GNW: Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks

Joss has two obsessions: England and zombies. She wears her Union flag shirt nearly every day, uses British slang, and has wallpapered her room with the Union flag as well. As for zombies, she watches zombie movies like they will save her life--and it this case, they just might.

Because of her obsession, when Joss goes out for snacks and ends up being ambushed by zombies, her friends don't believe her harrowing tale of escape. They think she is making it up or cracking under the pressure of her student loans. It isn't until each of them in turn are attacked that they turn to her in hopes of finding out just how to survive this seeming zombie apocalypse.

Joss is ready, though. Her years of avidly watching zombie movies have left her with "The Rules," a list compiled of all the zombie movie tropes (ie. the heroine goes from being meek to badass in the face of danger, you die if you have sex, someone sacrifices his or her self to save the others, etc.) If they stick to the rules, she promises, they will survive.

I had the lovely opportunity to attend Teen Book Con in Austin, Texas earlier this year. Faith Erin Hicks happened to be there and I sat in on the panel (see my coverage of that panel here). During that panel, when asked about where she draws inspiration, Hicks referred to Zombies Calling, telling us that she had always wondered why people in zombie movies never seemed to have heard of zombies or seen a zombie move. She used that question and made it into a graphic novel, toying with what would happen if her heroine had seen plenty of zombie movies and how that would affect her reaction to a sort of zombie apocalypse scenario.

It's a short graphic novel and was over almost as soon as it started, but I really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Faith Erin Hick's artistic style and couldn't help falling in love with this story right along with it. It's a fun explorative tale about three college students battling zombies. What's not to like?

Rating: ★★★☆☆