Rotting in Dirtville by James Callahan

I went to Barnes and Noble with my wife and daughter. We all love going to the book store, especially my two-year-old daughter. My wife and I take turns watching our daughter while the other one goes to look at books. I was roaming around looking at the bargain books when I came across this comic book. When I looked at the cover I thought it was about mummies. I took a closer look and saw that it was about zombies. I quickly snatched the last copy, it was only five bucks. I’m glad I came across this book because I haven’t reviewed a zombie comic in a few months.

Milton’s parents have just died. Their house collapsed on itself due to a sink hole, or an old well under the house. That’s what the official reports said at least. The house is un-salvageable but Milton has nowhere else to go. His parents have left him with bills that he must pay. He spends his days chopping and selling wood to finish paying off his parent’s funeral costs.

While Milton is working hard, giant alien robots land on earth. They did not come in peace. News reports say that the aliens are quickly taking over the world.

Betsy, Milton’s next door neighbor notices that he is constantly chopping wood. She walks over and invites him to come to town with her. He agrees, and they begin walking toward town. Betsy’s nasty older brother is in town with his friends and finds her hanging around Milton. They begin to fight. Betsy get’s involved and is struck by her brother. The fight is broken up and everyone goes their own way. That is when the zombie alien robots invade the town. At first Milton thinks everything is fine, but most of the townspeople are already zombies. Milton and Betsy stick together in order to find a way out of the zombie infested town.

I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into with this book. I mean, the cover didn’t really look like a zombie story. It most definitely was a zombie story, but it did take a long time for anything zombie related to happen. I did like the beginning set up with Milton and his parents. His character was very strange and distant. It kind of made me uncomfortable when a different character talked to him. That’s how odd Milton was.

The illustrations were very good. I really liked the way the zombie robots looked. There were some gruesome moments like, (SPOILER ALERT) when one of the characters get’s sliced by a saw or when Milton get’s most of his face bitten off.(SPOILER END) Another cool thing I liked was that all the art is in black and white.

Some parts in the book make no sense, and I really hated that about Rotting in Dirtville. There is so much potential here, but it just lacks something. The ending was an absolute let down. I didn’t understand it at all. If you decide to pick up a copy you’ll know what I mean. It just ends. Almost as if the author was tired of the book and wanted it to end. Or maybe the author is planning to do a sequel, but it’s been four years since this book was published. I don’t think a sequel will be coming.

Rotting in Dirtville is one of those books at makes me wish I did half ratings. I did enjoy the first half of the book, but toward the end it lost steam. I seriously could have stopped reading half way through the book and it would have made better sense then the ending. I will have to give Rotting in Dirtville, 2 Undead Heads out of 5.

Rotting in Dirtville is available at Barnes and Noble. It would probably be in the bargain section. It is also available on Amazon.com. This comic book is relatively cheap. I recommend you buy a copy from Amazon. If you’d like to support the site and the author please use the link to the left and buy yourself a copy.