2 out of 5

I guess I still remain pretty unconvinced that there’s much left to explore in the zombie apocalypse genre.  Beyond Romero’s game-changing initial forays, the same horse corpses keep getting dragged  out and beaten.  …Which isn’t exactly to say that you can’t still make an appreciable spectacle of it, or apply a tweak to the sociological filter – this statement is, after all, from a horror fan, which is a genre forever trading in cyclical tropes – but the magic pill of zombos = instantly intriguing premise has long since lost it power.

Fueled by Kyle Starks’ keen ear for humorous dialogue and, admittedly, a fantastic payoff during the series’ climax, Dead of Winter – based on a survival board game – and brought to surprisingly bright life, given its gray and snowy setting, by colorist Bill Crabtree, ticks by as a breezy read.  It’s a snapshot of one day during this version of the apocalypse: one particular scavenge hunt that goes awry.  As roundabout suggested above, the effectiveness of these things is almost solely down to their entertainment value, and while we get an amusing Maniac Cop riff, and an ex-movie star, zombie-hating dog, the series is neither balls out enough or deep enough to so much beyond shuffle through scenes amd dialogue you recognize from every version of this ever.  In a similar vein, artist Gabo’s slightly childlike figures don’t really help: nothing is really frightening or threatening looking, and characters emote in very clean, “I’m obviously happy or sad or concerned” expressions.

I didn’t unenjoy Deadnof Winter, but there’s also nothing about it to necessarily make it stand out.