R-Rated Reads – The Last Resort

R-Rated Reads features the best in Comics and Graphic Novels that you’d normally hide underneath your mattress. Now, what the F%*# are you waiting for!? READ the G@&-D*%$ thing!

The Last Resort

Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
Art by Gianculo Carracuzzo
Published by IDW

I love zombies. From the classic Romero movies to the off-the-wall new-school movies like Fido, there’s something about zombies that will likely always captivate audiences. The undead will never eave pop culture. Just when I think there’s nothing new under the sun with regards to zombies, along comes The Last Resort. The book follows the brutal ends that befall a group of survivors from a plane crash. Walking away from a plane crash should be good news. Too bad their plane crashes on a beach resort island that is filthy with zombies. What’s more, they’re sensitive to sunlight, so for the first day, they think they’re okay until the poop hits the fan. Some of them you’ll like. Some of them you won’t. Realistically, though, it doesn’t matter what you think of the characters because they’re pretty much all going to die anyway (except for the token survivor, of course), so just sit back and watch the blood fly.

There’s some explanation given as to where the outbreak came from, but it’s not really the focal point of the story. The book’s about people getting eaten and dismembered. Oh, and there’s a zombie lion, which is awesome. It’s visceral zombie craziness without all the emotional baggage of a book like The Walking Dead that’s absolutely about its rich cast of characters. The characters in The Last Resort are little more than future corpses and for a story like this, they need not be much more than that.

The art serves this story perfectly. The muted color palette and stylized figures go a long way to further accentuate the almost cartoonish nature of the situation and the characters without ever completely crossing the line from a sense of realism. The book is chock full of boobs, blood and gore and Caracuzzo nails it on every page.

The only problems with the book are nitpicky, but worth mentioning. A couple of pages have some script problems where the characters suddenly change locales or the time jumps ahead a bit too much for a single page without warning. It’s jarring, but not at all a hindrance. Likewise, most of the dialogue in the book is great, so when a character for some reason abandons contractions in their speech for a page, they’re left sounding oddly robotic for a moment before settling back into a more conversational cadence. These are minor gripes, yes, but aside from the little things, this book couldn’t be more perfect for what it is. The only complaints I can muster for it HAVE to be that petty.

If you’re looking for a bloody good time with copious amounts of T&A, you can’t go wrong with The Last Resort. The trade from IDW features the entire five-issue miniseries and a full cover gallery featuring Darwyn Cooke’s beautiful pop art pieces along with Amanda Connor’s hilarious variant. Sink your teeth into this one. It’s meaty and tastes of chicken.

Filed Under: Features • R-Rated Reads

Tags: blood, Gore, Jimmy Palmiotti, things that are awesome, zombies