PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Back in 2017, we introduced you all to the end all and be all of genre crossovers: Allon Media’s award winning short, Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter (read my review here) from the series Twilight of Dreams. Along with Green Valley Studios and Flash/Bang Productions, this surreal film introduced the world to a very different and bloodthirsty Son of God. Now, we’ve heard that Anterior Books is publishing a graphic novel version called Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter: The Codices Vol. 1. Of course, I had to check it out.
The tale of Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter is the brainchild of Writer/Filmmaker Gustavo Aviles (Frozen 2005). Disney’s Winnie-the-Pooh artist Keith Grachow worked as the graphic’s artist and colorist, while Andrew Thomas took care of the lettering. Alexis Aviles and Emilio Remior created some of the additional art. Andrew Gough, editor of Heretic Magazine, wrote the book’s foreward.
Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter: The Codices Vol. 1 kicks off slick and gory. John the Baptist appears, reattaching his severed head to the bloody stump of a neck just before his reviving a perma-dead Jesus Christ. They verbally high five each other with a couple of “Amens” before getting zapped back down to earth to right some supernatural wrongs. It seems as though the world needs another visit from our most famous miracle worker.
Surprisingly, this isn’t a religious text. It’s obvious that Aviles knows his Bible, but he’s completely rewritten the story, making for a chaotic rocket blast of a graphic novel. The story in this first book is a bit hard to follow, as are many initial releases in this format, but I’m sure that once we get a peek at Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter: The Codices Vol. 2, we’ll get some answers. I will say that I’m bummed that there weren’t very many vampires yet – at least none that walked and talked – but in amongst the worldwide terror, I did find the previous messiah, Nazis, nuns, Centurians and even a vampire Pope to round it all out. The coloring is vibrant and clear, making the graphic novel experience all the more pleasurable. The story ends on a cliffhanger (of course), but I’m excited to see where this new Gospel goes.
