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Zomblog – “Fear the Walking Dead” Will Make You Double Take

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Fear The Walking Dead has arrived bringing a new type of zombie apocalypse with it. Instead of throwing the viewer into the middle of a world gone to hell, we’re treated to a slow descent into madness that captures contemporary fear in new and alarming ways. I’ve seen the first two episodes of the AMC spinoff series, and the closest thing I can compare it to is Double Take’s Ultimate Night of The Living Dead.

Now hear me out. I know we’ve already ranted about Fear The Walking Dead. But let’s get another take. The tone of this new series is very different than the sister series. The new series makes character drama a center point, and therefore the story seems much more palpable. Double Take has created a mantra that is unique to the world of comics, that celebrates character above all else.

It’s also important to mention that in both worlds the downfall of humanity isn’t quite exactly how we’ve typically pictured it. This creates an uncanny sense of familiarity to the whole ordeal that seems relatable. Double Take has built a dialogue first mentality that mirrors what the pilot of “Fear The Walking Dead” does right. Our stories in the Ultimate Night of the Living Dead universe begin with a fully realized oral story that carries throughout the background of the issue’s plot.

My book, “Race” just finished it’s first pass on dialogue. And the story was developed with an action first mentality that makes for a cinematic story driven by character relationships that could be communicated without a single line uttered between them. The tension builds through the visuals in any Double Take book. Fear The Walking Dead works in much the same way. Both warrant their existence through being a thoughtful alternative to the typical zombie yarn. The zombies in Fear The Walking Dead move faster, look healthier, and bite twice as hard, and Double Take’s do too.

I do have to say that I was quite stunned by how similar these things seem to align. In an age where zombie narratives are a dime a dozen, you have to do something startlingly different to stand out. Now, Fear isn’t something profoundly new. But, Double Take’s zombies are a brand new take on an old idea made by people who have a grand understanding of what zombie movies were when they were made unbelievably well.

This year feels like it could be a strange and interesting year for zombies. We’re finally treating these ridiculous undead creatures to new ideas. A lot of recent zombie stories rely on unsatisfying zombie kills to drive their narrative. Double Take’s process isn’t willing to sacrifice substance for style, they are taking cues from Fear The Walking Dead before even seeing it. Which shows that great ideas come in pairs, I just know that Double Take’s zombies are better than those in The Walking Dead because I know what’s coming, and you’re not ready for it.

This Zomblog will run every Monday and Friday until I run out of things to say about zombies. 

Until then check out Double Take Universe to keep up to date on the incredible comics that will be coming your way in September.

Fear The Walking Dead premieres on AMC Sunday August 23rd.

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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