done by Aaron Kuder, the man behind the art for some of the third Amory Wars series. His art is pretty good altogether. Though he does tend to do a lot of dots that to me seem not needed but I guess I can't pick on a man if that is his style. His work on arms is a little, especially his depiction of the veins.

I'm gonna collect the rest of the series and I'm interested on seeing how the events play out. And I wanna know what this “Key of Z” might be, if its anything at all. I think I know what it might be but I may be proved wrong. I do recommend this series to any fan of zombies. Get them before someone does a “Twilight” to them.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Claudio Sanchez & Chondra Ehert Artist: Aaron Kuder Publisher: Boom Studios and Evil Ink Comic Price: $3.99