INDIE BOOK SPOTLIGHT: DOUBLE TAKE COMICS

INDIE BOOK SPOTLIGHT:

DOUBLE TAKE COMICS

            If you are looking for good horror, but cannot seem to find anything good outside of The Walking Dead or perhaps some choice Image titles, this article may be for you! In Fall of 2016, Double Take Comics launched a brand new comic book universe centered around George Romero's Night of the Living Dead!! Each title released by Double Take explores a different niche of this particular zombie apocalypse scenario! Double Take has released ten titles in total including: Z-Men, Dedication, Spring, Home, Remote, Honor, Soul, Medic, Rise and Slab. The cover art on all of these titles is absolutely astounding.

Amazing cover art for Double Take's new line of books

             Out of all of these titles, I had the privilege of picking up Remote, Z-Men and Dedication at this past NORTHEAST COMIC CON Winter 2016. Here's what I thought of all three of these great publications:

Dedication:

            All of these Double Take titles seemed to have a horror/comedy theme to them, and Dedication sure did not disappoint in this regard. Centered around George's Grocery Store in Evan County, Pennsylvania, zombies are seen breaking into the store after hours to eat everything in sight and make a colossal mess! During this crisis, everyone seems to be inept in regards to response and recovery except George himself. Though he makes the whole situation seem like a minor inconvenience that is costing him a lot of money, George is the only one who seems to have any clue of what to do during the zombie break-in. All of George's inferiors are seen either telling anecdotes, having sex on the roof or just goofing around, which provides comic relief as a disgruntled George tries to correct everyone and get them back to work cleaning up the zombie mess!

Remote:

            Remote takes place at the Evans County, PA radio station KBRF, where radio journalist Samantha Stanton is the sole survivor of the zombie attacks there. She calls her boss who is in Los Angeles vacationing and getting massages, and he tells her to stay at the station to do a radiothon during the apocalypse. Thinking only about the money that could be made from a monopoly of the radio waves, the boss makes a deal with Samantha that she is allowed to say and do whatever she pleases on air if she agrees to stay on air for the interim of the apocalypse. As zombies start to crowd the radio booth in the station, Samantha gains some serious courage and decides to have fun with the zombies! She teaches some of the zombies to operate the equipment for her in exchange for candy, and then decides to put on a hilarious dating show with some of the other zombies! This was a surprisingly creative and original idea for a story arc involving the zombie apocalypse, and an excellent mash-up of comedy and horror.

Z-Men:

Exciting Z-Men panels

             Z-Men is basically about the government's response to the zombie apocalypse crisis. President Lyndon B. Johnson wants his own men, the secret service, to investigate the zombie attacks in Evans County, PA, but he doesn't want his BEST men on the job. He has the secret service director appoint two mediocre agents from the secret service motor pool, Special Agent Clancy and Special Agent Stuart, for the investigation. Things start to go awry when Stuart, drinking from a flask almost the entire time, passes out in the car while Clancy and Evans County Deputy Tills check out a disturbance in an old woman's basement. When they find out that the disturbance was actually a whole bunch of zombies, it doesn't take long until ammo runs out and improvisation takes place. Meanwhile, Stuart, who wakes up from his drunken stupor to a bunch of zombies tipping over his car, accidentally shoots and kills Deputy Tills in all of the commotion. Clancy recaps the event by saying, "Shit happens, but if I see that flask again, I'm gonna ram it up your ass." The ineptitude of the Z-Men is depicted with excellent storytelling by Jeff McComsey and Bill Jemas and art by Kurt Tiede.

"Kicking zombie butt!!" From RISE

             All of these titles consist of absolutely stellar artwork by Young Heller, Julian Rowe, David Wilson, Kurt Tiede and many others. The pencil work is vivid and visually descriptive to the point where the reader really feels like a part of each scenario. Also, there are numerous vintage-style, (1966), advertisements throughout the pages of each title to add to the nostalgia and time capsule elements of the stories. If you are looking for the perfect blend of George Romero-style flesh-eating horror and zombie-related comic relief, look no further than Double Take Comics!!

** To purchase any of these great Double Take titles, visit:

doubletakeuniverse.com

***and as always...

STAY VIGILANT!!