Writer: David HineIllustrators: Roy Allen Martinez & Wayne Nichols
Radical is good at two things. They have a great reputation for telling stories that seem tailor made for the movies, and they have some of the best painted art you can find on the printed page. FVZA is one of those titles. How is it though? Well, follow the cut and you’ll see my thoughts on the horror title whose finale comes out today.
(note: a review copy was provided.)
FVZA, for those of you who haven’t been keeping up, stands for the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency. This agency has existed since the 19th century, and has prevents the spread of vampire and zombie infestations throughout the past three centuries. They do so by quarantining and eliminating the threat as quickly as possible to save the general public from such terror.
Enter our heroine Landra. Landra was raised along with her brother by her grandfather, who just so happens to run the FVZA. She’s been trained from birth to battle both vampires and zombies, forsaking everything else. Her grandfather has a few secrets of her own, which will be revealed as you read on.
The final issue, which hits stores today, is probably my favorite of the mini-series. While the first was mainly set up and the second was dark and wordy, this issue read quite briskly, and never dragged by, which is a good thing. The second suffered this, and I almost couldn’t keep interested. But the final issue made up for it with a final battle that felt frenetic and still found a way to drop some meaningful plot twists that you legitimately don’t see coming. My only problem(and it is a small problem) is that this was almost overwhelming at 3 issues, as the entire series has so much in the three issues, it could have moved a little easier if they split each of the issues in half and released it in a 6 issue mini rather than three. While it’s not a terrible problem, it felt like this might have originally been the plan. Halfway through the book, I noticed a very clear cut separating the front half from the back half, which would have been quite the cliffhanger. Was this intentional? It could have been.
When I said this Radical has a standard for excellent painted art, I wasn’t kidding, and this issue is no different. Martinez and Nichols’ collaborative art blended together perfectly with each other and the story, with lush and photorealistic pencils that almost make you nauseous. From the detailed eviscerations performed by vampires to (Brandon Burpee favorite) zombies eating MAGGOTS (no, not Maggott, calm down Burps, you can’t get everything you want) off of each other, it’s a gruesome book from cover to cover.
If you’re a fan of horror books, I definitely suggest you give it a shot. Even if you’re not and want an action packed title with lots of twists and turns, I suggest leafing through it while you pick up your pulls for the week.
Final Verdict: 8.0 — Buy
