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Review: Zombie Tramp #5

With this only being the second arc of the ongoing series it's difficult to see what the formula will be for the series. If this issue is any indication of what to expect then there might be a trend of starting weak and ending strong. The issue kicks off with Janey riding a bike towards a cleverly named biker bar. She steps inside with her human form in full effect and kind of lays in with the puns. We then meet a trucker that's more than meets the eyes as he sniffs the air and walks into the same bar and discovers a massacre inside. He turns a bit wolfy and munchies on one of the bodies to see what's going on and out steps a freshly changed Janey.

Zombie_Tramp_05-3Here's where the story missteps as the two go into more of a comic book crossover style than a meeting of two characters. They both show their true form, but rather than talking Janey just attacks the dude by making her fresh kills her army. He makes quick work of them and so Janey decides to bail, but he chucks a chair at her to slow her down. To flee she calls for the remaining zombie pieces which was pretty cool. This gives her time to get on her bike, but soon enough the trucker is right on her tail pipes.

This issue is better than the first issue which kicked off the Elvis storyline, but it has several stumbles. The biggest being that there doesn't seem to be one lick of sense behind the battle. Granted a ton of great shit goes down, but what's the motivation behind two strangers meeting and instantly fighting? It's not really clear if the werewolf dude is ticked off because they're all dead, nor is the overall reason he would be ticked. Were they his friends? Were they his target? It seems like he's just looking for a challenge, but it's our first introduction to the character so again were just at a loss.

The artist changes with this issue. I don't know if that means for the entire arc or not, but it's actually a decent fit. The action could stand to have a few more panels of movement, but the look and design is more at home with the story. Granted TMChu grew on me in a big way, but initially there was some adjustment time, but here the art fits right in. There were definitely some great bits of action and I like that there wasn’t as much focus on Janey and her sex appeal outside of the opening.

It's a solid first issue in the arc, but the series needs a better formula for the openings. While I enjoyed the hell out of the fight, I'm still not sure why it happened, I do know that the next issue is going to continue on this path and we'll just have to trust that it pans out like the last arc.


Score: 3/5


Writers: Dan Mendoza, Mason Martin Artist: Dennis Budd Publisher: Action Lab/Danger Zone Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/10/14 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital