Zombicide: Day One #2 - Source Point Press

ZOMBICIDE: DAY ONE No. 2, February 2023

Somehow managing to capture all the utterly insane carnage of the zombie apocalypse within this oversized, thirty-two page periodical’s plot, Luca Enoch and Stefano Vietti’s storyline for Issue Two of “Zombicide: Day One” must have made many a reader feel as if they were watching the likes of Ned, Diana, Wanda and Julio actually playing through a scenario from the “the critically acclaimed board game.” In fact, the enthralling energy generated by events as the survivors desperately battle their way towards an underground safe house, and intriguingly ‘recruit’ two more slayers of the walking dead along the way, probably left many a bibliophile desperate to clear the kitchen table so as to settle down for a mission or two themselves; “The water’s a bit warm, but if you’re parched as I am, it’ll be heaven.”

Quite possibly foremost of these enticements is Julio Alvarez’s “tragic backstory”, which adds plenty of extra personality to the baseball player. Haunted by his teammates’ gratuitously grisly demise at the end of his bat during a blood-soaked training session, the semi-famous sportsman shows there is much more to him than just a decidedly deadly swing. Furthermore, the athlete must surely have raised a smile with those aficionados of “Guillotine Games” franchise when he almost nonchalantly mentions that some of zeds “are fast as lightning” when he first encounters the speedy Runners.

Similarly as stimulating though are the sense-shattering scenes introducing Hobo and Keiko, just as it appears as if this title’s cast have finally used up their last piece of good fortune “with a legion of the undead at their heels!” Both of these new characters are surrounded in mystery, especially once the entire band begin working their way towards an abandoned subway and their dreadlocked guide hints at intimately knowing the tunnels down there.

Adding tons of dynamism to this comic’s action-packed adventure are Alessio Moroni and Marco Itri, who genuinely seem able to pack every panel with spine-tingling terror and tension, as Ned leads his new friends through the momentarily all-too quiet city streets. In addition, colourist Paolo Francescutto deserves a major pat on the back for the freelancer's superbly ruby-red infected during Julio’s aforementioned black and white flashback sequence.

The regular cover art of "ZOMBICIDE: DAY ONE" #2 by Francesco Rizzato & Giorgia Lanza