Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Key of Z #1 of 4
Boom! Studios
Sanchez, Echert, Kuder & Kirchoff
Key of Z is a mini-series about zombies. Okay, so that's being overly simplistic. It's a comic book, like Walking Dead, where the characters and the things they do to each other is the story while in the background a zombie apocalypse has fallen on humanity. For the most part this issue establishes the universe that the characters occupy and presents a couple of characters that will play into the story down the road. The book is a good start and manages to the do the most important thing, which is not be just another zombie book.
The lead character is a regular family guy living in New York City. The zombies hit on Christmas Eve as he watches a zombie eat a man right outside his apartment. The comic book jumps ahead two separate times from there.
The first time, the book jump is only a few months. The zombies have taken New York City but two outposts of humans survive. Each takes refuge in baseball stadiums. They can easily be defined as gangs (presumably at war with each other) with charismatic leaders that are able to use a good mix of fear and humanity to make the population work for them.
The second jump is a few years after that where the lead character, known as Ewing, finds a young guy running an errand for one of the baseball stadium gangs. They hit it off and we learn how this rogue has survived without the guidance of a gang all this time. There is a good cliffhanger that comes from this meeting.
The book is good because it presents some believable elements of an apocalypse. For example, it's reasonable to assume that stronger personalities will horde in the weaker ones and quickly establish a gang. Also, where survival is concerned it seems people would be willing to become more violent for very little in return.
However, the book has some holes in the first issue. For example it simply isn't believable that a pair of strangers would trust each other so quickly for so little up front. Another aspect that I wasn't thrilled with was how normal everyone seemed. I wasn't able to get any desperation from the characters. There was panic when zombies came unexpectedly but there wasn't an overall defeatist attitude anywhere, which I found odd.
The artwork is good. It's detailed and creative, which helps with ruined civilizations and zombies. I felt like the characters were too polished though. I'm not sure they all should appear so clean and kept. Even something like Ewing's backpack seemed too nice for the atmosphere around him. Overall, I like the art a lot particularly some of the sequences, such as inside the stadiums. The visuals are a good companion to the story.
Key of Z is a good read because it focuses on the characters. They all seem to be strong characters and that is a tough trick to pull off in the first issue. I think the story is
definitely worth checking out and it will only get better as things accelerate with each subsequent issue.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
