The Abandoned.

I haven't announced this on this blog surprisingly enough but here it is. I am a huge fan of all of Ross Campbell's, a graphic novelist, work. No matter what the story is, I am sold because of his amazing art.

Personal opinions aside, I am about to review the book I just got, The Abandoned. The story and art is by Ross Campbell himself. I'm not a professional review person since my English sucks (and it's worse that it is my first and only language I speak). If you don't mind amateur writing, then go on ahead and read.

Like all of other Campbell's work, the art is done beautifully. Because of that I am always a bit biased towards my opinions. I will do my best to supply the best information, however.

Basically the story about this lesbian rocker-chic that works part time at an ice cream parlor and an old-folks home and how she was trying to have her crush move in town. From out of all these pages of her personal life comes this zombie apocalypse. The rest of the story is her and the gang she's with trying to survive.

The characters are pretty good for the most part. There was obvious emotion and some depth, especially with the wordless panels. The expressions were drawn so well, there didn't need any words to describe what was happening. You couldn't go really deep into the characters since it is only one book, which doesn't give the author that much time to develop dynamically. Some reviews online argue that the characters are superficial and annoying, which can make them two-dimensional. The annoying part is debatable. Judging the characters is like judging someone you know to a certain extent. I obviously have a different opinion on the characters than the other reviewers. Therefore, with all these opinion, some could argue that the characters are realistic in that their personalities can be likable and dislike-able based on the person reading it, just like a real person you meet (if that makes sense at all). The dimension could be debatable as well. There isn't a chance, as I said, to develop the characters dynamically in just one volume. From what I read, there is some obvious character development to get people like me attached to certain characters.

The story moved at a fast enough space. Some of his other works sometimes went at a rather slow pace, on the contrary.

I haven't had much experience with zombie flicks, so I can't say this paragraph for certain. From what I gathered from other reviews, there are tons of references to other zombie stories throughout the comic. The gore is intense and brutal, especially within the last quarter of the book. I'm not sure whether the way the deaths were drawn in this book were close to what it would be like in a regular zombie movie or not. However, those who cannot stand the intense gore, such and bodies ripping in half, eyes getting gouged out, and organs falling out, should consider not reading this book. I usually could handle such things pretty well, but even I flinched a little while reading the book the first time.

Another downside is the ending was left really open ended. I know Campbell couldn't help that since he had issues working with Tokyopop which lead to the likelihood of a continuation of the book very small. The book was meant for three volumes I believe but there was some complications that lead to whether there will be a continuation up in limbo. With this in mind, whether buying the book or not could be debatable for you. It is a good read for sure, the content and with the way the book is as just a stand alone, some of you may not want to own it. There is a slight chance that Campbell will find someone else to publish the rest of the series as well as getting his rights to publish the series from Tokyopop (the original publisher). But with the way things are being phrased at the moment in his blog, it doesn't seem like any squeal to this book will happen anytime soon.