Gung-ho

This exhilarating Euro-comics take on postapocalyptic survival asks: Is it more of a nightmare to battle hordes of murderous creatures, or attempt to keep rampaging teenage hormones in check? In an unspecified, ravaged country of the near-future, orphaned teen brothers Zack and Archer Goodwoody arrive at Settlement No. 16, aka "Fort Apache," after being kicked out of a succession of other homes. The pair are incorrigible delinquents with two goals in mind--good times and girls--but find it tricky to pursue either in a community that must stay vigilant against "the White Plague," baboonlike animals that mercilessly attack en masse. The boys get to know the settlement's other youth, including a number of alluring young women and the requisite gang of bullies, while testing the patience of the adults in charge (who have their own dramas). Hormonally-fueled mischief ensues, escalating just as the White Plague surfaces. Combining Archie-style teenage shenanigans and rivalries with a Walking Dead narrative arc is a stroke of genius, and the creative team give it their all, with lively animation-inspired visuals and densely designed backdrops. This rowdy volume delivers ample fun at the end of the world. (Nov.)

After their antics find them exiled from the orphanage where they were raised, teenage brothers Archer and Zack Goodwoody are sent to Fort Apache, an outpost in the middle of a postapocalyptic Europe overrun with ferocious apelike creatures called Rippers. While Archer's brash disdain for authority soon finds him at odds with the settlement's leaders, more level-headed Zack quickly integrates and forms a tight circle of friends among the orphans with whom he spends his days training to battle the beasts that lurk the ruins beyond Fort Apache's walls. French creators von Eckartsberg and von Kummant spend much of this volume exploring how the drama between hormonal teenagers is magnified and complicated by the threat of being eviscerated by monsters and maneuvering a meritocracy in which warriors are afforded special privileges, allowing conflicts within the fort and a growing threat from without to converge slowly for a devastating finale. VERDICT Von Kummant's illustration is stunning and matches the lively tone of von Eckartsberg's script, which puts a new spin on dystopian survival tales in the Walking Dead vein by focusing the narrative around a teenage cast. A refreshingly original, promising start to the series.