George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead: Annual #1
Writer: John Russo
Art: Edison George and Luis Czerniawski

Tons of the people enjoy The Walking Dead, the series by Robert Kirkman. I found it enjoyable, but I also felt it struggled with wordiness. I guess I just didn’t really like the dialogue, or who knows — it’s been awhile, and that has nothing to do with this post. But what I did love about The Walking Dead was the art. In fact, I find most zombie comics have pretty awesome art. On top of the art, most zombie horror (in both film, comics, and novels) is simply entertaining and usually has good social commentary. For these reasons, whenever I see a zombie comic, I usually feel inclined to pick it up, and this was the case for this annual of NotLD.

The read was good. It was casually entertaining, and reminded me a lot of watching a horror film. Like a good, cheesy horror film, not like a Saw / Hostel on-a-mission-to-make-you-vomit horror film. In fact, it reminded me of a horror film so much that my reading experience was very similar to what goes on in my head when watching a movie . . . almost too similar . . .

Actually, I think it’s kind of funny that I’m writing this right after Wil compared comics to Soap Operas, but I also think it makes sense. Comics can be compared to many medias because they are so similar to those other medias. Just like some comics are like soap operas others follow the standard horror format. This comic shows this through the following cliches — ahem, plot choices:

1. A big bro-mcbroferson who smiles all the time and thinks everything is always okay (and doesn’t just say that — he actually thinks it)
2. A loved one who only cares about finding another loved one, not even thinking twice about the fact that heading toward that loved one both endangers the loved one that they’re after and themselves in the process.
3. People who think that leaving their place of shelter is the best course of safety despite that nothing has happened to their shelter and there is no way they will be found if they keep doing whatever they’re doing.
4. An eccentric scientist who cares too much about his work, and then gets destroyed by it along with an assistant who quits because the scientist loses humanity.
5. Horribly inconvenient timing.
6. A ditsy girl who doesn’t listen to anyone’s sensible advice.
7. People who totally “had it coming.” 

But you know what? These cliches are what make these comics / movies entertaining. If we wanted a hugely psychological, gripping, dramatic experience, we probably would’ve picked up something else. It’s the yelling at the characters to not be such idiots, the second-guessing their decisions, and the “I wouldn’t be such a moron” that is so entertaining to watch. It’s often laughable, so we even get our dose of comedy in the same sitting. Sometimes, entertainment doesn’t need to be phenomenal to be enjoyable. Hell, sometimes it doesn’t even need to make sense to be enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong; this issue wasn’t a crappy book. Just saying that in the horror genre in general, sometimes crappy can be good, and it may be one of the few genres that can pull that off.