Review of Brainchild

Brainchild... A Collection of Artifacts.

Published by Omnibucket Copyright 2005.

Here's something different for all you zombie lovers out there. I was approached by one of the authors of this wonderful collection and asked to review it for the fans of Zombie Me.

First let me start with the overall design. I was given a PDF version so I can't really speak about the quality of print or construction, but what I can say is that the overall layout of graphics versus text is well blended. The print type suitably changes with the pacing of the stories. A couple of good examples of this are The Red Room by Scott Lambridis in which the sporadic thoughts of the main character are done in an offset block format where each thought is slightly skewed visually from the preceding paragraph. Another example is the highlighted text in Black Days: Sandy by Rebecca Brock.

This graphic novel is a collection of totally separate stories and pictures unrelated to each other. The main unifying point to them is the overall feeling they convey as you progress through the book. The tone of the book starts off with fear and uncertainty and slowly transforms to resolve and the determination to survive and finishes with an uncertain recovery in a zombiefied world.

The overall tempo of this graphic novella is paced quite well, with the exception of an essay entitled My Zombie Girlfriend by Mia Epstein. The essay, which discusses the role of females in past and present film, threw a wrench into an otherwise spotless storyline. Needless to say I think that this short novel recovers well from this stumbling point.

The main highlight of this book for most readers is the inclusion of Running by David Wellington. This published author doesn't disappoint with a tale describing a frightening journey of self rescue and false safety in a world overrun by flesh hungry shamblers.

Finally the artwork needs its separate mention. The graphics range from the disturbingly macabre to the hauntingly humorous. Their placement throughout the novel helps to spread the pacing and provide some moments of reflection on the prior story and fear fraught fantasies of what's to come.

I personally would recommend this to the fans of the genre and I eagerly await future releases from the authors involved. I give Brainchild... A Collection of Artifacts four and a half corpses out of five!