You've got Red on you...

Sunday · 11 Nov 07 · 06:32 PM IST | Posted by Karthik | Category: Movies

I recently downloaded IDW Publishing's comic book adaptation of the movie Shaun of the Dead (from here), and read it on Friday.  It was very well done.  A short review follows.

Shaun of the Dead, of course, is the 2004 UK hit movie from the creative minds of director Edgar Wright and writer/star Simon Pegg, and is a fond tribute to zombie movies.  On top of that, it is also a romantic comedy (hence, the term rom-zom-com)!  The movie balances genres very well and excels at being a sweet romantic comedy (that just happens to take place in London where the dead are being mysteriously reanimated), and is also a very nicely done zombie movie, without ever coming across as a spoof just for the sake of it.  With the strong writing, acting and energetic filmmaking on display here, it's no wonder the film was a critical as well as a commercial success (it is on the IMDB's Top 250 list).  The story concerns 29-year-old Shaun (Pegg) who stays with his buddy Ed (Nick Frost), and works as a clerk in a department store, and is having problems in his relationship with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield).  He wants to "do something with his life" and gets the chance to do just that, and save the day, when zombies start appearing all over town.  The movie is a lot of fun and also has some very good gore effects.

Shaun of the Dead Comic Adaptation

The 4-issue comic book adaptation of the movie has a script by Chris Ryall, and the artwork is by Zach Howard (some inking work is contributed by Sean Murphy), with colours by Thompson Knox.  The issue covers are done by Jason Brashill.  The comic is a very close adaptation of the movie.  So, it is difficult to evaluate the story on its own, but I would say they did a very nice job of translating the story in this medium.  I loved Zach Howard's artwork here.  He captured the likenesses of the characters very well, while maintaining a distinct style of his own.  The art is suitably cartoony when it needs to be, and creepy when portraying the zombies (very nice balance, just like the movie!).  The colouring work contributes to the art effectively.  A lot of my favourite bits from the movie were translated well, but obviously some of the gags work better in the movie than on paper (the yawn thing for example).  Still, you have to admire the effort that was put in (it would have been easy to make this a rush job to tie in with the movie, but they obviously didn't do that).  "If you... are thinking... of missing... this book, DON'T!"

The file from the download link above also comes with a scan of an 8-page story from 2000 AD magazine, called "There's Something About Mary" which details how one of the zombies shown early on in the movie became that way.  I wonder whether there is a comic book adaptation of the Pegg/Wright follow-up Hot Fuzz (2007) too?  "FASCIST!  HAG!"

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Karthik

Karthik Abhiram

27-year old Taurean (birthday 15-May-82), Assistant Manager - HR at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd in Hyderabad, India.  Previously, did Post Graduate Diploma in Management from T A Pai Management Institute (2003-05) and before that, Computer Science Engineering from Sree Nidhi Institute of Science and Technology (1999-2003).

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