New Graphic Novel ‘Quarantined’ Reviewed!

True Zombie fans love them in any way they can get them: Movies, TV shows, Internet Shorts and especially Comics and Graphic Novels! Fortunately for the fans, Zombies have been infesting all of these types of media in abundance!

When a handful of fans gets together to create a comic, ‘Quarantined’ happens!

The fans involved in creating this piece of work were Michael Moreci who penned the story and may be best known for his prior work on Image’s Hoax Hunters, Monty Borror, who handled the art with some help with colors from Lauren Anne Sharp, letter work by Jim Campbell, and covers from Keith Burns.

This is the kind of deep thought provoking imagry that one should expect from Quarantined. This kid in a cage is actually a zomboy...

Since we were contacted by Michael Moreci to do this review, we decided to focus most of the review on the storyline.

It should be noted, that the art does lend itself well to the story with the best being the “cover shots” between chapters. These pics were both moving and thought provoking, which is more than likely exactly what they are meant to do.

This reviewer found himself spending several minutes really soaking in the image you see to the left. Most of the imagery from the graphic novel looks very blurred and hurried, almost as if to give the feeling of actual motion. This is not an easy thing to capture in a graphic novel, but the artists involved do pull it off quite nicely.

The scenes where there is more attention to detail, seem to happen when the artists really want to drive home a point, or strike the reader’s terror nerve hard(see the image above).

The story follows a father/son duo as they attempt to survive the Zombpocalypse that has stricken their small town. The two protagonists are introduced in classic fashion:

The old radio is giving the same pre-recorded warning messages and an undead assailant has entered the house. The son has the brilliant idea to shoot the brain, which stops the undead.

Next, father and son argue about the best course of action: do they board up the house or leave for help…

It sounds like the ultimate stereotypical Zombie story, and the first few scenes kind of are, but any true fan of the genre will tell you that this is actually a nice nod to the horror classic ‘Night of the Living Dead’, and the 127 page book is full of nods to the classic influences in the genre.

The story tries to give hints of humor throughout, but unfortunately, this often ends up making the reader roll their eyes and think “pfft, that would never happen.”

A good example of this is in the first scene just described, the father shoots the Undead in the head, and the son’s only reaction is “Ew.” to which the father replies “That’s unusual.” Something tells me this is not exactly how this would go in a real-life situation. That being said, this is a graphic novel about the Zombies, so these kinds of interactions have to be taken with a grain of salt.

In the world of Quarantined, humanity is almost gone but the terror is everywhere!

As the story continues and we meet other characters, the storyline partnered with the way the art is set up begins to suck you in a bit more as if you were watching a movie…. and that is the way it should be. In the world of ‘Quarantined’ humanity is almost gone, but the terror begins to pop up everywhere.

The writing does a decent job of exploring not only the reality of how characters deal with surviving the Undead but also in attempting to survive other survivors. Paranoia, power trips and mysterious new characters all show their heads throughout the journey.

Much like the stories that most likely inspired Quarantined (such as the Romero Classics “Night of the Living Dead” and “The Crazies”), characters often have to figure out how to handle close quarters combat against the undead without a gun, close calls, and of course water and food shortages. This helps move the story along and lends to the believability.

Closing thoughts:

‘Quarantined’ is good for a few solid moments of tension and the exploration of social interactions during a Zombie infestation.

From dealing with addiction and drinking, to how to say “good bye” to your undead son, this is one Zombie Apocalypse story that tries to go deeper than your average scare-fest.

‘Quarantined’ attempts to be much deeper on many levels than most stories of this type, and overall does a good job of it. Readers should expect to see the violence you would hope for in a Zombie graphic novel, but not expect to see it on every page. This is not really a bad thing, as much as something that keeps the story interesting and moving smoothly. Its worth a read!

You can find out more info about ‘Quarantined’ from its Facebook Page!