Writer: Evonne Tsang (interview)
Artist: Janina Gorrissen (site)
Published: April 28th, 2011 by Graphic Universe
Pages: 128
Series: My Boyfriend is a Monster #1
Rating: 80%
Synopsis: Can love survive the zombie apocalypse? Maybe Dicey's first chance at a real relationship was dead from the start. She's the star of her high school baseball team, and Jack's the star of the science program. Her idea of a study session includes sleeping in the sun, and his idea of a good game involves dungeons and dice. But opposites start attracting when they're assigned to be partners in a class project. Now an outbreak of a weird infection--it eats your brains and leaves you hungry for more--might not mean just the end of their first date. It might mean the end of everything. Will their relationship fall apart faster than zombies in the Florida sun, or can Dicey and Jack beat the odds and find a happy ending? (Goodreads)Story Review: 35/50 points
This really felt like two stories. The first was about Dicey and Jack getting to know each other and falling in love. The second was about that love being immediately put to the test by a zombie plague. It was all very cute and fun, but it was just a bit too young for me. The pacing was a bit off: some parts were too slow and then suddenly it was weeks later and things were completely different. I'd recommend it to younger teens and preteens. There was nothing sexual or anything else to make it inappropriate for kids.
Graphics Review: 40/50
I am not a huge fan of black and white comics. It's harder for me to get really absorbed in them because after a while the pages all kind of blur together. However, this was cleanly drawn and very readable. My main complaint was about the facial expressions. Dicey especially kept making this incredibly stupid happy face that made me want to smack her. Other than that, the art was very clear and went well with the story. I would have loved to have seen it in color, though.
Bonus points: 5
I'm adding bonus points here because this would be a great comic for younger readers. A lot of the big comics now have scanty costumes, tons of sex, and tons of cussing- and I'm not complaining about any of these things, but it does make me uncomfortable recommending them to younger readers. It's nice to find a comic that is cute, sweet, short, and fun that I could recommend to a gradeschooler or a teen.
Total Score - 80 points out of 100 possible, or 80%
