Broken Frontier

Liberty Meadows mastermind Frank Cho returns with an offbeat and humorous effort in the form of the Zombie King.

I often wonder what goes through the mind of artist/writer Frank Cho. He’s proven to be a versatile creator, and has been associated with a number of diverse projects over the last few years. So far, I have enjoyed his work on Liberty Meadows and I just totally fell in love with his Shanna the She Devil series for Marvel Comics. Now I’m hooked on his new project. What better way to celebrate the return of the dead with the Zombie King #0?

Cho’s story opens on a humorous note, as a decaying corpse is seen diddling a cow under the bright pale moonlight. The corpse continues pleasuring himself in a way that is so morbid that you can’t help but laugh out loud. It’s just so ludicrous, but it works for the scene being depicted, and it even gets funnier once a farmer and his son happen upon this vile act of crudeness. The father and son watch on in horror and then proceed to fire riffles at the corpse, and inadvertently lop off body parts until the zombie is a complete mess. It’s such a sheer delight to read through, but the proceedings are quickly halted after a mysterious crew of agents suddenly shows up to eliminate all traces of the corpse. The gory execution scene is cleaned up and both farmers are warned to forget everything they have seen and heard here.

Now that’s just a sample of the outrageousness you’ll find here in the first issue of Zombie King. I must take my hat off to Frank Cho, because he knows how to pace and illustrate the opening like a well-timed comedian. If I have to name one detractor though, I would say the second half of the book gets bogged down too much in exposition. I felt it took away somewhat from the no-holds-barred opening, and probably didn’t do the story the full justice it deserved from start to finish.

On the other hand though, Cho’s art deserves as much praise as possible. It’s obviously clear that he enjoys this type of lurid subject matter, and he goes all out here. He doesn’t pull any punches with the gore, and he’s quite inventive with the panel by panel layouts. The first scene alone in the issue is well worth your hard earned three dollars, so don’t let the exposition in the second half stop you from buying this book. Black and white art like this is of the highest quality and Frank Cho is at his best in this type of format.

So, for those of you devoted to Frank Cho’s off-the-wall humor, I suggest you pick up a copy right away. It may make you recoil in disgust for the first half, but I’ll bet the farm that you’ll return for more next issue. I know I will.