Review by Svetlana Fedotov
After munching on the brains of horror entertainment for a solid few years, it seems that all things zombie and undead have finally burned off into the horror atmosphere. While Walking Dead may still be going strong, the hordes of movies, toys, and internet hot topics have switched their voracious appetite to other things, mostly Guardians of the Galaxy. But despite the sharp decline in the ghoulish monsters, there are still some attempting to ride the blood-soaked wave all the way to the end and coming out with some surprisingly original ideas. Under the Flesh #1 is an indie-inspired zombie work that plays with very core of the zombie infection, proving there is always room for fresh tales in any genre.
Like most zombie comics, Under the Flesh opens up on a desolate wasteland of what’s left of human civilization. That is to say, not a lot. The human population has been cut in half as a zombie virus ravages the land killing anything with a XY chromosome, while the living attempt to survive in a land over-run by flesh eaters and roaming gangs of hoodlums. Enter Ruben Lobos, an ex-military man who, through a series of army tests, has become immune to the virus and finds himself living in a library with a group of women. Sounds like a party, right? Well, not when one of the ladies is your extra-jealous girlfriend who just loves stir up drama, throwing everything into chaotic tantrums at the drop of a hat. Add that to the sudden appearance of a Mad Max-esque gang that’s vying to get the library for themselves and you got yourself an all-out problem.
Having been originally released as a web series, Under the Flesh is currently being kickstarted into creation with only a few more days left to reach its goal of $3,500, all of which is going to printing the first issue and funding the second one. While I wholeheartedly support fan-driven comics, I’m here to review what I read and to be honest, there were things I liked and things I didn’t.
I loved the idea of a gender-specific zombie virus, mostly because it’s a unique hook in the overdone zombie genre. It opens up a whole world of possibilities, both with human conflict and story line, that haven’t been explored since Y: The Last Man or that snoo-snoo episode in Futurama. Also, the art is pretty freaking good. I’m a stickler for comic art so when I heard there’s a crowd-funded indie-work attempting to get some notice, especially a horror work, I was immediately concerned that the art was going to be awful. Let me tell you, I was wonderfully surprised. There’s a solid vision of what the creators wanted the comic to look like and they definitely managed to place that image on paper. The coloring and line work is very smooth, the figures (thankfully) aren’t clunky or stiff or lack expression, there’s a good understanding of depth of field and cinematic angles. It’s very pro and the artist, JL Giles, deserves all the praise he can get.
Unfortunately, there were a couple things that didn’t sit well and, man, do I hate to address this issue, but the comic’s representation of women is a bit sexist. I’ve been into comic books long enough that there are some things you’re going to have to excuse, like the fact that even though the world is now over-run with women, only the hot ones manage to survive. Maybe it’s a physical fitness kind of thing; they managed to outrun their attackers while their less fit friends fell into the jaws of the undead? I don’t know, with comics, you just kind of let that kind of thing slide. But what kills me is the suggestion that if you gather a bunch of women together and leave them alone for two months, they’re immediately going to tear each other’s eyes out. There’s a lot of un-needed conflict between the women that seriously borders on 19th century female hysteria and is used to push the story forward, instead of as a background issue. Sure, it could be argued that it’s the tension of the zombie apocalypse that creates this drama and really, have I seen my loved ones get torn to pieces?! How do I know how a person would react? Be that as it may, it’s not really helping their comic to immediately turn some of the women into Freud’s wet dream. Of course, I have to mention that the male zombies do sometimes rape people Crossed-style, so the creators aren’t exactly limited to stereotyping females. So, I suppose that’s something.
Despite any problems, the story is pretty interesting and ends on a solid cliffhanger that makes me want to check out the second issue. I think Under the Flesh has potential and it definitely has a strong couple of creators behind it, so I would like to see it continue. Check out the Kickstarter and decide for yourself!