Zombie #27: Jacen Burrows

Jacen Burrows (before I even get into this, check out that splash page for his site; awesome) is a household name in zombie comics, and if the name isn't familiar, you've probably seen his work. He's done tons of amazing covers including Black Gas, Escape of the Niving Dead and various Night of the Living Dead books (with author George A. Romaro).
He's also fully illustrated a handful of books including Chronicles of Wormwood, a book about the anti-Christ, Danny Wormwood who is a TV network executive, his best friend Jesus and a rabbit who talks to him. It's good. It's good in the I know that if I read this I'm going to hell, but it's probably worth it kind of way.
His latest book, Crossed looks to be pretty amazing. It's about a zombie-style outbreak that, instead of turning people into mindless brain-eaters, turns them into homicidal maniacs. Check out a preview here. Issue #0 is on the shelves with issue #1 coming later this month.
Thanks Jacen!

Zombie #26: Dan Parent

Oh, this makes me grin a big grin. This zombie is from Archie Comics artist Dan Parent. Dan has also done work with Felix the Cat Productions, Mattel (Barbie), Disney, the list goes on. It's not often that I get such an iconic artists' sketch, but now that I have this one, I have a dozen others I want. Zombie Betty, Zombie Veronica, Zombie Jughead... God, I need the whole gang!
Be prepared to see a lot of me, Mr. Parent. And thanks a ton for the Zombie Archie.

Zombie #25: Max Brooks

Max Brooks is one of the most influential figures in modern zombie fiction. Max wrote the Zombie Survival Guide in 2003 and followed up with World War Z in 2006. WWZ is phenominal, and the dozens of other recent zombie novels over on Amazon all owe their success to WWZ for paving the way. WWZ is currently being made into a film, and part of me doesn't want it to happen. There is no way to top the novel, and I feel like I'm just going to be disappointed. Of course the other part of me, the larger part, can't wait.
Currently we're all eagerly awaiting World War Z: Recorded Attacks, which is a collection of additional zombie stories from throughout history in graphic novel format.
Oh, one last thing about Max-- He is a GREAT sport for sketching me a zombie. Best-Zombie-Ever.

Zombie #24: Joe Dodd

Joe Dodd is a killer artist that has had his hands in various G.I. Joe and Marvel comics, and most recently he illustrated a fabulous book called Tales From Wonderland: The Mad Hatter, an origin story for the Tales From Wonderland version of the Mad Hatter. Theres some twisted stuff in this book, and you need to check it out, if for no other reason than.. zombie wall.
This zombie sketch is incredible Joe, please do more dead people. Thanks!

Zombie #23: Jeremy Bastian

Jeremy Bastian is an incredible artist. He creates these monstrosities and these structures and these creatures that all inhabit this realm, and you know that if you were to crack open Jeremy's skull and peek inside, all of these creations would be in there waving back at you.
And the detail. It's all so finite and so precise that it's just out of the scope of what you'd expect a person to be able to do.
Just go check out his blog, and pray with me that Cursed Pirate Girl comes out soon. Last I checked, still no release date. Thank you for the magical zombie, Jeremy.

Zombie #22: Matt Wright

The guys at Unshaven Comics are marketing savants. Their sales pitch for their latest book when I met them (probably expired by now) was "Buy our book and we'll draw you as a zombie in our next." Woah-- They could have sold me anything.
The book, The March: Crossing Bridges in America is an awesome read and I highly recommend everyone pick it up. It's about a handful of families that participated in a peaceful protest of tightening immigration laws in Chicago, 2006. It's about their different perspectives but ultimately their similarities. How they go from this to Zombie fiction, I'll just have to wait and see.
The zombie above was drawn by the resident artist for Unshaven, Matt Wright. Those colors really do pop like that in real life, and it totally works. Thanks for the zombie, Matt!

Zombie #21: Paul Allen Ballard

Paul Allen Ballard is a freelance illustrator who does all sorts of awesome stuff including sketch cards, collectible card game art, Star Wars promotional stuff, and the thing that really grabbed my attention, the covers for the comic book Zombies of Mass Destruction. They could each be a movie poster. I would hang each of those covers on my wall, especially number 3. Zombies of Mass Destruction is written by the creator of the Underworld movie franchise, and has itself been acquired for movie rights. It's about zombies being used as WMDs, which I personally think is a fantastic idea.
Check out Paul's blog for higher res images of those awesome covers. Thanks for the amazing sketch/painting, Paul!