“Zombies vs. Robots” #1 poses an interesting question: when reading about a world in which humans are extinct, with whom do we (the human reader, unless you’re a robot, in which case I mean no offense) relate?

WRITTEN BY: Chris Ryall, Steve Niles

ART BY: Anthony Diecidue, Ashley Wood, Val Mayerik, Jay Fotos

PUBLISHER: IDW Publishing

PRICE: $3.99

RELEASE: January 21, 2015

Reviewed By Katy Rex

We make jokes about the imminent singularity and our impending robot overlords, but in most versions of the fictional future worlds we’ve seen depicted, humans still have some hold. In Zombies vs. Robots, humans are a thing of the past– “no masters,” one robot says upon rebooting an old model. With such a silly title, one might expect bloody zombie head explosions and laser death rays to be major points of action, but those things are unremarkable when they occur– because zombie heads getting destroyed are simply a logical means to an end, and laser death rays are simply another technology. This book has a lot more to say than the kind of ridiculous and emphatic fun its title might suggest. It’s still fun and explode-y, but it’s smart, too.

The first issue follows Dronebot Oris-1 as (he? she? it?) re-enters earth’s atmosphere to evaluate the situation on the surface. There’s a great deal of exposition about the way the earth got this way– overrun by zombies, with a few machines here and there doing who-knows-what exactly in a futile conflict. Is it really a war? Without real sentience, even if one side “wins,” what will be left? Whirring robots carrying out mindless tasks infinitely? Zombies with no prey, shambling aimlessly and starving? Is that victory? This issue may be pretty exposition-heavy, but for a mere 32 page comic book, it prompts the reader with more questions than it could possibly answer in such a short time– or maybe at all. And it does so consciously.

Zombies vs. Robots may have started the strange mashup genre, and even won an Eisner for its efforts, but with this issue the creative team are reminding us that silly is only a jumping off point. There’s limitless potential when you really think about the consequences of bizarre pairings like zombies and robots.

The art is expressive and vibrant, equally portraying the inorganic robots and the, erm, extra organic zombies as characters, occasionally suggesting the potential of sentience. It’s realistic and not cartoony, which lends to the serious and critical tone of this ridiculously-premised book. The color palette is what really cements the post-apocalyptic tone.

The two shorts that take place within this universe that are included at the end of the book continue to make use of this color palette, but change the art style with the artist- the main book is drawn by Anthony Diecidue, but Tales of ZVR (which looks very much like the highly detailed bonus material we’re most accustomed to seeing in a rereleased omnibus) is by series creator Ashley Wood, and The Orphan features an entirely different creative team from the rest of the book, with Steve Niles writing, Val Mayerik on art, and Jay Fotos pulling in that aforementioned color palette. With such a large team working on the single book, the consistency of the tone and universe is impressive, and the world is lush and fleshed-out.

Overall, this quick, expressive, and clever book is absolutely worth picking up this Wednesday.

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Katy Rex writes comics analysis at endoftheuniversecomics.com, comicsbulletin.com, and bloody-disgusting.com. She also writes scholarly articles for various academic journals. She really likes butt jokes, dinosaurs, and killing psychos and midgets in Borderlands 2. She has a great sense of humor if you’re not an asshole.