(Titan Comics, 2014)

The Rage
Volume One: Zombie Generation
Script by Pierre Boisserie
Art by Malo Kerfriden
Colors by Boubette
Translated by Virginie Selavy

I’m starting to find it difficult to come up with clever quips about the dead walking around.  My store of silly puns is dry, drier than the corpse of Tutankhamen in the middle of an Egyptian July.  There seem to be no end to zombie-based fiction stories, both on the big and small screen, in all kinds of print fiction and comics.  The CDC even put out a “fictional” zombie preparedness plan.  When government agencies have jumped on the bandwagon, it makes you wonder if it’s time to abandon a popular meme.

But wait.  Perhaps there is time for one more.  Perhaps we should heft our chip-handled pick-axes, wrack the last shell into the chamber, and aim at the zombie apocalypse one last time, because Titan Comics has another zombie book fresh on the market.

The Rage, written by Pierre Boisserie has injected one last world-ending virus into the zombie story, one last twist to make this different from every other original undead idea out there.  This time, it’s the kids.  Children infected with a virus that is triggered by the increased hormone levels of simple aging, which changes sweet little Judy into a slavering beast and Johnny the paperboy into the kid who is trying to chew through your screen door to get at your leg.  Other twists litter the story, and I’ll not spoil them, because Boisserie has changed the zombie virus in a way that I didn’t expect.  As a parent I feel for the parents in the story and marvel at how you could go on after watching your child change.  As a fan I marvel at the storytelling, at the way Boisserie crafts a story that makes me love the zombie genre all over again.

Malo Kerfiden (Skorpio) draws a convincing kid-zombie, cute and terrifying at the same time.  I don’t know how long it took Kerfiden to draw this book, but you can almost see a change in the artwork as it progresses.  It isn’t bad at the beginning by any means, but as you approach the end you see a different kind of confidence in his line work, and facial structures, as if he’s become comfortable with the characters in a way that he wasn’t before.

The first eight pages of the book are laid out almost like the prologue of a video game, dropping you into the action and showing how desperate the situation is.  But this is not a total apocalyptic world.  There is a government in place, and the people in charge are trying to do something to provide a cure, or at least safe haven for those that survive.

Titan Comics did well to snag this duo and this concept when they did.  It seems that as a company Titan is coming to the fore amongst the smaller publishing companies, and continues to up it’s game, remaining a competitive player in the market.

So, when you see this book and think…”Another zombie book?”  Ignore that voice and say aloud, “Yes!  Yes!  Always another zombie book!”  Titan Comics with Pierre Boisserie and Malo Kerfiden have released the horde again with The Rage, and once again I’m on board, grabbing a nearby fire ax and waiting behind a closed door.

Brad Gischia is a writer and artist living in the frozen Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He is married and has three kids and a dog, who all put up with his incessant prattling about comic books.