Life Zero

Life Zero #1-3

by Stefano Vietti, Marco Checchetto, Darío Oberto (traducción)

¡Un brutal comic de zombies! Life Zero es un viaje emocional. El amor, la esperanza, el odio y la venganza. Según los propios creadores, el horror no es lo que nos rodea, en realidad somos nosotros. ¿Cómo reaccionaríamos en la peor situación? ¿Qué haríamos en una ciudad que te quiere devorar, mientras que el cielo sangra en forma de nieve? Los protagonistas de Life Zero están a punto de descubrirlo y van a pasarlo mal.

Los autores, Stefano Vietti y Marco Checchetto se cruzaron por primera vez en 2006 para trabajar en una versión italiana de Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Más tarde coincidieron en la realización del diseño nuevos para Spider-man tambien en Italia. Vietti ganó fama con la creación de Dragonero, consagrándose como un excelente narrador, mientras que Checchetto se instaló como uno de los artistas más populares de comics gracias a unas etapas en Punisher y Avengers memorables. Los dos autores se han vuelto a reunir para realizar este proyecto.
Después de que una nube misteriosa cayera sobre la ciudad, todo el que entró en contacto con ésta acabó transformado en un zombie ansioso de devorar humanos. La única manera de acabar definitivamente con ellos es un buen tiro en la cabeza.
Derek, un jefe militar que está en la cárcel al comienzo del accidente, es rescatado por un escuadrón y reclutado por su ex-mujer. Es así como él, con la ayuda de su escuadrón, quiere lograr un único objetivo: localizar a su hija Hanna y salvarla de la muerte que acecha en las calles.
En el nuevo mundo apocalíptico, el único deseo es la supervivencia, y para ello es necesario no tener escrúpulos…. ¿Pero qué sucede con aquellos que ya no los tenían?
Una serie repleta de acción, que ofrece pocos momentos de respiro y que Ivrea publicará en un único TPB que recopilará los tres tomos de la edición original italiana.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Fiction, Zombies

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2016

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storia: 3-3,5
Disegni: 5+++

La versione nostrana di Resident Evil è all'insegna del già visto e rivisto, ma alcune trovate e situazioni sono davvero originali ed agghiaccianti.
I disegni di Checchetto sono a dir poco stratosferici e l'edizione in volume aggiunge un epilogo inedito portando a termine la sotto-trama di Helena, prigioniera del "Tyrant" e regalando (mica tanto, il cartonato costa 17 €…) un finale di gran lunga migliore di quando la serie uscì a suo tempo in tre numeri singoli da edicola.



Spero davvero che prima o poi Vietti e Checchetto rimettano mano alla loro creatura perché a mio parere merita davvero un seguito.

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is the market for zombie stories over-saturated? I think by now almost every variation has been attempted, but as long as the story is a good one and causes me to worry for some of the characters then I'll always read or watch another one.
LIFE ZERO isn't totally original but borrows from enough themes (mad scientist-created virus, apocalyptic landscape, chaos, military action, special task forces, rescue attempts, etc) to keep it interesting. If it dragged at any point, the fantastic art and colors kept me reading and turning the pages.
This is an English translation of a popular Italian horror comic series, and I read it in the six monthly issues. A special task force of five enters a zombie-infested city (unidentified) via helicopter to rescue their imprisoned leader. They succeed, but zombies over-run the compound, even gaining access to the scared-off helicopter pilots who flees and crashes, leaving the squad stranded.
The rest of the story details their attempts at escape and to reach the military base, and includes a side mission to rescue the young daughter of one of the members. What began as six characters gets whittled down as the story progresses. The mad scientist is located, and gives a wishy-washy explanation for how he created the "poison cloud" and his motivations. The squad leader has to make some tough decisions along the way, and this doesn't really end on a positive note.
Art and colors are captivating, especially the very graphic and brutal fight scenes. This may be one of the most depressing zombie stories I've ever read, very negative and fatalistic. I don't regret the time spent with this. It was entertaining, but not essential when it comes to an overview of zombie fiction's greatest hits.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a generic zombie story that has some fairly fun twists along the way. I mostly enjoyed this for Checchetto's artwork, which is beautiful to behold. Checchetto's linework is sharp and clean, and the various action set pieces all look amazing. The colors by Andres Mossa are phenomenal too, incorporating some excellent lighting effects and making the rainy atmosphere feel all too photo-realistic. This is a fun book for sure - something a fan of zombie fiction may enjoy a bit more.

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t generally read zombie stories but I did enjoy reading this one. It wasn’t just about running and screaming, there was murder, revenge, betrayal and conspiracy in addition to the zombies and that made the story quite gripping.

The artwork was just right, dark, and edgy. Quite a good read for fans of zombie graphic novels with twists and turns. Copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Gem (The Creepy Geek) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars is really for the art which I loved. The dialogue was super clunky and the plot was way too fast paced. It just careens through a rather basic zombie plot with no time to get to know the characters at all, which means nothing that happens really has an impact. It felt like it packed four volumes worth of plot points into one volume.

[Syeda Sumayya Tariq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where were you when the cloud arrived? Where were you when people started dying- and coming back from the dead? Where were you when the world changed forever?

It's rare in graphic novels for both the story and the art to work together and compliment eachother, and this one just delivered. The artwork is great, perfect imo, gloomy and yet with enough splash of colours to fit the zombie theme.

The story is great too, surely had me hooked from the first page, and the twists, although been done before, actually got me. There's nothing to not like here. But why does the lead character looks so like zayn malik 😅

This was vol 1-3 and I'll surely be keeping an eye out for what's coming next. Thank you Netgalley, artists, and publishers for the eARC. I loved it.

[Cata Plasma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Qué lástima que la línea comic de Ivrea haya quedado abandonada, porque en su relativamente breve existencia nos dio comics profundos como The Maxx, obras maestras del dibujo y la narrativa como Sin City, el genial reboot de las Tortugas Ninja que apenas estoy empezando, o ese mismi Life Zero que nos compete, que está... bien XD

[Index Purga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición completa argentina que incluye:

· Introducción de Nicola Peruzzi
· Capítulo 1: En el infierno
· Capítulo 2: Fuga de New Easton
· Capítulo 3: Luz negra.
· mapita en el retiro

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book via the Read Now section on Netgalley.

Life Zero follows a Special Ops team as they enter a town that has been passed over by a mysterious cloud that has turned nearly everybody into a zombie-like creature. They don't understand the zombies, or how they came to be, but they know they have to reach their captain who is in prison in the town. Once they shoot their way to him, their escape route collapses and they have to make their way through the town without reliable transport, this is when we find out that the captain's ex-wife has organised for the team to be here. Laura needs Derek to help her find their daughter, Anna, who is being taken care of by a social worker in the city. While they rest before making their way to Anna, one of their team gets bitten, leading to the captain having to shoot him, and soon after the team begins to crumble from the inside out. When they reach Anna, the captain is betrayed by one of his own but eventually, those who are left make their way to the army base where they are met by their superior officer who tells them the bites don't actually mean anything. This means that the scientist who created the cloud is the only one who can help, so Derek heads back into the city with Laura and one remaining team member.

Sometimes though, things don't stay dead and soon the captain is facing more challenges than just the zombies.

This book was actually really enjoyable. I haven't read a lot of Ablaze comics, but I am yet to be truly disappointed. I'm not usually a big fan of zombie stories, I find it quite hard to imagine how they are going to make it unique but this one was good. Similar to the Walking Dead, this book actually isn't really that much of a zombie book. They're the cause, not the focus. In fact, the focus is pretty much on the humans and how they react, their history with one another and how some wounds just won't close no matter how much you treat them. This book has themes of betrayal, chosen family, deception and revenge.

While it sounds very dark, it's fast-paced enough that you don't necessarily feel how depressing this book is until the very end. Not going to lie, I didn't know how it would end but I'm glad it ended in the way it did. It felt less forced than if they all get out alive and well or if they magically find the cure or whatever.

I enjoyed this one.

[Andy Kristensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Life Zero' has everything that makes a great graphic novel—terrific writing, fast pacing, realistic dialogue, compelling characters, and beautiful art. While the storyline itself may be a bit derivative of earlier zombie narratives, Vietti throws in more than enough to make this story stand out from your typical zombie fare, and you’ll quickly be consumed within the opening pages from the hard-driving narrative.

The story is pretty simple—it follows a group of military commandos who have to enter a city that’s ground zero for a new kind of outbreak/plague that turns human beings into zombie-like creatures. This all happened when a cloud leaked from a government facility and settled over the city, with anyone who was outside at the time falling prey to the lab-made contagion. One of the most interesting things about the graphic novel was following along as the different ‘zombie rules’ and realities of Vietti’s world were revealed, and there are some twists here that are missing from other zombie stories, which added a nice layer of freshness to the whole endeavor. The group of commandos have to break their captain out of prison and then escape back to safe ground at a military base just outside the city limits, but not before the captain’s daughter is rescued from a nearby high-rise. As you might imagine in a story like this, things quickly go haywire, and there’s gory action from almost the first set of pages. Betrayal, revenge, cowardice, and pure brutality are splashed throughout the storyline, and it’s an engaging look at human behavior when faced with an adverse environment.

While the storyline itself is engrossing and highly readable, it’s also Checchetto’s unique artistry that brings the action to life. The design is clean and crisp, and the colors pop off the page. Some of the ways that Checchetto drew backgrounds, smoke, and the weather elements reminded me of ’30 Days of Night’ in a good way, and it helped give the graphic novel an entire atmosphere and mood unto itself, something that can be extremely difficult to create in just 160 pages or so.

Overall, this was a great story, accompanied with gorgeous art and set pieces. If you’re looking for a quick but satisfying zombie action tale, look no further than this graphic novel.

Thanks to NetGalley, Ablaze, Stefano Vietti, and Marco Checchetto for the digital ARC of 'Life Zero' in exchange for an honest review.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it comes to zombie stories, its complicated to talk about them, mostly due to the oversaturation of the genre since the end of the last decade, and when it comes to comic books, it is either The Walking Dead or the rest of the indie catalogue. Life Zero is just a standard zombie flick that, rather than trying to be something out of the extraordinary, delivers the basics in what a story like this might offer. While Stefano Vietti’s letters are as good as they can be, was the art of Marco Checchetto that captivated me from page one. I liked how the art compensated for the lack of deepness in the story and the characters introduced, which they are fine; interesting enough to care, but never going further. There is a funny easter egg at issue 3 in which one of the characters looks like actor Sam Neill. There’s not much to say, something I can give credit to the story is the fact that this is, at least, one of the few zombie stories to explain the cause and the probable solution for the pandemonium. Out of any other analysis, the story goes as average as you might expect. Does it stand on its own as something purely original? No, but, again, it doesn’t try to. Is it bad? Actually no, on the contrary, is entertaining and enjoyable, especially for fans of the zombie genre, and maybe if you’re tired of The Walking Dead being the holy grail of zombies in comic books, then this could distract your attention, and actually give you something else to appreciate. Who knows, it won’t hurt to check on it, or either to skip it.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

An uneven zombie comic that proves itself – but at the start only looks to have merit due to the quality of the artwork, and only for things to somehow end in a right old soapy, cheesy mess. A special ops team first have to break their captain out of prison, then find his daughter and break out of the city against no end of long odds, military quarantine enforcers – and of course the zombies themselves. And luckily, thankfully, there is more to it than that, proving this is a title to persist with. Don't get me wrong, it's no earth-beating thing of wonder, and the characters are as thin as the paper they're printed on, but it can surprise and take turns you should not be expecting. If only it hadn't gone for ripe fromage in the final third. A generous four stars is for the book at its best, even if it's never that for long enough.

[Doc · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 out of 5.0
Life Zero by Stefano Vietti is a collection of the first three comics in the Life Zero Series. Set in a major city during a zombie outbreak, a small group of military special forces attempt a series of rescue missions.
Life Zero is a brutal examination of the choices within the type of living displayed. The storyline is very captivating, matched by the beautifully wicked art that keeps you drawn into this world of horror and chaos.
If you like the Walking Dead but want something a bit more intense then I would give Life Zero a read. Highly Recommended.

[Alessandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficile tornare ad altri fumetti, di altro tipo, quando si è letta una cosa come Life Zero. Amate il fumetto d’azione? É qui. Amate le storie forti? Sono qui. Amate i bei disegni? Sono qui. Amate una sceneggiatura bella e dura come poche? È qui. E potrei continuare con altre categorie, ma servirebbe solo a dire che in Life Zero ci trovate tutto, ma proprio tutto. Gli omaggi a film di genere, altri comics e videogiochi li lascio a voi, ma vi basti sapere che vi godrete un viaggio formidabile, come poche altre volte in questo splendido medium che è il fumetto. ‘Nuff said.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

So: zombie comics, but delineated through comics art by Marco Checchetto, who makes this worth a read. I read this thanks to five issues/chapters found in the bargain bin at my local comics shop. I'll now be on the lookout for more from this American publisher, Ablaze.
Bottom line: If you like Checchetto, read this. If you are a zombie fan, this may not break new ground, but it's skillfully told in comics, translated from the Italian.

[Lesincele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los dibujos me han encantado y la historia aunque me ha parecido original y novedosa sobre todo lo relacionado con la infección y la evolución de los zombies. Pero también ha habido cosas que no me han concedido ya que me han faltado explicaciones y los personajes me han parecido algo planos.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review submitted to Diamond Bookshelf for potential professional publication.

[Kapitol Tank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incluye los tres capítulos que componen la obra más introducción y un mapa.

[Zay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems like a mediocre zombie story but art and illustrations is gorgeous
2.5

[Javier Campos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un buen estilo visual pero la historia me quedo faltando

[G-E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un comics d’action pour un public averti, car le sang et les morts ne sont pas ménagés. Un mélange de Walking Dead et de Resident Evil. L’histoire a des airs de déjà vu, mais plusieurs éléments inattendus nous tiennent en haleine. Les dessins sont impressionnants et très joliment colorés.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ya opiné más o menos qué me pareció cada uno de los tres capítulos que conforman este tomo en sus respectivas minirreseñas, así que el puntaje se explica por sí solo. Lo que sí tengo para decir en cuanto a el tomo en sí es que quedó bien checchetto, vietti.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid zombie comic with some terrific art by Marco Checchetto. The third act goes off the rails some and I wasn't for sure at all what happened with the tacked on ending. That's why I took off a star.

Chechetto has become one of the best artists currently working in comics. It's nice to get to see him stretch outside his Marvel roots by translating one of his European comics.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición argentina que aunará los 3 tomos en 1.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una de las manos más hábiles que haya retratado Punisher se une a un compatriota para dar su salvaje visión de un apocalipsis Z...

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sedosa edición argentina que traduce #1: En el infierno, #2: Fuga de New Easton y #3: Luz negra.
Incluye introducción del editor original y un mapita.