THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

In the third and final act of George Romero's Humans vs. Vampires vs. Zombies comic marathon, we return to New York City, still gripped under Vampire rule. Questions come thick and fast: Who is kidnapping the city's children? What is the purpose of the mysterious school buses travelling around the city? Is Xavier - the only semi-intelligent Zombie - truly dead after being shot at the end of the previous act or has she survived, unlife continuing? Whatever the answers to these enigmas; a winner for this great three-way contest will be decided and the future of Manhattan will be eternally changed.

MY VERDICT:

What a disappointment this is - the entire third act is just a mess compared to the first two. Most obvious from the start, the entire art style has changed with the new artist, replacing the one used in Act Two, increasing detail substantially but making familiar characters hard to recognise. The story is also pathetic with basically all of the posed questions mentioned in the description having boringly predictable answers - even the promised climactic battle is one-sided and over very quickly, not offering any sense of tension over the eventual victor. In addition, and the biggest let-down for me, is the unforgivable lack of roaming dead in the entire, five issue, act - only in the briefest of moments do we see any action from the feral beasts, the only other occurrence of living dead being the tame, human-friendly, gladiatorial ones. Trust me, I'm a huge fan of George Romero - the 'Godfather of the Dead' - and it pains me to belittle any of his work but this comic is garbage, the only reason to read it is to give the mediocre Empire of the Dead series some closure.