Imagine the horror when sushi delivery boy Jim Okami realizes the citizens of his small town are literally being eaten alive by pus-spewing, irradiated, nuclear-contaminated Zombies!
As all Hell breaks loose around him, the desperate former slacker grabs the lone katana from above the restaurant's cash register and is heroically reborn as teen sensation ZOMBIE-SAMA!
Now armed with sword and chainmail armor (conveniently appropriated from a local scuba shop), our hero sets out to save his friends from the irradiated flood of rancorous fallout freaks!
Katana + Fish Stink + Shark Bite-resistant Wetsuit make for Zombie-sama! Review of the pdf eBook edition (2019)
Writer/Illustrator Billy Tucci is best known for his samurai-inspired series of female warrior Shi comics. Zombie-sama is a character invented in 2005, which Tucci has revived for a series of crowd-funded graphic novels in 2019. The story lines are by Tucci but the illustrator is John Broglia, who has a more cartoony style which suits the dark humour of the material.
The story line is well done with allusions to Kurosawa movies and the inclusion of various historical samurai quotes. It also incorporates the latest technology in shark-bite resistant wetsuits to provide delivery boy Jim Okami with a layer of zombie-resistant protective armour.
The pdf version of the comic includes all of the variant covers as bonus material including Tucci's first 2005 sketch of the character. There is an additional bonus (non-graphic novel) background story of Tucci's Company Z, a troop of WWII re-enactors who parachute in to rescue people in zombie-infested zones.
Zombie-sama will return in Zombie-sama 2: Dorm of the Dead.