Zombie Slash

We’ve told you before about the fantastic zombie shirts at Threadless. We’re thrilled to tell you that they have now reached a new level of awesome.

In the first volume of their new Comics-On Tees line, four shirts tell the story of a dreamy zombie apocalypse. Each shirt is its own “issue” designed by a different artist. Although there are four issues in the volume, only three of them actually depict zombies — the first one is just really cute.

Threadless released these shirts in conjunction with a new design challenge — submit your own comics-themed shirt designs by August 12. More zombies please!

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I should have posted a review of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls months ago. It was a wholly enjoyable book and I started reading it when it was released in March. For the delay, I cite personal reasons, although I think most Pride and Prejudice fans would agree. The problem: There is no Mr. Darcy.

Of course there isn’t. This is a prequel set before the characters are introduced to Mr. Favorite Literary Crush. But when I figured out he wasn’t in this book, I put it down and cried for a few months. Then took a deep breath, brought the book to the beach and loved it.

Of course I loved it. It’s funny zombie fiction. And it’s set in Regency England, where zombies aren’t just deadly, they’re an insult to good manners. The tight-lipped repulsion just leaps off the page.

Although it carries the same branding, P&P&Z: Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a very different sort of book from P&P&Z. Rather than a literary mash-up of Seth Grahame-Smith’s zombies and Jane Austen’s prose, the book is original fiction by Steve Hockensmith. I had never read his other books and, although it appears that he’s a newcomer to zombie-fic, his humorous historical fiction has received much praise. Hockensmith’s writing is accessible and engaging, bringing a lightness to the P&P&Z franchise that should make it attractive to those turned off by Jane Austen’s profuse punctuation and pontification.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls begins at a funeral, when the body rudely awakens and reminds Hertfordshire of the dormant zombie plague it ought not to mention. As the undead continue to stumble from their graves, Mr. Bennet is forced to train his five daughters to be ninja warriors like himself — with the help of the handsome, strapping Master Hawksworth. Despite the dearth of Mr. Darcy, Hockensmith creates plenty of male characters to match up with Austen’s swarm of females, each of them flawed in ways that thankfully allow the ladies to kick lots of zombie butt.

Unlike in P&P&Z, the zombies are not an after-thought — or perhaps a never-thought on the part of co-author Austen (a point that I suppose is debatable). The zombies in Dawn of the Dreadfuls are plentiful and, as in most zombie books, the horde size increases with the page number. The black and white engravings also help to bump up the zombie-quotient, although I would rate the gore in this book as slightly less than in P&P&Z.

Overall, P&P&Z: Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a fresh, fun zombie book: a historical rom-zom-com with ninjas too. I give it 4.5 brains out of 5.

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BoingBoing posted this photo from the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show yesterday. Prepare to be boarded!

Here at Zombie Slash, we have an awesome blogging team. One of our bloggers, xiann, is also the brainsss behind Sticky Comics, a hilarious, often ridiculously so, webcomic. Her most recent comic: Zombie Pig Pen. We are in zombie love.

Every year The Washington Post’s style section hosts a diorama competition. The primary rule: All characters must be Peeps. Pop culture and puns are strongly encouraged.

One of the semifinalists this year: “Peeps and Prejudice and Zombies” (no. 18) — awesome!

No zombies were found in this year’s winner. However, I might be willing to consider the main character in semifinalist “A Peep into Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab: Master It Lives!” (no. 27) undead.

The book trailer for the P&P&Z prequel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls came out recently and it’s all kinds of awesome. I personally hadn’t decided whether or not to check out the book — this just might just have won me over.

EW.com has a great interview with Dawn of the Dreadfuls author Steve Hockensmith, who discusses the mixed critical reaction to the first Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith):

You see the lovahs and you see the hatahs. And yeah, there were definitely some haters out there, and I’m sure they’re still there. It’s something that I can totally understand, it’s not something I look askance at, at all. Somebody having a cynical reaction when they find out that something that really means a lot to them, their beloved ex, is about to be lovingly satirized. I can understand how people can be a little defensive about things that they feel are near and dear to their hearts, but I would say, having thrown all that out there, that I think a lot of those people were actually won over when they read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Not all of them. I would hope, actually, that some of the folks that weren’t won over, would actually respond better to my book, because it isn’t a mash-up. [From EW.com]

Hockensmith makes an excellent point: Most of the hatas were not fans of Jane Austen, and therefore hated the prose. Or, they were huge Austen fans, and hated zombies. If someone isn’t open to both aspects of the mash-up, it’s lost. Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a new thing entirely: Historical zombie fiction. Oh yes.

It’s time to get that zombie hunting trophy you’ve long deserved. Here’s a one of a kind piece for your own private freak show, shot and mounted in 1969 by Kevin Klemm and for sale at Hyaena Gallery.

(via Kevin Klemm on twitter)

Why do zombies capture our imagination so vividly and pervasively? The very idea of corpse reanimation is not new, but in recent decades it has reached beyond the cheap thrills of pulp fiction and become something more substantial, more allegorical. I suppose the allegory was always there, hidden among the terrible groans and tattered flesh, but zombies are beginning to invade genres known for their high-brow value and perceptive social commentary. So there’s something more to it.

Why, then, do zombies capture our imagination? I believe there are five underlying reasons.
Continue reading »

A not-so-fresh game that was released in Japan two years ago just hit US shelves. It’s called Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, where bikini-clad cowgirl samurai chicks fight hordes of flesh-eating, gore-loving zombies.

This game could have been interesting based solely on its hi-mashup concept, but according to IGN, is totally not worth your time. Even the T&A falls short, apparently, with sub-par rendering of creepy boob-jiggling physics.

But watch this space for any further bikini-samurai-cowgirl-zombie crossover. The genre may have potential yet.