By Dustin Cabeal
I was always a fan of the holiday specials when growing up. I remember a DC Christmas special with particular fondness. These days, they’re making a bit of a return, and much like when I was growing up some are good, and some are shit. I rank the Zombie Tramp specials in the former as the series has always found creative ways to tie into the theme of the holiday, without it being annoying, point in case the Easter special.
Granted, Easter and Zombie Tramp don’t exactly go together which is exactly why I wanted to see what they’d come up with for this particular holiday. In fact, other than really shitty kids comics, I can’t think of any other comic that has done an Easter special. There is a publisher that starts with a “Z” that could probably prove me wrong.
At any rate, we find Janey Belle the Zombie Tramp walking along and enjoying her day until a flyer hits her in the face. What looks like a crazy homeless man is going around and tearing down flyers for an Easter celebration. Janey zips over to the celebration to find everyone in Bunny costumes and makes a quick change of her wardrobe. A side note, her new powers of making clothes is great. It adds a “magical girl” effect to the series that I’m not hating. She turns some heads instantly, and an old dude comes up to point out her attire, but instead of laying into her he says he accepts her as she is… and then brainwashes her into painting Easter eggs. Janey snaps out of it quicker than the rest of the people around her and goes about finding the old dude to kick his ass, but continues to fall victim to his powers.
The ending is rather funny. Janey continues to get into trouble and along the way find time to show off her sexuality to the crowd of people around her. It’s all in good fun and rings true to her personality of zombie Jessica Rabbit. Is the ending a little convenient? Yes, but the journey there is entertaining, and for an Easter special one-shot, it's surprisingly good. This could have easily been a mess or just a bash on religions, but instead, it focuses on the bunny which works. The writing and plotting are quite good, even if the opening is a little clunky.
The art is a great fit for the series. There are a few panels, in the opening, that are awkward, but after that artist, Celor delivers some of the best art on the series. In particular, Celor’s Zombie version of Janey is great. He captures the eyes that Mendoza made famous, but with his style. The only time the art is shaky is when Janey is being illustrated talking or shouting. I couldn’t get over that as I read it, but the rest of the people don’t have this problem. The coloring was also a nice fit for the series and Celor’s art style.
For my money, this is a great one-shot to read. If you’re not into holiday specials then no, you’re not going to like this issue. If you do have an open mind, then this is definitely worth the money, and those covers are too great to skip entirely. If you’ve never read Zombie Tramp, you’ll be in the dark about the overall story, but this is a great taste of what the series is like as an ongoing.
Score: 4/5
Zombie Tramp Easter Special (One-Shot)
Writers: Shawn Gabborin, Dan Mendoza, Jason Martin
Artist: Celor
Colorist: Marcelo Costa
Letterer: Adam Wollet
Publisher: Danger Zone