If there’s one things that you should take away from this review it’s that this is a fantastically fun series for anyone that doesn’t take life too seriously. I think that’s one thing that a lot of people don’t get about Zombie Tramp, everything is face value. If something is goofy, it’s meant to be goofy; it’s corny, it’s meant to be so. If it’s serious, then it’s meant to be serious; just like if something is dead sexy then it’s probably dead… and sexy. If there is another take away from this series then it’s that creator Dan Mendoza’s artwork is amazing. I’ve never thought of zombie’s as attractive and believe it or not I’ve seen several attempts at “sexy” zombies(internet age, what can I say). Nothing is quite like Janey from Mendoza. Janey is something else and I hope that one day there’s an artbook collecting all of Mendoza’s artwork to view un-obstructed by dialogue and gutters
In this issue we find our three main characters separated. We first check in with Xula who’s found a new body in a very comedic fashion. You’ll have to read the first volume to catch up on Xula since I’m not going to sum up the entire first volume. Once she connects to what she describes as the perfect human body she establishes a connection to Janey again and sees that she’s up to no good.
We then check in with Morning as she takes care of some personal business. It’s an intense scene and one that you should again take at face value. It’s a serious scene just to give you a hint, but also violent.
Then we’re on to Janey, but not the Janey we know that was once a high paid call girl turned zombie. Instead she’s just a college girl at a party with some jocks. Her and her friend get drugged and well things don’t go well. I know that this scene might piss some people off, but Janey’s life sucked. It was very shitty and she really comes across as being taken advantage of at every turn of life and never once empowered. This memory of hers keeps her going in Zombie form as she continues attacking the jocks she’s facing off against in real life. In a very cool moment she has her zombie slaves rip a cheerleader in half to give her a new set of legs and shows that this isn’t the same Janey. She’s a fucking Zombie Queen!
One thing about the second volume that I’ve noticed is that there are more serious moments to the story. There’s still a good mix of comedy and dark comedy, but it’s definitely countered by intense character moments. Mendoza is building Janey up and I can’t wait to see all three main characters come together in the next issue.
Big surprise, I’m a big fan of Mendoza’s art. His art is in fact what drew me to this series as it has a cartoon look to it, but not in a Saturday morning type way. His women are clearly cheesecake, but it’s a good type of cheesecake in my opinion. What’s even better is that he populates the world with plenty of average and bulky characters so that it’s not all models walking around. I think his style is great and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I’ll honestly be a little sad to see him no longer on art duties when the series moves to ongoing status.
Sure this book may not be for everyone, but again if you take it at face value and don’t add our own opinion to what’s happening I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s entertaining and Mendoza is doing a hell of a job adding depth to the world.
Score: 4/5
Writer/Artist/Creator: Dan Mendoza Publisher: Action Lab/Danger Zone Price: $2.99 Release Date: 3/12/14