Product Description: A tiny little island off the East Coast of America, that sits on its own tiny little fault on the underlying tectonic plate. An odd little history ignored by almost everyone... until the night of the big storm, and the crack in the fault line, and the release of something foul from the earth's guts, blown across the little town of Smoky Island. And the only two people on the island who were outside its reach are now trapped on a black spit of rock with a population who aren't people anymore - they started eating each other an hour ago!
Promising Beginning with a Putrid Second Half This trade comprises the two Black gas minis that came out of Avatar Press last year and the year before.
The first half is pretty good with an interesting story, but the second half that comprises the Black Gas 2 mini is awfull. Ellis has said in interives that he did the book on a dare from the head of Avatar Press. The head of Avatar dared him to write a zombie comic so Ellis did, and it realy shows.
Ellis seemes uninterested in the story after the first mini and phones in a second mini series and ending that mirrors Return of the Living Dead almost exactly. The fact that he copys the ending almost exactly is both depresing and infuriating. It is just lazy, and it surprises me that a writter that prides himself so much for his originality would do that.
Combine that with the fact that the second half moves too fast and has no character development at all, and you end up with a blood and guts book from an author who is capable of so much more. The art is well done and gives a somber menacing edge to the work that helps a great deal, but it gets wasted in the second half as it feels usless. Fumura treats us to huge grotesque orgies of sex and violence(often combined) but it all feels like shock for shock sake. It all feels explotive and painfully nihalistic.
The fact that the books themselves got dealyed so much makes me even more angry with the final product. If you really want a zombie book from avatar try the Escape of the Living Dead or Night of the Living Dead books, they work far better. Of course neither is as good as the Walking Dead from Robert Kirkman, but they are fun reads, which is far more than i can say for this book.
Truely a disapointment.
Survivors Fighting Zombies...Again... "Blackgas" collects both series ("Blackgas" #1-3 and "Blackgas 2" #1-3) into one trade paperback. It's zombie horror by comic book master of the weird Warren Ellis--and that will be enough for Ellis completists. The art, by Max Fiumara, isn't quite up to the job, however, and there's little here to set this book apart from dozens of other zombie thrillers. The ending almost makes up for it with its cleverness. Almost.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
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