Dead@17 - The 13th Warrior Trade Paperback

With all this talk about a Dead@17 movie being made and a new monthly book being launched through Image Comics, I thought I would revisit the second trade paperback of the Viper series entitled The 13th Brother. First, I have to say that if you haven’t yet delved into this comic, you really need to do yourself a favor and read the first Compendium and get caught up. It’s a really fun book that mixes Night of the Living Dead with Buffy the Vampire Slayer – and that introduction is still doing it a great injustice. Writer and artist Josh Howard weaves together a story that features adventure, horror, religious ideology, and teen angst so well that you would think that a 16 year old girl quite possibly was dictating the whole thing to him.

As is usual, I’m late to board the cool train as this book came out quite a while ago. The art is comparable to a kind of mixture of manga, anime, and the style of Batman – The Animated Series or maybe Batman Beyond. It’s hard to explain. It has the lush colors and feel of maybe the Teen Titans show. I’m not a fan of manga at all and I like it. It’s not too manga. I’m confusing everyone, aren’t I? Google it and judge it for yourself.

The 13th Brother does a fine job of following up the first series with a very well put together storyline that interweaves the characters. It does a great job of mixing together familiar faces from the Compendium with new characters and situations. The writing sucks you in and keeps you glued to it and compels you to want to read it in one sitting. It also has a rich texture and is well drawn and colored. The only way to sum it up is to say that it’s a quality book that still somehow seems to be a little under the radar and obscure to the mass comic audience internationally. Here’s to hoping that Image helps change that. (Review by Eric Shirey)