As I state nearly every time I review Zombie Tramp (and likely the last because I’m sure everyone is tired of hearing it), I’m a big fan of this series have been supporting it since nearly the beginning. I had concerns about it becoming an ongoing series and adding people to the creative mix and honestly some of my concerns came true in the first issue. The second issue however is a different beast and a far better issue.

With that I should say that the first issue wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good as the series had previously been. It also wasn’t as accessible to new readers as it could have been. In fact this second issue answers a lot of questions that a new reader was likely to ask upon reading the first issue which was a smart choice. If I were Action Lab/Danger Zone I would collect both issues and release them so that new readers could in fact get all the answers to their questions in one reading; and I’m sure the collectors would love another batch of covers as well.

The issue picks up where the last issue left off with Janey in the hallway with a call girl and her handlers. They’re goal is to capture Janey, but after she puts up a fight one of them decides to light her up and she ends up falling from a window and hitting the pavement. Kiss that body goodbye!

Here’s where we learn a lot about Janey’s process as she becomes her blue ghostly form and begins picking out a new body. Of course she goes for one that is similar to her own because that’s part of the fun of the book. She pushes the spirit of the woman out of the body and takes full control. But what happens to the other spirit?

Now in a new body Janey is really pissed off with the two dudes that messed with her and she wants her revenge!

I was much happier with this issue. I still find the King’s involvement to be ridiculous, but in this issue it was at least funny. I mean he’s still a complete shithead, but it just works better in this issue. The idea of a dead Elvis running the call girl enterprise of Vegas is even funny to write in a sentence.

Janey is still really aggressive in this arc, but then we get a flash of her past and it brings her back down again. We quickly remember that she doesn’t tolerate violence towards women and that does not bode well for the King. My only gripe with the story in this issue is that it ends just as it’s starting to get momentum, but what can you do. Hopefully it doesn’t make for awkward pacing later on.

The art has definitely grown on me. I’ll still always prefer Dan Mendoza’s artwork over TMChu, but TMChu’s art is very impressive in this issue. The skulls on Janey’s breasts was a nice touch and a fun way of censoring them. If they wanted to make it funny they could censor it the way they do their previews of the naughty cover and that would be a hoot. I was also very impressed with the scene with Janey falling out the window because the angle and body looked very realistic. I have a hard time looking at Elvis, he’s just really gross looking and that’s okay because he’s supposed to be. Let’s just say that any problems I may have had with the art are no longer an issue.

Is this issue perfect? No quite, but it’s a marked improvement over the first issue. There’s some character development brewing and overall we learn a lot about how Janey exists and what makes her different from other zombies. We also get her to the point of facing the villain head on. The series is heading in the right direction as long as they keep the development up and expand the supernatural aspect of the series.

Score: 4/5

Writers: Dan Mendoza and Jason Martin Artist: TMChu Publisher: Action Lab/Danger Zone Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/10/14 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital