3 out of 5

So I don’t know anything about history.  I don’t know how the alternate-zombie-filled-history of the FUBAR world mirrors real-life events, or enhances them, or perhaps detracts from them.  I don’t know if there’s a clear line to a new reader that connects the 4 chapters in this one-shot, except that their chronological suggests we’re tracking the effects of one chapter to the next.  Also, not having read any other FUBAR material, I can’t say if this is truly supposed to act as a standalone read or if it fills in a gap or gaps in the other works from the publisher.  (If I had to guess, it’s a blend of both.)  Thankfully, none of this really prevented me from enjoying Better Red Than Dead, and it passed my main test for media: does it make me want to explore more?  And the answer is yes – I’d be interested to read more FUBAR.

Chapter 1, in 1945, shows a CIA and KGB agent both breaking into a lab to steal what’s presumably the zombie virus, and both agreeing to take one vial and go their separate ways.  Writer Jeff McClelland accomplishes a ton visually (with much thanks to the clear, expertly paced art of Jonathan Brandon Sawyer) and sets up the very human viewpoint – meaning there’s thankfully not too much focus on zombies except that they exist – that I hope might be the MO for other FUBAR series.  Chapter 2 follows some zombie experimenting to the Bay of Pigs in 1961.  Unfortunately, Brett Weldele’s art is a bit too indie sketchy to capture a good dark tone for the zombie march onto the beach, and Jeff McComsey’s script seems to assume much about our knowledge of the Bay of Pigs, in that the events here surely echo the reality in some meaningful way.  Lesley Vamos’ cartoonish art is a good match for Chapter 3, by McClelland, which highlights a small act of smuggling between West and East Berlin in 1962 that ends up being a method for carrying that dang virus.  This is a good blend of reality / fiction: you can get on board with the smuggler’s story without having to know anything about the history, but there’s the hint that if you wanted to know more (or already do, you bastard), that it would sync with what you’ve read interestingly.  Finally, chapter 4 has the two writers together  showing us why, in 1962, we (in FUBAR world) nuked the pants offa’ Russia.  Jeff McComsey handles art (with Daniel Thollin doing finishes) and it’s serviceable, but nowhere near as dynamic as Sawyer’s or as effective to the tone as Vamos’.

As has been said about any successful zombie movie / book / whatever nowadays, bringing new interest to the genre has become a rarity.  FUBAR isn’t really a new concept at all by this point, but in finding the right blend of fact and fiction, it still manages to carve out its own unique spot.  The ‘Better Red’ one shot doesn’t really have the most clear throughput, but it gives a new reader enough of an indication – I hope – of what other FUBAR material might be like.