 Toe
Tags #1 (of 4)
DC Comics
Writer: George A. Romero
Pencils: Tommy Castillo
Inks: Rodney Ramos
FC, 32 pgs w/ ads
$4.50 CAN / $2.95 US
Not the George I know
by Chad Boudreau
If DC Comics is trying to tap into the growing horror comics market, they couldn't
have picked a better project with which to start. They've tapped George A. Romero
to pen a zombie filled miniseries, one that takes place, presumably in the zombie
world he created in his landmark films Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of
the Dead and Day of Dead.
What made Romero's films such great works of horror was the way in which he
showed both the strength and the weakness of humanity. Romero showed us how
an apocalyptic event that cannot be understood would affect our society. Aside
from the obvious detriment of being eaten by the undead, he showed us how some
minds would unravel while others would rise to the task of survival, showing
that under pressure, we are capable of great good or great evil.
Unfortunately, none of this insight is evident in Toe Tags #1.
 The
story opens in Carnation City, just one of many cities across America (presumably
the world) affected by the sudden rise of the undead. A man named Damien Cross
surveys the destruction from elevated heights of a business office, while down
below, somewhere else in the mess, his girlfriend Judy is holed up in some other
building. She's all alone, but armed to the teeth with a shotgun. She's cute,
buff, with big tits and a tight ass. She's not the average, everyday hero we
saw in Romero's films. She's a zombie ass-kicker, spouting bad dialogue as fast
as she can pump her weapon. She's an invincible hero for the kids that got their
undead schooling from the likes of Resident Evil and the Dawn of the
Dead re-make. She, of course, wears a thong.
For a good number of comic readers, a story like this isn't going to be a bad
thing. Toe Tags #1 tells the same kind of rip-roaring gore-fest being
whipped up by Steve Niles and crew over at IDW Publishing. The art here in Toe
Tags is a wonderful mess of bodies being blown apart, bodies that are already
a frightful sight thanks to rot. Toe Tags #1 is a video game inspired
splatterfest, not a quiet, psychological assault. Romero's zombie movies were
able to rise above their B-movie production values and acting because of the
underlying ideas at the films' core. Toe Tags jettisons those ideas and
embraces its B-movie roots.
Take for instance, the introduction of Mister Tembo. He's an elephant that
crashes into Judy's hiding spot, bringing with him a horde of zombies. Luckily
for Judy, she knows this elephant. Even more fortunate, it seems as if Mister
Tembo has been sent by Damien to find Judy. Lassie, Benji and The Littlest Hobo
ain't got nothing on this packaderm! Mister Tembo escorts Judy to Damien, where
she learns that her former boyfriend is, in fact, now a zombie; but, at least
he's a zombie that has retained his memories and free will. How is this possible?
Enter the eccentric zoologist.
Toe Tags isn't my type of horror. The horror that gives me chills and
thrills are the ones that fuck with the mind, putting you in the dark places
so that you get a moment to gaze into both the light and darkness of the human
heart. That's horror. Toe Tags is messy fun. With that said, a lot of
people seem to prefer messy fun to thoughtful scares. It's a shame though that
Romero couldn't return to the zombie world in the manner in which he left it.
2.5 of 5
Discuss Toe
Tags in our forum.
| 
