Memphis vs. Zombies #1 is a comic written by Ryan Ladner with pencils and inks by Guilherme Raffide and colors by Aline Martins. A normal day in Memphis turns deadly when zombies appear. This is a science fiction comic with some comedy and horror elements. The main man for this tale is Walter Lewis, he is a young man who is on his way to work when he gets pulled over by the cops. The cops who pull him over are Joe Wilkins and a rookie named Riley Hayes. The story begins with a bunch of Elvis impersonators lining up for the First Annual Jailhouse Rock 5K Fun Run. Some of the competitors make fun of another who is feeling unwell and vomiting. This takes place in Memphis and there are multiple references. The action here is very bloody and gory with the gruesomeness you’d expect when zombies appear. The pacing here is steady with a chill, slice-of-life tone for most of this. The intensity increases when zombies appear but is pretty low otherwise. The dialogue is conversational and causal with a lot of back-and-forth and some humor. There are no word-heavy pages. This is the debut issue for a series that brings zombies to the city of Memphis, and this is lead by a trio of strong characters. There is also a bonus comic about a blues singer from the past.

            The art here is smoothly detailed and drawn in a modern style with some good lighting. The color range is wide and realistic. For scenery we have some bushes and trees that line these Memphis streets. The main location is the side of the road where Walter’s car and the police vehicle are. The backgrounds are split between showing the actual surroundings and being a gradient color. The expression level here is a bit above-average as looks can change multiple times on the same page. The common emotions here are confusion, fear, happiness, shock, and anger. The faces have a good amount of detail so all the different expressions, even the subtle ones, come across clearly. The violence here is mainly delivered via guns and zombie-style attacks with biting and clawing. There are gruesome attacks that lead to heavy gore and a decent amount of blood. The action scene is a bit lengthy and it flows smoothly.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction stories starring black people and cops while featuring zombies, horror, light humor, and the city of Memphis then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gore.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“If there’s a body in there, I’m going to be so mad.”

 

Digital Link: https://www.thrillcomics.com/store/p/memphis-vs-zombies-001-digital

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thrillcomics/memphis-vs-zombies-1-0/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 27

Violent Pages: 6, for 22% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 5

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”