Nerds That Geek Comic Book Series Review: ‘Night of the Living Dead’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

If there’s one thing that I think we can all consider to be a constant in the geek world/community, it’s that when a major motion picture comes out, we can most certainly enjoy the movie again and again in the most unique way imaginable when the comic book adaptation of that blockbuster arrives in stores. These are books we’ve all seen time and time again, and they often catch our eyes when we’re comic book shopping simply because they offer up a unique take on the movie that we and so many others enjoyed.
 
Because in many ways, these adaptations are a wonderful way to see how others see the movie in their mind since artists often offer up different looks when it comes to iconic scenes in a particular film and personally, I’m a huge fan of these books and I scoop them up often for that different visual perspective. But while it seems more modern films receive this printed treatment on a fairly consistent basis, sometimes there are companies out there that make a point to recreate the classics in this unique medium and back in 1991, FantaCo Enterprises brought forth one of my favorite adaptations of all time when they put Night of the Living Dead into comic book form.
 
Now, at first glance, this seems like something supremely boring to write about, simply because it’s a well-known fact that these adaptations follow the story closely, but this particular six-part series offered up some surprises when it comes to this incredibly iconic film. Because it actually features a prelude and a coda, and respectively, one takes the time to give us the origins of the cemetery zombie, and fill in the blanks on much of the horrors mentioned throughout the film and the coda, well at first glance it seems as though it’s setting up the power and wonder of Dawn of the Dead since we clearly see that the dead are beginning to rule the earth, but there’s a twist there that we will discuss another time.
 
But what makes these additions to the story so impressive, is that they actually work and feel as though they’re an organic extension to this iconic tale and that’s a feat in its own right since NOTLD doesn’t need anything extra to tell its story, and the wonder of this series doesn’t end there. Because what truly motivates me to revisit this comic book set from time to time, is its utterly haunting artwork. For every single frame in this series pops off the page in stunning fashion and the black and white atmosphere present here is only further enhanced by the terrifying look of the dead since these corpses look like something straight out of our nightmares and their shambling nature in print stays with you long after you’ve closed the final chapter in this book.
 
If anything, it’s inherently clear that FantaCo and everyone involved with this project wanted to stay true to the terror that George A. Romero projected onto the screen ages ago and they succeed at that because despite knowing what is headed your way, you’re still unsettled and uncomfortable as you turn each page, because you don’t know what kind of artistic interpretation of the dead, or their hunger will appear in front of you. But sadly, while this comic is quite the sight to behold it’s not as easy to find as it once was. For FantaCo eventually went out of business before being resurrected in 2013, and copies of this one is rare to say the least. But if you get your hands on this one, it’s definitely worth your while because it is a true horror gem through and through. 

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