Dead@17

"Dead@17" is a strange comic book series, to say the least, and I'm not quite sure exactly how I feel about it. Some parts are amusing, and it, unlike "Shadowmancer," manages to include pseudo-Christian mythology and have it not appear really stupid. But it's also a bit too fanservicey to the point of distraction, and I disliked how each story arc seems to start over from scratch, not allowing some interesting characters to be fully developed or used. I guess it was a fun enough read, but it could have been much better.

The version I have, entitled the "Ultimate Edition," is made up of 4 storyarcs. the first, just called "Dead@17," introduces us to our main character, a teenage girl named Nara Kilday...who is promptly killed by a mysterious intruder 4 pages into the story. The focus shifts to Nara's best friend, Hazy, who discovers that Nara had been acting strange secretly for the past year or so. Then the town is attacked by zombies, and Nara comes back to life...

It is revealed that Nara is one of the Resurrected, young women chosen by God to fight the forces of evil. It's very "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," actually, although with less snark and more fanservice. Anyways, Nara, Hazy, a male friend of theirs named Elijah, and a mysterious man named Raddemer have to fight off the evil cult that caused the zombie plague and wants to use Nara's body as a vessel for their demonic leader Bolabogg.

The next storyarc "Blood of Saints," takes place several months after the last arc ended. Nara and Hazy are living together, with Nara in disguise whenever she goes out because she's supposed to be dead. Unfortunately, things get complicated as another girl, Violet Grey, is driven to suicide and becomes a Resurrected. The problem is that Bolabogg gets to her first, and Violet is insane and evil. making things significantly more complicated.

The third storyarc, "Revolution," introduces us to Heaven's Militia, a terrorist group devoted to fighting the demonic forces of Bolabogg, led by a third Resurrected, Joan. They want to kill a US senator running for president, who secretly is the human form of Bolabogg. Heaven's Militia recruits Nara to help them, and it all devolves into a Battle Royale, with a surprising twist at the end.

The fourth, "the 13th Brother," is the most unlike the other three. After the events of "Revolution," Nara is no longer available to fight demons, so our main character (at least for the first half or so) is a new character, a troubled teen named Asia. Killed in a car accident as a comet streaks across the sky, Asia becomes a Resurrected as members of a demonic army try to free their leader. But there are more than a few plot twists before the story is over...

"The 13th Brother" is both the most frustrating and the most fascinating. Part of this is the character of Asia, who seems quite different from Nara, especially as she approaches being a Resurrected. But we don't get much in the way of character development for her, at least not before it all becomes moot and Nara returns. I also was troubled by the blatant way that the writer and illustrator of the comic, Josh Howard, models the antagonists of the storarc after Hamas terrorists: they wear bright green bandanas and ski masks, and refer to their leader as "the Prophet." It's really not at all subtle.

I didn't really find the characters all that engaging. Nara is somewhat of a cypher, which is problematic as she's the main character. Hazy is a bit more understandable, but that's problematic too as she isn't really given all that much to do that's of any interest, except in the first storyarc. Raddemer is actually fairly interesting, and we do get to understand him pretty well, which is good, as who we expect him to be is not quite who he turns out to be. Aside from those three, we don't get to know many of the other characters, except the evil Bolabogg, whose motivation can be summed up as "being evil." I wanted to know more about Elijah especially, who simply disappears from the story, and Nara's mysterious mentor Malachi, who remains mysterious even as he is written out of the story. Asia as I mentioned is actually more interesting than Nara, but is again not used as much as she could or should be. We never actually learn anything about Violet, which is unfortunate, as I was interested in what she was like when she wasn't posessed and brainwashed.

It's possible that some or all of these might be answered in later volumes, and I plan to keep an eye out for them if they exist, because it is a fun series. I just wish it had more to recommend besides "fun to read." It's not particularly clever, or original, and as I remarked its characters are either criminally not explored or not that interesting. But if you see it being sold cheap, it's worth a look.