My take on The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Compendium One

Publisher: Image Comics

The success of the television version of The Walking Dead seems as good a reason as any to take a look back at the comics that spawned it. Publishers Image Comics seem to agree, as they have just reprinted the first 49 issues in a massive omnibus. For some inexplicable reason zombies are red hot right now, and for some it's difficult to imagine why. It's not as if they have the sex appeal that their counterparts in True Blood and Twilight enjoy (although I can't wait to see the sexy zombie/sexy werewolf love rivalry that somebody HAS to write sooner or later). But those in the know understand that zombie stories are not about pathetic child-friendly vampire/werewolf/moaning bint love triangles. They’re about our own mortality, and sometimes communism. And Aids. And the homeless. AND ZOMBIES!!!!

Even with the high price tag (a wallet-busting £45) this is top value for money. It is a book that will take you an age to read, and not just because it's over 1000 pages long. The Walking Dead is perhaps the most depressing thing I have ever read and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Quite the contrary in fact. It's just that much like Ronald D Moore's reimagined version of Battlestar Galactica, the narrative moves from catastrophe to catastrophe with the frequency of a radio set to alternate every six seconds between Desperate Situation FM and long wave radio Death 252. It's almost impossible to make it through more than two chapters without having to stop, make yourself a cup of tea and make sure that everything is okay.

All the typical zombie story tropes are present and correct: world overrun by corpses? Check. Ragtag bunch of survivors? Check. Opportunist villains trying to exploit the situation to their own benefit? Check. The things that set TWD apart from the other zombie fare are the atmospheric black and white art provided by Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore and the fact that writer Robert Kirkman has an insane gift for making you care very deeply about a diverse cast of characters, and then butchering them in some horrendous fashion within three issues. A typical story sees our heroes trapped in a prison where all the guards have done a runner along with a homicidal maniac, a recovering heroin addict and a psychotic accountant. This is considered a massive improvement in fortunes. Make no mistake, it's no barrel of laughs. Kirkland has stated that there is a very definite conclusion to his narrative, and that comes across every issue as we, much like the titular antagonists, stumble relentlessly and inevitably to the horrific end.

BEST. ZOMBIE COMIC. EVER.

Zwanna son of zulu update 2: electric boogaloo

U.S. Embassy in Liberia Searches for Missing American

By TIM WEINER

MONROVIA, Liberia, Sept. 1 — An intense search behind rebel lines is under way for an American believed to have been kidnapped and held hostage by Liberian dissidents.

Officials from the United States Embassy here are trying to find Nabil Hage, an American citizen and a prominent member of the tight-knit population of Lebanese who do business here.

He served the embassy as a warden, part of a network of 15 volunteer neighborhood-watch officers. Mr. Hage has an extended family in Virginia. His father was killed here 13 years ago, caught in the crossfire between government and rebel forces.

No one here knows if Mr. Hage is dead or alive. Members of the Lebanese population here say that he was taken hostage and remains a captive, and that the rebels have sent ransom demands.

The search for Mr. Hage has taken American officials more than 20 miles behind the lines held by the rebel forces of the group called Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD. This is a rare, risky effort by the intensely security-conscious and understaffed embassy, which has been evacuated under fire three times since 1990. There are no indications that the small contingent of United States marines stationed here is to become directly involved in the search.

On Aug. 5, a reporter for The New York Times saw a commander from the rebel group who calls himself Gen. Dragon Master wearing a United States Army uniform with the name tag "Hage" (pronounced Haj). Mr. Hage is a United States Army veteran. Efforts to reach the commander, whose real name is Sekou Kamara, were unavailing today; his cellphone was turned off.

Mr. Hage, who is in his late 30's, was last heard from nearly five weeks ago. He was at work on Bushrod Island, a bustling business district of Monrovia, when the area was overrun by the rebel group. He ran the Liberian branch of Westbrandt, a German machinery company, and had an apartment above its store.

Mr. Hage was trapped in the intense fire between the rebels and government militias as the battle for Monrovia raged throughout late July and into early August. He hid for five days, and for each of those days was in contact by radio telephone with the United States Embassy and his fellow wardens.

During the fighting in July, American-made M-81 mortars fired by the rebels fell on the embassy's grounds. The source of those missiles is now under investigation; they may have come from the armed forces of neighboring Guinea, which trained some of the rebels.

Sister Barbara Brilliant, a nun long active in Liberia and, like Mr. Hage, an embassy warden, said she spoke to Mr. Hage daily during the siege of Bushrod Island.

"LURD entered his workplace and looted it while he hid above the store," Sister Barbara said. "He said, `I think I'm going to try to escape and swim across,' " from the island toward the embassy. The last time he called, he was hiding next door with a friend, who later reported that Mr. Hage had fled on foot.

On the sixth day, the line went dead. When the fighting died down in early August, friends and United States officials looked for Mr. Hage, to no avail.

Sister Barbara, dean of the Mother Patern College of Health Sciences at St. Teresa's Convent in Monrovia, said the most reliable reports from witnesses described Mr. Hage as being taken in early August to a brewery north of Monrovia that had been seized by the rebels as a staging base.

The rebels have withdrawn from the area, pushed north by Nigerian peacekeepers, but they still control large stretches of Liberia outside the capital. The search for Mr. Hage has centered on the rebel-controlled town of Tubmanburg and the surrounding Bomi Hills area, both 40 miles north of Monrovia, and the Bong Mines region, about 50 miles northeast of the capital.

Thousands of people died in June, July and early August during the battle for Monrovia. There is some resentment among Liberians who are aware of the search for Mr. Hage that the United States, which did not intervene during the fighting, has mounted a special effort to find him. Lebanese business people here control a considerable amount of wealth, and that wealth creates some bitterness.

But Sister Barbara has pressed the embassy and the International Committee of the Red Cross to help locate Mr. Hage, dead or alive.

"Let's pray he's alive," she said today. "Let's find him."

As of 2007, Hage is still missing and presumed dead.

Zwanna UPDATE. !!!!

Spent the whole weekend thinking about Zwanna Son of Zulu, and more specifically what had become of his creator and Zwanna cosplyer Nabil Hage. Well, after some cursory investigations i found his high school profile here

http://www.acsliberia.com/alumni/83/nhage.html

Class of: 83 Name At ACS: Nabile Hage Current Name: Nabile Hage Marital Status: single At ACS From: 1970 to 1983 Address: Monrovia, Liberia City: Monrovia State: Liberia Zip: Africa Country: I said Liberia! Phone Number: 231-228032 E-Mail: nabilehage2000@yahoo.com Occupation: Business Executive Company: The Hage Enterprises, Inc. Company Web Site: http://www.google.com Enter Nabile Hage Biography: Well, I served ten years in the US Army, Airborne Ranger, Infantry and other leathal stuff before comming back to Liberia.I graduated 1989 from the Norfolk State University with a BS in Business Management, SCL. I am one of those instrumental in creating the Black Superhero in Comics and movies explosion of the 90's which will take off this decade. Watch out!! I am the owner/creator of superheroes Zwanna, Son of Zulu and The Motorbike Puppies. I realy miss my friends at ACS because now that I am back in Liberia, all those who graduated from or attended the Liberian schools have people they can relate to (in terms of skool daze. We ASC'ers are scattered all accross the globe. I would welcome contact with those who knew me.

Three things:

1. he states that "I am one of those instrumental in creating the Black Superhero in Comics and movies explosion of the 90's which will take off this decade". Good luck with that Nabil

2. "I am the owner/creator of superheroes Zwanna, Son of Zulu and The Motorbike Puppies."
exactly what is a Motorbike Puppy , and where can i find these ?

3. His company website ? http://www.google.com

fantastic.

On The Eigth Day God Created ZWANNA SON OF ZULU

There’s an old theory which I’m sure you’re aware of that states that there are only seven stories and that no matter how complex a story is, no matter how many twists and turns the plot, any narrative will fall into one of those seven types. For the record they are:

[wo]man vs. nature
[wo]man vs. man
[wo]man vs. the environment
[wo]man vs. machines/technology
[wo]man vs. the supernatural
[wo]man vs. self
[wo]man vs. god/religion

This has held true for the total expanse of human storytelling history. Now there is an eighth: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you ZWANNA SON OF ZULU.




SWEET CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! Where to begin with this? Some context I suppose. 1993 was an interesting year to say the least. Cast your mind back to a time when Ace of Bass wandered the Earth painting it a wonderful musical shade of beige, a young man called Robin Williams taught us that trannies were fucking hilarious with Mrs Doubtfire, and the final episode of Quantum Leap caused us to utter a collective “whatthefuck?”



“LOOK OUT, MY FALSE TITS ARE ON FIRE"





How did I find my way to the Ace of Bass concert? I saw the sign!




“You aren’t from around here are ya stranger? Come on in, have a drink, and help us figure out what the fuck is going on!”

The comics industry was deep in the middle of its (in hindsight) totally pathetic Dork Age. Superman was dead and Batman was about to have his back broken. Hologram covers, multiple first issues, shite art (TM Rob Liefield), and comics based on absolutely any character were the order of the day. Seriously. ANY character...



"I'm a darker, edgier Captain America"


" I'm Thor with a beard"



"I'M NOT SPAWN"

And they were selling a shitload. Terrible comics were selling tens of thousands of copies. First issues were selling millions. MILLIONS!!!!!!!

Black America was at the forefront of public consciousness. The LA Riots were fresh in everyone’s mind, Malcolm X had proved a massive hit at the box office the previous November, and hip-hop acts like Public Enemy and NWA were surging in popularity. It was only a matter of time before someone realised the twin worlds of comics and black empowerment were not mutually exclusive. Many people felt that a comic about a contemporary black hero needed to be released badly. Few comics in history have been as badly released as this one.



"Zwanna son of WHAT?"

The idea of an ethnic super hero trying to redress the balance was not a new one at the time; Black Panther, Power Man, and Black Lightning had appeared at various points over the previous 30 years. But Zwanna was to be the first proactive black hero published by an all-black comics imprint, the extremely short lived Dark Zulu Lies.

Zwanna Son of Zulu is the simple tale of an African prince imbued with superhuman powers sent to the United States to somehow stop an international conspiracy by attending university and killing transsexuals.

Let’s all take a second to deal with that by reading the opening text caption word for word. The capitalisation is theirs, not mine

“DESCENDANT OF GREAT KING SHAKA ZULU, HIS VEINS FLOWING WITH THE VENOM OF A RADIOACTIVE, DDT-CRAZED COBRA: EXILED ACROSS THE VAST SEAS TO A SMELLY CONCRETE JUNGLE, VOWING REVENGE! NABILE HAGE PRESENTS: ZWANNA, SON OF ZULU."




The main character Zwanna has been sent from his homeland to the United States to learn the ways of the white man at “Black American State College”. I’m reliably informed that universities of this nature are quite common in large American cities; in fact the Cosby Show Spin off A Different World was based on this premise. They tend not to be so literally named however. He attends classes even when they clash with his favourite talk shows.


MISS THE MONTEL SHOW? CURSE YOU WHITE DEVIL!!!!

His brother the king has warned him of an “International Conspiracy”. This is run by what could only be described as “three pooftahs”.


"OH THAT ZWANNA IS A SILLY SAUSAGE"

Zwanna's mission is to use his secret jungle powers to kill them. Simple dimples.

The problems with Zwanna Son of Zulu are twofold. Firstly it tries very very hard to have black protagonists who are proud of their heritage. This is an admirable notion. The problem is that it swings too far in the other direction. Zwanna is a walking talking anachronism, a hero who wears a loin cloth and swings around the city on vines that shoot from his spear, a spear which he uses, by the way, to kill people. Really.

Take THAT whitey!!!!


And EVERY white character is either a drunken neo-Nazi, or black hating homosexual axe murderer. It puts one in mind of certain Spike Lee movies (as Howard Stern pointed out, “Every Jew is a money lender; every Italian runs a pizza shop.")

The second problem is that every single thing about this comic is TOTAL SHITE. The art is awful, the plot is caustic, and the dialogue? Oh the dialogue: “I got that jungle love for you, baby.” “Give it to me Wild Man."

Let's get 'em before they reproduce? Holy fuck!!!

It would not be too long after this that the excellent Milestone Comics would come along with a whole line of contemporary black characters that were well written, well drawn and handled respectfully. This is, as a wise man once said, “offensive to anyone with any viewpoint at all. It is at once racist, sexist, misogynist and homophobic. Thouroughly enjoyable."


Sadly, there was only ever one issue of Zwanna, Son of Zulu. Author Nabile P. Hage clearly felt quite strongly about redressing the racial balance. So much so that he was once arrested for climbing the Capitol Building in Georgia while dressed as Zwanna and throwing out free copies . I can’t imagine it sold too well. We were given 50 copies to give away as a prize at the 2d Festival 16 years after it was published. But no-one who has ever read a copy will ever forget the mighty African warrior and his adventures.



I have two copies of Zwanna Son Of Zulu to give away to the two people who leave the comments that bring me the most pleasure. Have at you!!!!!

cfx!!!