Key of Z

Written by Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert
Art by Aaron Kuder

I grabbed the trade paperback for Key of Z on a whim, and because I'd liked the look of the Nathan Fox covers when I saw the mini-series on the comics stands.  I have never heard a song by Coheed & Cambria, the band that one of the writers is in, and was therefore not swayed by his celebrity in any way.

Basically, this book could be described as The Walking Dead meets DMZ.  After a zombie outbreak, the survivors in New York have coalesced into three stadiums - Madison Square Gardens, Yankee Stadium, and wherever it is that the Mets play.  Each of these stadiums are run by leaders who take slightly different approaches to things - the guy in the Gardens tries to keep a political/corporate approach to life, while the guy who leads the Yankees does it more like a gang lord.

Inevitably there is conflict, and our hero, a man named Nick Ewing, loses his family because of it.  He takes a few years to raid the Met of its ancient weapons (how come Rick Grimes and crew haven't been looting museums?) and plot his revenge, and most of this book is about how he goes about exacting it.

One other thing that the writers have added to the wealth of zombie mythology is the notion that Ewing can control sleepers (I guess walkers is trademarked now?) with a battered old harmonica.

This is a pretty well-written story, and I really like Aaron Kuder's art, which has a bit of the Frank Quitely about it.  It would appear that my impulse purchase was a good one.