RABID WORLD #2 – Review

In RABID WORLD #2, available from Scout Comics on July 7th, 2021, scientists sequestered on a military base begin to unravel the mystery of the infection’s origin. Meanwhile, a quartet of survivors on a sailboat finds it’s harder to get to safety than it looks.

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The Details

• Written By: Todd Cinani
• Art By: Oleg Okunev
• Colors By: Oleg Okunev
• Letters By: Lucas Gattoni
• Cover Art By: Oleg Okunev
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: July 7, 2021

Was It Good?

Yes. It’s good because it does something a little different compared to the tropes you find in many zombie entertainment — the survivors use their heads to make good choices. They don’t all succeed but at least they try.

One of the more frustrating tropes of zombie films or books is watching people make dumb choices that inevitably back them into inescapable corners. When dropped into extraordinary circumstances it’s not a given that people would all devolve into non-stop panic mode. Some people would manage to keep their heads and look for solutions. We get quite a bit of that common sense behavior here, and it’s a pleasant change of pace.

This issue also does something unique in that it begins to piece together a root cause for the zombie infection, using detective work and clues, to open the door to the possibility of a vaccine. It’s a novel idea, and it opens another door of storytelling after the zombie plague is under control. What would that world look like?

The art is very good. There’s a slightly exaggerated quality to the character’s faces that pushes the emotion through more clearly. Thankfully, the exaggeration stops short of caricature.

The one down of the art is the notable lack of gore. You could chalk it up to an unfair expectation, but the horror of zombies is their unstoppable hunger for human flesh. By keeping the issue largely in black & white (except for sparse punctuations of color), the gruesomeness of the zombies feels restrained.

That said, I liked the art a lot, the characters are smart, and the story looks like it’s going somewhere we haven’t seen before.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

Anne and Frank Oster are rescued by the US military and taken to Ft. Levine, a bio-weapons research facility. Frank Oster is the only scientist the military could find who has enough skill to figure out the cause of the virus. In effect, Frank Oster is humanity’s last hope.

Meanwhile, two couples have left Maryland shores on a sailboat where they encounter other boats looking for fortification. They decide heading for the open season, possibly to find an island, is better than going along with other boats headed for a lighthouse.

Frank Oster isolates a seemingly impossible cause for the infection. Ane Oster detects patterns in the zombie herd movements. And the sailing survivors find sailing under a bridge covered with zombies makes for a very bad pleasure cruise.

Final Thoughts

RABID WORLD #2 takes the common zombie ropes and improves on them for a smart and intriguing story with loads of future potential. The art is filled with expression and emotion, and there’s plenty here to warrant sticking with the series.

Score: 9/10