Available at GestaltComics.com

Issue: Rombies #0
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Skye Ogden
Publisher: Gestalt Comics
Release Date: August 2010
Pages: 24
Price: $2.95

“Rome wasn’t built in a day… but it may crumble in one. Titans battle in the arena. A thumb turns down. A sword comes down. A dead man… stands up? Racing through dark, narrow tunnels beneath the Colosseum, two heroes and a child join together to escape their pursuers. Pursuers who were once men. Hungry men. Undead men. Rombies. Friends, Romans, Countrymen… Lend me your brains!“

Artwork: 4.0 out of 5
Have you ever picked up a book where you knew the tone of the story just from the art? Well that is what you have here. A beautifully done issue, that the art really depicts what is going on in the story. Gore-geous looking zombies and nice crisp panels page after page. The gray tones are working perfectly page after page. Nice character designs that work on every level to convey the time period. This is just an overall great looking issue.

Story: 4.0 out of 5
So my question here is what do you get when you mix Gladiator with Return of the Living Dead? Why Rombies of course. The story is exactly what I expected it to be. That being said I did not go into it with high hopes. I just didn’t know before reading how you could mix the two and have an interesting book. I was wrong. I found a great deal of enjoyment watching these characters try to find their way out of the arena. The dialogue was nice, and the story really progressed to a nice cliffhanger moment at the end.

Dying Breath: 4.0 out of 5
Did I get what I expected out of this book? No, I got a hell of a lot more. I loved the animated style artwork, and hey how can you not love a zombie lion? The story was done right. It didn’t go where I thought it would, which is a good thing. It’s not a B-movie story that is told here. It is a action pack death fest. I will say this, if Romero directed Gladiator this is what it would have looked like. Check this one out, it is highly enjoyable and I think a must read for zombie fans.

If you would like to buy or know more about Rombies #0 you can find it at www.gestaltcomics.com. You can also have your comic shop order you a copy from Diamond with this code JUN101030

Review by Dan Royer

Tags | comic books, small-press, zombies