3 out of 5

I’m not sure what the stigmata is with an indie publisher whose books all seem to be by the same author.  Sometimes this can be cool, if the books aren’t too frequent.  Then you get the idea that it’s a passion project.  But then there are publishers, like Antarctic Press, that put out several books per week, and several of them seem to be by Fred Perry (this is certainly an over-estimation, but it’s how it seems).  Something about that just doesn’t sit well with me.  And to be honest, had I noticed Fred’s name on this (only when I was looking through the back pages of this ish did I realize I was reading an AP book, and then checked the writer credits), I might’ve hesitated to purchase (HtP).  And dot dot dot honest part two, had I realized that this was part of a series (I think), I might’ve HtP.  But now that I sort of hate myself for defining an acronym and then using it in the next sentence, it seems I owe some cosmic lenience to… er, the cosmos, and that includes Fred Perry and AP.

Though leniency aside, the comic wasn’t bad.  Two game characters are rescued from a frozen game and try to warn other computer blips and bleeps that the zombies in the same game (which are also being rescued) aren’t just characters, but a real threat to their computery world.  Of course, no one listens, and zombies attack.  The book is written in exactly the breezy style I would’ve assumed of someone so prolific, but the general vibe matches, and the story makes no attempt to pretend like it’s more than it is.  The art (Zechary Gray / David Hutchison) is very simple and undetailed, but again, it syncs with the light and bouncy nature of the book.  So I’d say if you’re on board with whatever series this is a part of, this issue is probably in line with that and makes a good addition.

There is a red flag concerning some god damn obnoxious “cool” kidspeak at the beginning of the ish when a teen begs his mom to buy a new game so he can swap his frozen one (…which is how the narrative leads us to it being fixed), but within the context of this one issue, it’s easy enough to brush that section off as Perry poking fun at the lingo, so we’ll go with that.