Zombie Cities: Violence vs Compassion

A follow-up to last year’s Zombie Cities anthology, this original collection of six stories features the titular flesh eaters in unusual situations.

This is wild and entertaining stuff to be sure. It’s also the best looking Silver Fox Comics production to date, with popping colors, varied visuals, and impressive production values. All of the tales are written by Silver Fox Comics’ publisher Sorab Del Rio, with a roster of talented artists on hand to supply all the celebrity likenesses, and gore.

The first story features the wife of deceased Brazilian race car driver Antonio Del Santos which focuses on the compassion of the title, while most of the other stories have both violence and compassion, which is an interesting platform to explore the integration of zombies within society.

Zombogue sees Kim Kardashian become Kim Karkrashdashian, although Karl Lagerfeld (who gets to keep his own name) finds her ample assets repulsive, as the emaciated, zombie look is the hot look this season.

The Exodus centers on the Dalai Lama, who sees zombies as needing peace and welcomes them to seek solace at his temple. It also features a dinosaur.

Zodka, Nukes, Aliens, Commies and Yes, We can Blow Up Whatever We Want has not only the longest title, but also the most pages. This is fitting as it is a pretty far out tale, with aliens, a horse loving Putin, and an Obama who has to defend the use of nuclear weapons to his daughters.

Let the Zombie Play Ball follows a star basketballer who has become a zombie but is allowed to return for an important game.

The final tale, Blazing Antlers, is set in Canada and is the only story in this anthology to feature both a talking zombie, and a talking zombie moose. There’s also a werewolf thrown in for good measure.

Netho Diaz supplies the artwork for the majority of the book, giving the tales a unified look, with Rene Micheletti providing art chores for Zombogue, and Paul Abstruse for Blazing Antlers. Diaz does great work making sure the famous figures actually look like their real-life counterparts, and this being a zombie book, also draws enough blood and gore.

Although it’s not clearly stated, all the tales here are in the same, shared universe and seem to be set in the present, or at least the near future, and although there are no direct links between the six stories, there are references to the events shown in the other stories, as well as to those of the first Zombie Cities volume.

Del Rio uses dialogue as the primary driving force. There are no lengthy captions, or expository speeches about how the zombies came to be, or why some zombies can talk and others can’t. It’s just presented as an excuse for some fun undead antics.

None of the tales are hilarious in the vein of Axe Cop or Goon, although Blazing Antlers comes closest. However, the stories of Zombie Cities: Violence vs Compassion do have a diversity, and a certain outrageous vibe to them, revealing that the zombie sub-genre isn’t dead yet.

Sorab Del Rio (W), Netho Diaz, Rene Micheletti & Paul Abstruse (A), Mano Araujo (I), Assis Leite & Omi Remalamte (C) • Silver Fox Comics, $30, August 28, 2013.