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Pink Zombie Rose: Major Arcana, Volume 1
A surreal anarcho-experiment, Pink Zombie Rose: Major Arcana is a genre-defying urban journey through a dystopian landscape.
A dark void, a temporal romp. A rapid alchemical misfire.
Mythic tricksters & psychonaut mystics…Voyeur corn fields & paper thin walls…intrigue, spy craft & American made automobiles. A mysterious malady is traveling Midwestern roadways (and great lakes). From Chicago to the upper peninsula, patients are coming in with the same complaint—
They’re dead.
The infected are turning on, tuning in & dropping out.
It’s a long strange apocalypse.
Bad time to be blindsided by love.
Dr. Verne, is the world’s expert in walking corpse syndrome, so the neuroscientist is in the eye of the storm, Ground Zero—Toledo, Ohio—while his twin, a Detroit car designer, is just over the Michigan state line. Aton & Atom are two brothers without distinct borders in two cities, one of them an outgrowth of the other.
Romantic & rhizomatic, Pink Zombie Rose is surreal psychedelia & new existentialism.
Ode to the weirdo, philosophical belly flop, & call to action.
A dark void, a temporal romp. A rapid alchemical misfire.
Mythic tricksters & psychonaut mystics…Voyeur corn fields & paper thin walls…intrigue, spy craft & American made automobiles. A mysterious malady is traveling Midwestern roadways (and great lakes). From Chicago to the upper peninsula, patients are coming in with the same complaint—
They’re dead.
The infected are turning on, tuning in & dropping out.
It’s a long strange apocalypse.
Bad time to be blindsided by love.
Dr. Verne, is the world’s expert in walking corpse syndrome, so the neuroscientist is in the eye of the storm, Ground Zero—Toledo, Ohio—while his twin, a Detroit car designer, is just over the Michigan state line. Aton & Atom are two brothers without distinct borders in two cities, one of them an outgrowth of the other.
Romantic & rhizomatic, Pink Zombie Rose is surreal psychedelia & new existentialism.
Ode to the weirdo, philosophical belly flop, & call to action.
202 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2025
4 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 18, 2025
I will readily admit I requested this graphic novel ARC on Netgalley based entirely on the strangeness of the title: Pink Zombie Rose. I had never heard of the series, the author, or the artist before. I got it for the strangeness. I stayed reading it for the delightedly weird interior world of the book.
The writing style is unique. The graphics are unique. The story is . . . well, for lack of a better word, unique. There's a female professor living in a house on the edge of a river, who loves to bedazzle and feather the world around her with her bedazzler and glue gun (I think). A pair of strange twins, Atom and Aton, who may or may not be test tube babies, or it could be the love interest, Shane, because I'm not really sure about them yet. There's an automobile king of Detroit. A strange dad. More strange characters. And they feature in the tarot card deck as the major arcana, and the stories interweave, and interspersed among them are the bright, psychedelic graphics of artist Beppi.
So, go get you some. This is strange and odd and should be full of goodness.
The writing style is unique. The graphics are unique. The story is . . . well, for lack of a better word, unique. There's a female professor living in a house on the edge of a river, who loves to bedazzle and feather the world around her with her bedazzler and glue gun (I think). A pair of strange twins, Atom and Aton, who may or may not be test tube babies, or it could be the love interest, Shane, because I'm not really sure about them yet. There's an automobile king of Detroit. A strange dad. More strange characters. And they feature in the tarot card deck as the major arcana, and the stories interweave, and interspersed among them are the bright, psychedelic graphics of artist Beppi.
So, go get you some. This is strange and odd and should be full of goodness.
March 30, 2025
Hi PZR,
Here’s some love coming your way.
This book is at once gutsy, gritty and glittery. Sure it is wild and wide. It has a galaxy of characters that are all in the orbit of the storytelling device. The reader gets to travel far and wide while remaining safely in the story’s deck.
I also love the Dylanesque, but really Brechtian, ‘you’. It’s not an Uncle Sam meek and compliant ‘you’. Nor is it the condescending or cajoling kind. It’s the ‘you’ that’s spoken out of respect when it’s gonna tell it like it is.
PZR is not something that you sheepishly sip. You need to feel all the flavours and layers of this surrealistic stream of consciousness-like concoction.
Both the writing and the art are absolute treats. Poetic yet anything but prosaic. It harnesses pop and academic references in such a masterful way. AND it’s funny too!
PZR is not only a unique experience, thanks to its fresh imagery and language it reframes many issues that have been talked to staleness.
I can’t wait to get my hard copy of PZR AND for its next instalment! ✨✌️
Here’s some love coming your way.
This book is at once gutsy, gritty and glittery. Sure it is wild and wide. It has a galaxy of characters that are all in the orbit of the storytelling device. The reader gets to travel far and wide while remaining safely in the story’s deck.
I also love the Dylanesque, but really Brechtian, ‘you’. It’s not an Uncle Sam meek and compliant ‘you’. Nor is it the condescending or cajoling kind. It’s the ‘you’ that’s spoken out of respect when it’s gonna tell it like it is.
PZR is not something that you sheepishly sip. You need to feel all the flavours and layers of this surrealistic stream of consciousness-like concoction.
Both the writing and the art are absolute treats. Poetic yet anything but prosaic. It harnesses pop and academic references in such a masterful way. AND it’s funny too!
PZR is not only a unique experience, thanks to its fresh imagery and language it reframes many issues that have been talked to staleness.
I can’t wait to get my hard copy of PZR AND for its next instalment! ✨✌️
March 28, 2025
Pink Zombie Rose is definitely as cool as it sounds. Upon my first introduction to this trippy comic series, I became a passenger on a crazy train and was taken for a wild ride. PZR is truly unique and unclassifiable. These stories have everything even a closeted weirdo could ask for, and then some. At times downright absurd, Dia somehow keeps the PZR series cohesive with well-developed yet constantly evolving characters, and one-of-a-kind mind-bending and intriguing narratives. Pink Zombie Rose doesn't just cross genres, it smashes them together on a canvas like a Jackson Pollock painting. The phantasmagoric text is expertly captured by amazing illustrations that bring each page to another level of existence. This surreal series crawled out of the sewers eager to infect you with feral dreams, kinky fantasies, existential crises, and a monstrous hunger for more.
March 30, 2025
All I can say is this book changed me. The art is beyond amazing. The writing is provocative and takes me back to the heyday of pop culture. The story is unique and quite unexpected. Thank you Dia and Beppi for making this book. I will look for more from this press.
March 30, 2025
I LOVE this book. Step right up folks. It’s a wild ride.
March 11, 2025
We are so stoked for this book. We haven’t gotten to read the entire thing yet because it’s not quite been released, but the writer has released tid bits through her social media, and it’s impressive in its writing and art. Seems like a poignant time to connect some of these fantastic ideas of punk rock, mental health, and toss in the undead.
March 29, 2025
I love this book. It is a unique genre bending, gender bending, everything bending combination graphic novel, and text novel. It is unlike anything I have ever read before, and refuses to be pigeonholed or slotted into a category . It is an apocalyptic fantasy with the most fantastic parts actually based on real science, news, philosophy, time and place, people, and sights and sounds. Set in the midwest auto capital Toledo/Detroit, it defines this place while carving out characters with psychedelic virtuosity, delving into a kind of zombie apocalypse, but all rooted within an actual existing disease state. The incredible illustrations perfectly reflect and expand upon the author’s intent, carrying the story into a perfect magical reality.
March 30, 2025
Omigod! My favorite parts? Hard to say. Black Leather, White Teeth for sure. Rubberband Girl, without a doubt. Then early in the deck, Second Morning and Third Morning are so good. I’m blown away by the freshness of this work. I think it might be a masterpiece.
March 17, 2025
Normies don’t want you to read PZR and so you must. Major Arcana is not even out yet and it’s already been censored for its inclusivity, anti authoritarianism and identity spectrum. My wife and I have followed this story online since 2016 and it’s always pushed boundaries, but I knew there’d be blowback when I read the undead dentist in a zine. This oppressive society doesn’t want anything to “normalize” (humanize) trans or gender queer folx but we’re here and we’ve always been here. PZR knows that. Writers are the keenest observers, those who speak truth to power. Dia VanGunten does just that but with zombies and b movies. It’s hard to categorize because it’s all of the best things: philosophy, sci fi, punk, kink, a comic book for us grown ups and a utopian manifesto. Dia has written an anthem for our era.
March 31, 2025
This book is wild and demanding of people like me, who forgot how to read fiction. It was well worth the brain-bending required to be dropped into the middle of a confusing dense mishmash of strangers and characters and paint-by-numbers illustrations.
Read it like you'd take in any card deck of an unfamiliar game: flip through, glance, shuffle and see what stands out. Don't try to learn all of the rules and relationships right away. There's a lot here and as you navigate the pages of text (like game instructions) will eventually start to answer the questions. Settle in and give it some patience.
A couple of clues: when you're being addressed in second person, you're experiencing the world as a zombie. One who caught the zombie disease somehow, and your identity has holes poked into it. You experience the world from many times and places at once, until you simply walk around believing you're dead. And once you believe you're dead, you actually can die from not taking care of yourself. Fucked up, right? Like any good pandemic, we're not really sure who has it and who doesn't, especially in the early stages. Are you feeling ok? You might have it too.
The twins and their lovers are the core of the longer story, the romance, the science mystery and existential save-the-world somehow (!) urgency. The setting is apt, between boomed and busted industrial midwest cities. This is just the beginning of a series, like a happy meal toy that dropped before the movie franchise. Tarot mediums and people relearning how to read fiction need to buy this immediately.
Read it like you'd take in any card deck of an unfamiliar game: flip through, glance, shuffle and see what stands out. Don't try to learn all of the rules and relationships right away. There's a lot here and as you navigate the pages of text (like game instructions) will eventually start to answer the questions. Settle in and give it some patience.
A couple of clues: when you're being addressed in second person, you're experiencing the world as a zombie. One who caught the zombie disease somehow, and your identity has holes poked into it. You experience the world from many times and places at once, until you simply walk around believing you're dead. And once you believe you're dead, you actually can die from not taking care of yourself. Fucked up, right? Like any good pandemic, we're not really sure who has it and who doesn't, especially in the early stages. Are you feeling ok? You might have it too.
The twins and their lovers are the core of the longer story, the romance, the science mystery and existential save-the-world somehow (!) urgency. The setting is apt, between boomed and busted industrial midwest cities. This is just the beginning of a series, like a happy meal toy that dropped before the movie franchise. Tarot mediums and people relearning how to read fiction need to buy this immediately.
April 15, 2025
A love story at heart, a punk rock, undead, queer, trippy little jaunt with the quirks and foibles of humanity sprinkled thru this camp story. Dia's writing and Beppi's artistic talents have combined to make this such a fun read!
September 28, 2025
I was so confused reading this and didn't get any sense of narrative storytelling from it because of the disjointed pieces of other characters in between chapters that were about the twins (being named so similarly was confusing itself). The different typefaces throughout were pretty to look at objectively speaking, they added to my confusion. The art was beautiful in parts, and the different ways in which it was displayed was pretty but also added to my confusion. I don't actually know what the story was.
March 31, 2025
PZR is set in my hometown and that makes it a must read! I highly recommend enveloping yourself in this book like you do in a museum. Each page is a journey of word and art, each character is weirdly relatable and I want to know more and more. I think everyone will want to get to know these characters as this is just the beginning of our Pink Zombie Rose journey. I can't wait!!! Keep em coming!
April 9, 2025
I am so grateful @pinkzombierose generously shared an ARC of Major Arcana. This is not a linear narrative and not exactly what you might expect from a graphic novel. The characters that represent each card are somewhat connected and as you read each of their stories, you will see those connections, but each can stand on its own, as well. Some pages are purely text and some have art and text intertwined. For me, reading in this format was totally unique and new and I absolutely loved it. I found myself really slowing down and taking in details- in the art and in the writing. There are themes of love, interconnectedness (joyous and heart wrenching), and truth to self. I absolutely recommend this to anyone who reads with their heart, loves quirky characters, and craves the unique.
March 31, 2025
I enjoyed this book. The author was very descriptive and loved the hometown nods in the stories. The artist did an excellent job. The graphics had a funky vibe that worked well with the stories. Is a different type of story than I would normally read, but I still enjoyedbit.
March 31, 2025
I wonder when volume 11 is coming out. Thank goodness I have something to look forward to.
March 31, 2025
I’ve been a fan of PZR for a handful of years now. Little glimpses posted to instagram, visions of this magical world in which we find ourselves.
The addition of Beppi’s visual art makes this a perfect entrance.
In times such as these, sinking into a different world, one close to our own but distinctly different, is a great place to find the spark to keep going on.
Buy it, read it, try not to put too many expectations upon PZR, instead, let yourself be quiet and open and the story will provide.
The addition of Beppi’s visual art makes this a perfect entrance.
In times such as these, sinking into a different world, one close to our own but distinctly different, is a great place to find the spark to keep going on.
Buy it, read it, try not to put too many expectations upon PZR, instead, let yourself be quiet and open and the story will provide.
July 27, 2025
This book took me on an interesting journey - though not an easy one. Before diving in, be aware that Pink Zombie Rose doesn't follow typical graphic novel conventions, which may surprise readers expecting a standard format.
Format Challenges:
The biggest hurdle is the readability. Many pages feature dense, hand-lettered Gothic script that's difficult to decipher, sometimes filling nearly entire pages with minimal illustrations. This isn't your typical image-heavy graphic novel - expect lengthy text passages that require patience and good lighting. I strongly recommend reading this on a computer or tablet rather than a phone, as the cramped lettering becomes nearly impossible to read on smaller screens. A physical copy might actually work best.
What I Enjoyed:
The artistic diversity is genuinely impressive. Each chapter uses different fonts and art styles, creating a unique visual experience throughout. One of my favorites was a color-by-number background approach that I found fascinating and unexpected.
Story Structure:
The narrative isn't linear or straightforward - it jumps between characters and narrative forms in a way that can feel confusing. If you prefer clear, linear storytelling, this probably isn't for you. Also worth noting: zombies don't actually appear until about 60% through the book. The first half focuses on introducing various characters and following their lives, so don't expect immediate zombie action.
Bottom Line:
This is a weird, strange, and ultimately interesting experience, but definitely not an easy read. I'm glad I took the chance on it, but I wish I'd known about the format challenges beforehand. If you're open to experimental storytelling and don't mind working a bit harder to read your books, you might find this rewarding.
Recommended for: Readers who enjoy experimental graphic novels, unique art styles, and non-linear narratives. Not recommended for those seeking traditional graphic novel experiences or quick reads.
Format Challenges:
The biggest hurdle is the readability. Many pages feature dense, hand-lettered Gothic script that's difficult to decipher, sometimes filling nearly entire pages with minimal illustrations. This isn't your typical image-heavy graphic novel - expect lengthy text passages that require patience and good lighting. I strongly recommend reading this on a computer or tablet rather than a phone, as the cramped lettering becomes nearly impossible to read on smaller screens. A physical copy might actually work best.
What I Enjoyed:
The artistic diversity is genuinely impressive. Each chapter uses different fonts and art styles, creating a unique visual experience throughout. One of my favorites was a color-by-number background approach that I found fascinating and unexpected.
Story Structure:
The narrative isn't linear or straightforward - it jumps between characters and narrative forms in a way that can feel confusing. If you prefer clear, linear storytelling, this probably isn't for you. Also worth noting: zombies don't actually appear until about 60% through the book. The first half focuses on introducing various characters and following their lives, so don't expect immediate zombie action.
Bottom Line:
This is a weird, strange, and ultimately interesting experience, but definitely not an easy read. I'm glad I took the chance on it, but I wish I'd known about the format challenges beforehand. If you're open to experimental storytelling and don't mind working a bit harder to read your books, you might find this rewarding.
Recommended for: Readers who enjoy experimental graphic novels, unique art styles, and non-linear narratives. Not recommended for those seeking traditional graphic novel experiences or quick reads.
April 1, 2025
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley.
This book took me on an interesting journey. Mind you, not an easy one. The main issue that other reviews have already raised is that this does not really fit the typical graphic novel style. It includes pages long text and often very hard to decipher lettering, which made the whole thing very hard to read at points. Some pages just feature nearly a full page of cramped gothic script hand lettered writing with some illustrations beside it. So be aware, what you are going into, because I wish I had known that before. I read this also on a computer and I do not think that it is legible on a phone, so even though it is provided as an epub make sure you have the opportunity to read this on an appropriate device (or a physical version, which I could imagine working really well). I did like that there is such a big diversity in art styles, different fonts and art styles used for different chapters (one of my favorite backgrounds was the color-by-number approach, which I found fascinating!).
The narrative also is not the easiest to follow, moving between characters and narrative forms and feels quite confusing. I still enjoyed it, but if you like your narratives clear and linear you will probably not find anything that interests you here. In general, it takes a long time for the zombies to come up (nearly 60%), before that we are introduced to a variety of characters and then we follow their lives. I wished for a bit more on the zombie part, but it seems like there might be more out there?
All in all, a weird and strange experience, kinda fun, but not an easy read. I’m still glad I took the chance and I at least had a quite interesting experience.
TW: past sexual assault, self harm
This book took me on an interesting journey. Mind you, not an easy one. The main issue that other reviews have already raised is that this does not really fit the typical graphic novel style. It includes pages long text and often very hard to decipher lettering, which made the whole thing very hard to read at points. Some pages just feature nearly a full page of cramped gothic script hand lettered writing with some illustrations beside it. So be aware, what you are going into, because I wish I had known that before. I read this also on a computer and I do not think that it is legible on a phone, so even though it is provided as an epub make sure you have the opportunity to read this on an appropriate device (or a physical version, which I could imagine working really well). I did like that there is such a big diversity in art styles, different fonts and art styles used for different chapters (one of my favorite backgrounds was the color-by-number approach, which I found fascinating!).
The narrative also is not the easiest to follow, moving between characters and narrative forms and feels quite confusing. I still enjoyed it, but if you like your narratives clear and linear you will probably not find anything that interests you here. In general, it takes a long time for the zombies to come up (nearly 60%), before that we are introduced to a variety of characters and then we follow their lives. I wished for a bit more on the zombie part, but it seems like there might be more out there?
All in all, a weird and strange experience, kinda fun, but not an easy read. I’m still glad I took the chance and I at least had a quite interesting experience.
TW: past sexual assault, self harm
December 23, 2025
One of the things I loved best about indie books is the sheer variety on offer. Some can be very powerful, unique twists on tried-and-true genres. Others can be startlingly original tales. “Pink Zombie Rose” not only falls into this latter category, it practically defines it! An eclectic mixture of graphic novel, prose, poetry, and tarot, “Pink Zombie Rose” is a genre unto itself with its surreal and eye-catching visuals, courtesy of visionary illustrator Beppi, and the distinctive, peerless imagination of author Dia VanGunten.
Essentially a collection of short stories, linked together by recurring characters (like the eccentric Aton and Atom) and themes, from existentialism to unconventional romance, “Pink Zombie Rose” is like taking a walking tour through Dia’s uniquely creative and visually amazing imagination. I don’t do drugs or get high, but I imagine the experience is very similar, with the same euphoric visuals and ideas swirling before your senses. Each story has a different presentation, linked by tarot-esque cards and imagery, ranging from traditional prose to work balloons and boxes like a comic book, to poetic pentameter that challenges your perception of fiction in interesting ways.
I felt like I’d been taken on a very personal and intimate journey with “Pink Zombie Rose” as the author and illustrator lay bare their imaginations and anxieties and observations for all to say. Each story has a surreal, dream-like quality that is best approached like poems linked by common themes rather than a coherent narrative. Dia’s here to take you on a journey through the surreal, so it’s best to hold tight and jump in feet first, appreciating the hand-crafted effort and emotional resonance of every page, detail, and story.
Essentially a collection of short stories, linked together by recurring characters (like the eccentric Aton and Atom) and themes, from existentialism to unconventional romance, “Pink Zombie Rose” is like taking a walking tour through Dia’s uniquely creative and visually amazing imagination. I don’t do drugs or get high, but I imagine the experience is very similar, with the same euphoric visuals and ideas swirling before your senses. Each story has a different presentation, linked by tarot-esque cards and imagery, ranging from traditional prose to work balloons and boxes like a comic book, to poetic pentameter that challenges your perception of fiction in interesting ways.
I felt like I’d been taken on a very personal and intimate journey with “Pink Zombie Rose” as the author and illustrator lay bare their imaginations and anxieties and observations for all to say. Each story has a surreal, dream-like quality that is best approached like poems linked by common themes rather than a coherent narrative. Dia’s here to take you on a journey through the surreal, so it’s best to hold tight and jump in feet first, appreciating the hand-crafted effort and emotional resonance of every page, detail, and story.
March 16, 2025
I first read a Pink Zombie Rose story in Fatal Flaw magazine and I couldn’t believe how good it was. I was shocked by Heart of December because I’d never read anything so unique how the undeads tell their story, how it’s not in first or third person like you’d expect. There’s different kinds of sexuality and people and it’s multiracial which is really neat.
I follow the PZR story online and I have volunteered to be a beta reader for the first 4 novels and also an arc reader for the tarot books which are different because they are chapters from the novels that were published by magazines as short stories so it’s more like just a window into these characters as compared to the Aton and Atom novels which go really deep into their lives, which I like better to be honest because I am so connected to the characters, but this is beautiful, lots of fun and corresponds to the tarot which I didn’t know about before but now I want to learn. I’ll wait for the PZR deck to come out.
This series is sci fi, horror and romance, but it reads like poetry and has the character development of literary fiction. I got so attached to the characters, especially the twins, and Shane, who I relate to his pain. I have been with them through so much and such intimate stuff. It’s helpful to see them grow. I am neurodivergent myself, and I was so quick to give up on people before meeting Aton and Atom. Pink Zombie Rose is like an instruction book on love which is why everyone should read it.
>>>>Forget it if you hate rock and roll, weed, slow burn, morally gray, trans, experimental work, comics.<<<<
Forgive me if my words don’t do this work justice. Edited because I am just a reader, not a writer like other people who are into PZR.
I follow the PZR story online and I have volunteered to be a beta reader for the first 4 novels and also an arc reader for the tarot books which are different because they are chapters from the novels that were published by magazines as short stories so it’s more like just a window into these characters as compared to the Aton and Atom novels which go really deep into their lives, which I like better to be honest because I am so connected to the characters, but this is beautiful, lots of fun and corresponds to the tarot which I didn’t know about before but now I want to learn. I’ll wait for the PZR deck to come out.
This series is sci fi, horror and romance, but it reads like poetry and has the character development of literary fiction. I got so attached to the characters, especially the twins, and Shane, who I relate to his pain. I have been with them through so much and such intimate stuff. It’s helpful to see them grow. I am neurodivergent myself, and I was so quick to give up on people before meeting Aton and Atom. Pink Zombie Rose is like an instruction book on love which is why everyone should read it.
>>>>Forget it if you hate rock and roll, weed, slow burn, morally gray, trans, experimental work, comics.<<<<
Forgive me if my words don’t do this work justice. Edited because I am just a reader, not a writer like other people who are into PZR.
March 17, 2025
The ontological majesty of PZR is mind bending, sexy, neurotic, erotic, violent, terrifying, and the coolest thing you will read this year. You will not be able to let go of this once you pick it up.
Taking ideas of identity to the breaking point, and beyond, this is the New Magical Realism I’ve been longing for, thundering, American, and very very queer. Not Tomb Robbins, PZR speaks the language of the outsider, rendering their – our – narrative central to the otherwise antithetical heteropatriarchial orthodox world.
And reckoning in the most immediate way with our role in the end of days
This is the meta textual commentary on our age that we need, so please, indulge in some self-care, take the afternoon off, and get lost in this epicly personal story. Let the bold colours and ideas grab you and pull you in. This is a perfect pairing, here, of artist and image, concept and creator. Such a total symmetry of ideas expressed. I love the blessed union that has resulted. This is the definitive way this story should be told, words and images, in unison, the best of many media and especially suited to the story told.
Like Kevin Bacon, (or Hydra), it reaches out and touches all things everywhere. Shuffle the deck, draw some cards – your fate lay within. Let Beppi and Dia fuck you up with Pink Zombie Rose.
Apocalyptic, apotheotic, and metempsychotic.
Fuck Byron. Meet Aton
Taking ideas of identity to the breaking point, and beyond, this is the New Magical Realism I’ve been longing for, thundering, American, and very very queer. Not Tomb Robbins, PZR speaks the language of the outsider, rendering their – our – narrative central to the otherwise antithetical heteropatriarchial orthodox world.
And reckoning in the most immediate way with our role in the end of days
This is the meta textual commentary on our age that we need, so please, indulge in some self-care, take the afternoon off, and get lost in this epicly personal story. Let the bold colours and ideas grab you and pull you in. This is a perfect pairing, here, of artist and image, concept and creator. Such a total symmetry of ideas expressed. I love the blessed union that has resulted. This is the definitive way this story should be told, words and images, in unison, the best of many media and especially suited to the story told.
Like Kevin Bacon, (or Hydra), it reaches out and touches all things everywhere. Shuffle the deck, draw some cards – your fate lay within. Let Beppi and Dia fuck you up with Pink Zombie Rose.
Apocalyptic, apotheotic, and metempsychotic.
Fuck Byron. Meet Aton
April 1, 2025
Destined to become a cult classic. I’ve only been an ARC reader once in my life and it’s this Wonderland meet’s Chuck Palahniuk insanity which I wasn’t expecting. 🤯 I can see why some reviewers don’t like it, because it’s challenging - a story told on like 20 layers. The creators are clearly next level IQ so if you don’t want a challenge to your thinking, skip it. If you’re right wing or homophobic or just lame af, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
This is high art. That paint by number clown comic must’ve taken Beppi a year! Mother Earth, Blackstar, Death / Reversed, all the comics were so good but holy shit! I don’t even know what I just read lol. I do know that I’ve never read anything else like it. I’m gonna have to read it 3 times before I catch all the word play and Easter eggs.
Don’t let the “zombies” scare you off because there’s beauty in this book and I won’t spoil it, but they’re not what you’d expect. Dia and Beppi have reinvented the zombie. This is more cyberpunk than splatterpunk. PZR is horror for your 6th sense. Can’t wait for volume 2! I’m invested in the concurrent love stories with the brothers (two separate love affairs, with others, not with each other, but maybe lol 🤔🤔🤔)
It’s a series that’s obviously been well plotted with tricks up the sleeve. so I am having fun speculating & conspiracizing lol.
This is high art. That paint by number clown comic must’ve taken Beppi a year! Mother Earth, Blackstar, Death / Reversed, all the comics were so good but holy shit! I don’t even know what I just read lol. I do know that I’ve never read anything else like it. I’m gonna have to read it 3 times before I catch all the word play and Easter eggs.
Don’t let the “zombies” scare you off because there’s beauty in this book and I won’t spoil it, but they’re not what you’d expect. Dia and Beppi have reinvented the zombie. This is more cyberpunk than splatterpunk. PZR is horror for your 6th sense. Can’t wait for volume 2! I’m invested in the concurrent love stories with the brothers (two separate love affairs, with others, not with each other, but maybe lol 🤔🤔🤔)
It’s a series that’s obviously been well plotted with tricks up the sleeve. so I am having fun speculating & conspiracizing lol.
April 16, 2025
Dia VanGunten’s Pink Zombie Rose: Major Arcadia, Volume 1 is a literary kaleidoscope. Her writing style is nothing short of poetic, weaving vivid imagery and lyrical prose into a tapestry that feels both intimate and otherworldly. Each sentence is a delight, inviting readers to savour the rhythm and texture of her words.
The narrative itself is a bold experiment. It’s a long, strange apocalypse, but VanGunten’s storytelling transforms it into something profoundly human—a tale of love, decay, and the fragile line between life and death. Her ability to balance grotesque imagery with moments of unexpected beauty is a testament to her artistry.
Beppi’s illustrations are the perfect complement to VanGunten’s prose. They harmonise seamlessly with the stories, adding depth and dimension to the surreal world she has created. The artwork captures the dreamlike atmosphere of the novel, enhancing its poetic quality and pulling readers further into its spellbinding reality.
Pink Zombie Rose is not just a book; it’s an experience— A deep dive into the bizarre and the sublime. For those who crave stories that push boundaries and embrace the unsettling, this volume is a must-read. VanGunten and Beppi have crafted a work that lingers in the mind long after the final page, leaving readers both haunted and inspired.
The narrative itself is a bold experiment. It’s a long, strange apocalypse, but VanGunten’s storytelling transforms it into something profoundly human—a tale of love, decay, and the fragile line between life and death. Her ability to balance grotesque imagery with moments of unexpected beauty is a testament to her artistry.
Beppi’s illustrations are the perfect complement to VanGunten’s prose. They harmonise seamlessly with the stories, adding depth and dimension to the surreal world she has created. The artwork captures the dreamlike atmosphere of the novel, enhancing its poetic quality and pulling readers further into its spellbinding reality.
Pink Zombie Rose is not just a book; it’s an experience— A deep dive into the bizarre and the sublime. For those who crave stories that push boundaries and embrace the unsettling, this volume is a must-read. VanGunten and Beppi have crafted a work that lingers in the mind long after the final page, leaving readers both haunted and inspired.
December 19, 2025
Pink Zombie Rose is a difficult book to describe to the uninitiated. Its dadaesque yet earnest, its a beat poem love story, there's a rhythm to it. Its a stream of consciousness exploration of the human psyche filtered through the crown chakra of a furtive tarot deck hidden underneath a bed from an overbearing parent. Its crashing through the door of a Catholic church on Sunday morning and screaming out a confession, only to find out there's a wedding going on. Or maybe a funeral, why such a small casket though?
These words peek out at you like scattered gemstones from amongst Beppi's beautiful illustrations. Delicate scrollwork battles for space with slightly malproportioned humanoids in an effectual cataclysm that resembles nothing so much as a fairy tale from back when people still respected fairies. The kind of story that makes you want to call out a warning before spilling your guts out into into the world, lest it should affect an incautious fey creature flitting about on the fringes of sanity.
Its original and authentic and genuine in a time when the numbers people are desperately trying to brute force a simulacra to mimic those qualities well enough you won't miss them. Something at once both mystical and yet unquestionably human and an experience you're unlikely to find again this side of the afterlife, or unlife as the case may be.
These words peek out at you like scattered gemstones from amongst Beppi's beautiful illustrations. Delicate scrollwork battles for space with slightly malproportioned humanoids in an effectual cataclysm that resembles nothing so much as a fairy tale from back when people still respected fairies. The kind of story that makes you want to call out a warning before spilling your guts out into into the world, lest it should affect an incautious fey creature flitting about on the fringes of sanity.
Its original and authentic and genuine in a time when the numbers people are desperately trying to brute force a simulacra to mimic those qualities well enough you won't miss them. Something at once both mystical and yet unquestionably human and an experience you're unlikely to find again this side of the afterlife, or unlife as the case may be.
April 1, 2025
Mythic tricksters & psychonaut mystics...Voyeur corn fields & paper thin walls...intrigue, spy craft & American made automobiles. A mysterious malady is traveling Midwestern roadways (and great lakes). From Chicago to the upper peninsula, patients are coming in with the same complaint-
They're dead.
The infected are turning on, tuning in & dropping out.
It's a long strange apocalypse.
I don't even know where to start with this graphic novel. I thought I knew what I was getting, basically a zombie comic, but I wasn't even close.
The art work was gorgeous. No denying that, and I wish there was more graphic to this graphic novel.
As for the novel part...I wanted to like it. I really did. But I found it hard to read; the font was very small. And it was simply confusing. So many times I backtracked in confusing swearing I must have missed something.
If you're a fan of it then you'll love this edition I suppose. If you looking for a true graphic novel you may find yourself as lost and confused as I was.
Published date April 1, 2025
Thanks to @netgalley and Querencia Press for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
They're dead.
The infected are turning on, tuning in & dropping out.
It's a long strange apocalypse.
I don't even know where to start with this graphic novel. I thought I knew what I was getting, basically a zombie comic, but I wasn't even close.
The art work was gorgeous. No denying that, and I wish there was more graphic to this graphic novel.
As for the novel part...I wanted to like it. I really did. But I found it hard to read; the font was very small. And it was simply confusing. So many times I backtracked in confusing swearing I must have missed something.
If you're a fan of it then you'll love this edition I suppose. If you looking for a true graphic novel you may find yourself as lost and confused as I was.
Published date April 1, 2025
Thanks to @netgalley and Querencia Press for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
March 3, 2025
This incandescent piece of popular culture is dripping in gears, vivid ethinicity of its own command, diamonds and chevron spaces and cells. The colors and shapes, all so intricate and born from the creator’s own planetary alignment….for this very surprising and extremely fresh take on the arcana. The story is compelling and takes you far into the depths of a world you didn’t know you needed.
The Glory Box made me reel with excitement, and the Heart of December, yearn for something strange and cold. A major standout for me was also Living Doll---
“The roof rippled in stripes of ruffled cedar, delicate layers of puff pastry. The front walk wasn't polka dotted with gumdrops, but a person got that impression.
While the windows weren't grouted in frosting”…
Words and phrases beyond appetite in the traditional sense. Major Arcana oddly recognizes and pays respect to the origins of the tarot, but you soon learn that the story’s IQ begs you to see way past the premise you already learned.
I am an author and tarot reader, and I cannot wait for the next volume!
The Glory Box made me reel with excitement, and the Heart of December, yearn for something strange and cold. A major standout for me was also Living Doll---
“The roof rippled in stripes of ruffled cedar, delicate layers of puff pastry. The front walk wasn't polka dotted with gumdrops, but a person got that impression.
While the windows weren't grouted in frosting”…
Words and phrases beyond appetite in the traditional sense. Major Arcana oddly recognizes and pays respect to the origins of the tarot, but you soon learn that the story’s IQ begs you to see way past the premise you already learned.
I am an author and tarot reader, and I cannot wait for the next volume!
April 1, 2025
Pink Zombie Rose
Full disclosure Dia VanGunten has been my partner in punk mischief since shortly before the last century ended. We met Beppi when we hosted her in Austin when she was visiting for an event Proper Gander ( Grady Roper’s legendary art zine ) was having in nearby San Marcos. Beppi later surprised Dia with a comic illustration of a story that was online in the Austin Chronicle after being recognized in one of their short story contests. It’s fitting that their PZR collaboration was spawned by the downtime bestowed by the real world chaos of an actual pandemic. Many of the fictional situations Dia had written about almost a decade earlier were playing out in NYC. This first installment from the PZR universe will tune you in and drop you down a psychotronic satire rabbit hole. Stranger than fiction science facts strewn throughout will have you searching is this real repeatedly. Spoiler alert, it is real.
Full disclosure Dia VanGunten has been my partner in punk mischief since shortly before the last century ended. We met Beppi when we hosted her in Austin when she was visiting for an event Proper Gander ( Grady Roper’s legendary art zine ) was having in nearby San Marcos. Beppi later surprised Dia with a comic illustration of a story that was online in the Austin Chronicle after being recognized in one of their short story contests. It’s fitting that their PZR collaboration was spawned by the downtime bestowed by the real world chaos of an actual pandemic. Many of the fictional situations Dia had written about almost a decade earlier were playing out in NYC. This first installment from the PZR universe will tune you in and drop you down a psychotronic satire rabbit hole. Stranger than fiction science facts strewn throughout will have you searching is this real repeatedly. Spoiler alert, it is real.
May 11, 2025
I agree with the other reviewers who think VanGunten is a star to watch, if you can see her through all the clutter. The writing is like nothing else, but I only know the writing is good because the author goes live to read it aloud. If I follow along with my copy, I can’t match to the way she reads it. Silly scrapbook fonts are everywhere and they don’t match the story. The art is pretty cool, but it makes the text illegible and disrupts the flow. The comic Blackstar, skipped it. Please just make this so we can read it and give us an audible version while you’re at it. Hopefully the author will record the audible herself.
May 12, 2025
I received an ARC though NetGalley for an honest review.
I am absolutely flabbergasted by this and have no idea what I just read, but I loved it!
A surreal series of interconnected vignettes in prose and picture based upon figures from the major arcana in a strange Americana?
The art is gorgeous and ugly and glorious and the prose is psychedelic and awe inspiring.
I'm baffled.
I'm moved.
I'm inspired.
I am filled with a love and appreciation that fucking wild punk art like this exists and that I had the pleasure of reading it.
I'm going to be fermenting on this for a long time!
I am absolutely flabbergasted by this and have no idea what I just read, but I loved it!
A surreal series of interconnected vignettes in prose and picture based upon figures from the major arcana in a strange Americana?
The art is gorgeous and ugly and glorious and the prose is psychedelic and awe inspiring.
I'm baffled.
I'm moved.
I'm inspired.
I am filled with a love and appreciation that fucking wild punk art like this exists and that I had the pleasure of reading it.
I'm going to be fermenting on this for a long time!
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