The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks is a comic book tie-in to The Zombie Survival Guide.  While its subject matter (zombie attacks) might be implausible in our real world, Recorded Attacks is the real deal when it comes to zombie horror comics.

First published in 2003, The Zombie Survival Guide was tongue-in-cheek when it comes to handbooks.  Written by Max Brooks (the son of film director Mel Brooks and the late actress Anne Bancroft), this book was a mock survival manual offering to help its readers navigate a world they shared with the walking dead, also known as zombies.  Working on the premise that zombies exist, Brooks presented detailed plans for the average citizen to survive various zombie attack scenarios of varying degree and intensity.

The book’s six chapters covered a wide range of topics, from zombie myths and realities to combat and defense.  The sixth chapter, “Living in an Undead,” world examined the scenario known as the zombie apocalypse.  It also provided a list of zombie attacks and invasions (fictional, of course) throughout recorded human history – as far back as 60,000 BC and as recent as the early 21st century.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks springs from that faux historical list of zombie attacks.  Written by Max Brooks and drawn by Ibraim Roberson, Recorded Attacks is a comic book, book.  By subject matter, themes, and scenario, it could be called a graphic novel, but Recorded Attacks is comprised of 12 short pieces in comics form that are more like historical accounts or anecdotes than they are like short stories.

In these 12 chapters, Brooks deftly mixes storytelling genres (or styles) and moods that are as varied as the time periods visited in Recorded Attacks.  Some of the stories are diminutive war epics, such as the story that pits a Roman outpost against a horde of natives-turned-zombies in Caledonia (121 A.D.).  There is also the poetic justice of The Twilight Zone-like tale set in late 19th century Siberia.  The mood ranges from surreal, as in the story set in Egypt of 3000 B.C., to creepy, as in the chilling finale set in Joshua Tree National Park.  There is even the sly wit of the subversive tale of a “slave insurrection” set in St. Lucia in the year 1862.  This is good comics storytelling.

One thing that did catch my attention as soon as I saw The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks.  While the writer Max Brook’s name is clearly evident in large, bold print on the front cover, there is no front cover mention of the artist, which is odd, maybe even ridiculous, since Recorded Attacks is a comic book.  I had to scour the backcover to find the name of the artist, Ibraim Roberson.  [In an entry on his website, Brooks expresses disappointment about this: http://maxbrooks.com/news/2009/09/21/ibraim-roberson-the-artist-of-recorded-attacks/]

Roberson’s name should be on the front cover because he is the co-creator of this work and because his work is so damn fine.  His textured, layered black and white art for Recorded Attacks recalls the glorious art found in 1970s B&W comic book magazines like Creepy and The Savage Sword of Conan.  Ibraim Roberson’s potent and gruesome depictions of the assault on and decay of human flesh give The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks the edge it needs to work as a horror comic book.  Roberson’s art is the visual personification of horror fiction.

A-

Website of note:
www.maxbrooks.com
http://recordedattacks.com
www.threeriverspress.com
www.ibraimroberson.com