Dead Woods, the

Posted: Wednesday, January 5, 2005
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Dead Woods, the Writer(s): James Redington
Artist(s): James Kingseller and Tony Andrews
Publishers: Portent Comics (Self Published)
From: Unknown
Price: ???

A lone woman is surrounded by a horde of no good zombies and attacked. Later two men arrive at an isolated cabin where they meet up with a couple of attractive women. Their plans seem to involve a naughty weekend. One of them used to live here with his folks, but hasn't been back in several years. They get to have some fun, but a creepy guy dressed all in black keeps popping up all over town, and seems to be leading the zombies.

Halfway through this book there is a change in artist, and their styles are so different that it really mars this book. James' work is rather scratchy, giving the zombies an effective deteriorating look. He copes well with the setting of the story: the woods are creepy, the building rustic, and he does very well in drawing modern cars. Tony has a far more cartoonish style, with little in the way of surface detail. His work would be far more suitable for a comedic piece than the grim horror that was suggested by James' work.

This issue introduces us to the characters and the location. Apart from our man in black, and the zombies of course, the rest of the cast seem rather ordinary. The small town in the woods is a horror story staple and this one is no better or worse than all the others. Several people here seem destined to die a grisly death, but so far there is little to make the reader care who lives or dies.

The bad guy in this book is a bit theatrical for my liking, by hey, when your talking to a bunch or rotten dead people guess it pays to ad emphasis to every sentence.

It should be noted that at the time of writing James Redington was writing reviews for SBC.

In a Word: Split.



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