Zombie, Grundy and Dark

So as the month comes to an end, and since I've already been through my normal monthly comic reads... I found my self creeping out to grab other titles that captured my attention.

And this month I really got into some serious "chain reaction" shizz, because one new title lead to another and now I have three new comics that I'm freaking crazy about.

At the beginning of the month I had started reading some very cool comics based on and inspired by the writings of Lovecraft. I started out with an ongoing series called Cthulhu Tales, after which I grabbed my self a whole collection of Lovecraft comics dating back to the 70s. As I was searching through various sites with reviews and shizz about these comics, I came across a little series called Zombie.

Aside from the obvious allure to the title, I was enticed by the fact that the series lead was sort of a zombie hero. And not any of these Marvel zombies bullshit, I mean he is a zombie that saves people by eating baddies and such. It may sound kind of corny, but once you get over it... the comic makes for a very cool read. Throw in some cannibal hillbillies and you've got your self my new monthly comic.

So after I got my hands on all the issues for the Zombie that I could find, I started looking around for some other titles that had interesting spins on their undead leads. It's then I came across the new Solomon Grundy title that DC started up last year.

As a villain Grundy has always been one of my favorites. The whole reanimated corpse with Voodoo ties makes for some interesting story telling. The series works as somewhat of a prequel DC's Blackest Night series of comics that wrapped this month. The art for the pilot issue was awesome, but the ongoing series art is a little under-pare compared to some of the bigger titles that are out there, but the story reads pretty good.

The series follows Grundy as he sets out to find out the truth about his death and his killer. His granted a chance at gain absolution and peace under the guide of the Phantom Stranger and the magical Green Lantern Allan Scott. I thought it was a nice way of adding a bit of humanity to Grundy, making him more in the likes of maybe Swamp Thing, as a sort of unwilling, brooding anti-hero.

While fishing around the DC site I came across another title that I'd actually seen a few months back, but never got around to picking up.

Simon Dark is a fairly new DC hero who is a stitched up dead guy brought back to life. He haunts a lonely area of Gotham city called The Village, and though he shares the city with other heroes, namely Batman, there isn't much in terms of referencing or crossing over with these heroes.

The whole show belongs to Dark as he begins to discover the truth about why he was brought back to life, as well as the true extent of his powers. Like the 20 souls that make up Simon Dark, and how he can use them to re-animate the dead... fancy.

One major allure I have towards the chracter is that he reads a little like the Crow, he also shares his overall look a bit too. Written by Steve Niles, there's a certain melancholy through out the narration and flow of the series, which is a nice change of pace from your typical super-hero comic.

Best bit is that all this comes together beautifully in the form of awesome art work by Scott Hampton, whose style really gives the books it's own kind of life.

Some great finds this month, now I'm really looking forward to next months issues.