Horror anthologies and the Halloween season go together like peanut butter and jelly. Therefore, when I saw Z-Time, a zombie based anthology from AAM Markosia, I could not resist picking it up. Z-Time, provides nine short stories, and an awesome art gallery of zombified classic film posters. The main story arc that links each of the stories together is rather interesting, a trio of alien life forms have been given the task of cataloguing each of the planets beyond the border of the United Galaxies. Solium-3 is the last planet on their journey but when they arrive, despite clear signs of an advance civilization they are unable to locate any higher life forms, as the streets are completely empty. Following protocol, the team moves into a large building that turns out being a museum, in hopes of finding living creatures. One of the aliens has the ability to touch an item, and then visually see the history of it.
This unique ability paves the way for a trip through history, starting all the way back to prehistoric man then progressing through such time lines as the medieval era, War World 1, all the way up to modern times with a little of everything else in-between. Reading a chronological retelling of familiar history with a zombie twist made for a never dull experience; Z-Time, has to be one of the most original and fun anthologies I have ever read.
The writing is very high quality, creating an experience that is comparable to viewing a B sci-fi or horror film at the local drive in theatre. Furthermore, when it comes to bridging multiply genres Z-Time truly shines, with so many sub-genres represented beyond the obvious sci-fi / horror hybrid effect created by including the aliens, it truly is mind blowing the talented of those who contributed. All of the included stories are equally enthralling and feature art styles that perfectly capture each of the time-periods, a detail that sold me early on, after I noticed the styles were shifting so fluidly with each era change. Between the tremendous writing and jaw dropping artwork, Z-Time, is necessary purchase.
I highly recommend this graphic novel to any fans of anthologies, horror, or the ever-growing zombie subculture. For those of you looking for some Halloween reading to get into the spirit, I assure you that after you turn the final page of Z-Time, you will be more than ready for a night of ghoulish celebrating.
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