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Dead@17: Ultimate Edition
When 17-year-old Nara Kilday is murdered at the hands of a demonic cult, the quiet suburb of Darlington Hills is turned upside down. But when Nara inexplicably returns form the dead, what seems like a miracle at first may in fact spell the end for mankind! This volume collects the entire DEAD@17 saga: DEAD@17, DEAD@17: Blood of Saints, DEAD@17: Revolution, and DEAD@17: The 13th Brother.
408 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 10, 2010
I thumbed through this book, thinking that it showed promise. The set-up is very Buffy-like, but stops at the super-powered teenage slayer. It seems as though the author/artist was more preoccupied with showing the girls in their underwear than weaving a coherent story. People appear and disappear with no explanation whatsoever; time passes and you're not even told what happened in the meantime.
Worst of all (at least to me), he appropriates a symbol - long utilized by the Church of Satan - as a symbol for a fanatical Christian militia! On top of that, towards the end, the "bad guys" wear green bandannas that have an arcane symbol on it, which oddly enough looks like a crescent with a star next to it. Last time I checked, that's the symbol for Islam. Not only that, but the head of their demonic army is someone they refer to as "the Prophet."
Maybe I'm looking too much into this, I don't know. It just seems odd to me to have an obviously Christian army fighting a demonic horde which really, REALLY seems to symbolize Islam. If there is no hidden intention here, then obviously the author is too dimwitted to realize what he's doing. Otherwise he's trying to make a not-too-subtle statement about his own beliefs.
Worst of all (at least to me), he appropriates a symbol - long utilized by the Church of Satan - as a symbol for a fanatical Christian militia! On top of that, towards the end, the "bad guys" wear green bandannas that have an arcane symbol on it, which oddly enough looks like a crescent with a star next to it. Last time I checked, that's the symbol for Islam. Not only that, but the head of their demonic army is someone they refer to as "the Prophet."
Maybe I'm looking too much into this, I don't know. It just seems odd to me to have an obviously Christian army fighting a demonic horde which really, REALLY seems to symbolize Islam. If there is no hidden intention here, then obviously the author is too dimwitted to realize what he's doing. Otherwise he's trying to make a not-too-subtle statement about his own beliefs.
June 17, 2019
This wasn't bad, but wasn't that good either. I liked the sexy art, but overall the art style didn't really fit the book. I'm not sure of the exact reason but this just never caught my interest. It was a Buffy-ish type story dealing with demons rather than vampires. Like I said, it wasn't bad, just lacked...something. If you like sexy cartoony art, though, it does have that.
October 12, 2017
I basically had to force myself to finish this book, which took two days to read whereas I usually speed through graphic novels in a hour or so. Tons of fan service (scantily clad teenage girls abound). So many of the characters were barely indistinguishable save for hair and eye color. I know it's common to portray women in comics this way, but it is so disheartening to see teen girl bodies drawn in such a way that is practically humanly impossible (extremely tiny waist, paired with curvy booty and ridiculously perky, and for some reason pointy, boobs). The religious overtones were WAY too heavy-handed. I read some other reviews that criticized the story of being prejudicial against the Muslim faith, while I don't know enough to evaluate whether or not this is true, I'll add it to my list of ?!?! about this title. All in all, this was a fail and though I originally purchased it for my high school library, I will be returning it to the used bookstore where I picked it up.
August 24, 2019
Loved the art, but all the girls looked the same. Sometimes the only difference was the eye color. The story was good at times, but kept jumping around. I didn't like where the ending went.
February 19, 2022
Fun read, the art work was good.
September 11, 2025
Nara Kilday is resurrected to battle a demon army. Main criticism is with art, characters weren't always distinguishable so it was confusing at times to tell who was who.
August 28, 2012
This was an agonizing two day read. Dead@17 lures in fans of Hack/Slash, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the like only to seriously disappoint them. Unless you're blind or like paper thin characterization that is. Howard's art isn't completely unbearable. I can appreciate all the fan service but I do like my scantily clad ladies to actually be distinguishable beyond different hair styles/colors and eye colors, which Howard's ladies aren't. His male characters are the same but Howard seems to focus on drawing pixie/sprite-y shaped but well endowed women in skirts, goth/schoolgirl outfits so that's where it's most noticeable.
Howard's writing is even worse unfortunately. Sure, the female characters are. . . tough to an extent, but they're like Buffy or Cassie Hack if they suffered the ridiculous self esteem issues of a female character from a CW teenage melodrama. When Nara isn't fighting zombies or demons she's busy getting mad at her best friend for sleeping with her crush. That same best friend gets pregnant with the crush's baby. The crush then decides to do the "right thing" and marry the best friend. The crush dies in war. The best friend gives the baby up for adoption and then becomes a stripper. Please, I can't remember the last time I've read something this trite (oh wait I can, looking at you Grimm Fairy Tales). And that's just one lame subplot in a sea of them. The main plot doesn't alleviate this at all either. Instead of thinking up some creative origin for Nara's powers, Howard decides to go with the old "Heaven vs Hell, main character is God's chosen against the forces evil, yatta yatta". Bleh. I don't think Howard was going for a heavily religious bent book, I think he just wanted a place to put all his carbon copy sexy school girls in one place, but man with all the "God's chosen" this and "God's chosen that" it really made me feel like I might be reading "Left Behind" or some shit.
Anyways, I'm done ranting now, and really excited to start reading something better.
tl;dr
This book is garbage, stay away.
Howard's writing is even worse unfortunately. Sure, the female characters are. . . tough to an extent, but they're like Buffy or Cassie Hack if they suffered the ridiculous self esteem issues of a female character from a CW teenage melodrama. When Nara isn't fighting zombies or demons she's busy getting mad at her best friend for sleeping with her crush. That same best friend gets pregnant with the crush's baby. The crush then decides to do the "right thing" and marry the best friend. The crush dies in war. The best friend gives the baby up for adoption and then becomes a stripper. Please, I can't remember the last time I've read something this trite (oh wait I can, looking at you Grimm Fairy Tales). And that's just one lame subplot in a sea of them. The main plot doesn't alleviate this at all either. Instead of thinking up some creative origin for Nara's powers, Howard decides to go with the old "Heaven vs Hell, main character is God's chosen against the forces evil, yatta yatta". Bleh. I don't think Howard was going for a heavily religious bent book, I think he just wanted a place to put all his carbon copy sexy school girls in one place, but man with all the "God's chosen" this and "God's chosen that" it really made me feel like I might be reading "Left Behind" or some shit.
Anyways, I'm done ranting now, and really excited to start reading something better.
tl;dr
This book is garbage, stay away.
January 16, 2012
Nara Kilday is a seventeen-year-old girl. Spoiler warning: she dies. Spoiler warning: she comes back to life. Turns out she's caught in the battle between good and evil, heaven and hell, muffins and Armageddon. The first couple books are fun but clichéd, hitting most of the usual story points for apocalyptic tales about Chosen Ones. Secret societies, demons, the usual. Each new book, however, expanded the scope of the story and added new elements until Howard had built a fairly complex, decently original mythology that still pulled from a lot of familiar sources.
Nara's relationship with her best friend, Hazy, is one of the highlights of the book, and it's fun to watch them kick ass together. There are also plot twists galore. The art really pops off the page.
I wish Dead@17 were better than it is. The dialogue is nothing to write home about. The characters don't have time to develop enough because Howard moves the plot forward so quickly to get through each story in four or five issues. The fast pace is somewhat refreshing, but in the later books, he has so little time to do what he needs to do that he sometimes has entire pages that are just characters explaining some new aspect of the mythology. It's telling and not showing at its worst. Also, sometimes I felt like the book was an excuse for Howard to draw scantily clad teenage girls, and it made me uncomfortable. Even if they were hot. Or especially because they were hot.
I'm still not sure whether I'll continue reading the series. The story does take fun turns here and there, and I'd like to know where it's going, but the book is just so unexceptional! I'm used to reading really good comics. It's disappointing when things aren't awesome.
Nara's relationship with her best friend, Hazy, is one of the highlights of the book, and it's fun to watch them kick ass together. There are also plot twists galore. The art really pops off the page.
I wish Dead@17 were better than it is. The dialogue is nothing to write home about. The characters don't have time to develop enough because Howard moves the plot forward so quickly to get through each story in four or five issues. The fast pace is somewhat refreshing, but in the later books, he has so little time to do what he needs to do that he sometimes has entire pages that are just characters explaining some new aspect of the mythology. It's telling and not showing at its worst. Also, sometimes I felt like the book was an excuse for Howard to draw scantily clad teenage girls, and it made me uncomfortable. Even if they were hot. Or especially because they were hot.
I'm still not sure whether I'll continue reading the series. The story does take fun turns here and there, and I'd like to know where it's going, but the book is just so unexceptional! I'm used to reading really good comics. It's disappointing when things aren't awesome.
June 10, 2018
10 June 2018:
I changed my mind a little, compared to my last review. It's not that the text bubbles are sloppily applied per se; it's more a case of there often being too much text to fit the page. Oftentimes a character will just blurt out their motivation in a lengthy monologue. Like, don't tell me that. Show it to me.
This book could have done with a better editor, is what I'm trying to say.
The story an sich is intriguing. It seems heavily inspired by popculture: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (strong female protagonist), Supernatural (demons vs angels) and Lovecraft's Old Ones Mythos (tentacles in orifices they shouldn't be coming from), to name a few.
The art is consistant, if not entirely my style.
My biggest peeve is still the unneccessary number of panels in which the female characters are naked or scantily clad. And what's up with the sudden stripper subplot? That didn't add anything to the overarching narrative.
___
21 Jan 2014:
The writing was riddled with mistakes, especially in the beginning. And the text balloons are so sloppily applied that it is often hard to know which balloon should be read first. (You'd think that they'd fix that for a compilation book, but no such luck.)
As another reviewer wrote: "It seems as though the author/artist was more preoccupied with showing the girls in their underwear than weaving a coherent story."
On the other hand the art work was enjoyable, if you're into American cartoons for kids (I am), and the story gets better as it progresses. The fourth and last book in this compilation, however, isn't as good as the second and third.
If you're into zombies and Cthulhu this book is quite enjoyable. But I'd say borrow it from a friend or buy it secondhand, 'cause it's not worth its twenty dollars.
I changed my mind a little, compared to my last review. It's not that the text bubbles are sloppily applied per se; it's more a case of there often being too much text to fit the page. Oftentimes a character will just blurt out their motivation in a lengthy monologue. Like, don't tell me that. Show it to me.
This book could have done with a better editor, is what I'm trying to say.
The story an sich is intriguing. It seems heavily inspired by popculture: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (strong female protagonist), Supernatural (demons vs angels) and Lovecraft's Old Ones Mythos (tentacles in orifices they shouldn't be coming from), to name a few.
The art is consistant, if not entirely my style.
My biggest peeve is still the unneccessary number of panels in which the female characters are naked or scantily clad. And what's up with the sudden stripper subplot? That didn't add anything to the overarching narrative.
___
21 Jan 2014:
The writing was riddled with mistakes, especially in the beginning. And the text balloons are so sloppily applied that it is often hard to know which balloon should be read first. (You'd think that they'd fix that for a compilation book, but no such luck.)
As another reviewer wrote: "It seems as though the author/artist was more preoccupied with showing the girls in their underwear than weaving a coherent story."
On the other hand the art work was enjoyable, if you're into American cartoons for kids (I am), and the story gets better as it progresses. The fourth and last book in this compilation, however, isn't as good as the second and third.
If you're into zombies and Cthulhu this book is quite enjoyable. But I'd say borrow it from a friend or buy it secondhand, 'cause it's not worth its twenty dollars.
June 27, 2011
I'm quite the horror buff so with no prior knowledge of this series I picked it up at a comic book store that was having a huge moving sale. The premise seemed interesting enough and the description promised rich characters, a fast paced, thought provoking story and lots of blood. I thought it might be a quick, fun read - all it did was frustrate me.
I don't think I've ever had such distaste for a book so quickly. First of all, saying the characters are one dimensional would be diplomatic. Sure, maybe that's not the point of a series like this but good characterization will hold my attention even if the story is a little lackluster and in my humble opinion this is the very definition. Halfway through I still didn't care about any of these people and was actually rooting for the bad guys.
So I didn't dig the story or the characters, what about the art? It's slick, stylish and not BAD art by any means but my main complaint is that Josh Howard can only seem to draw one type of female face. I remember saying aloud to my boyfriend "It's a really good thing this isn't in black and white because the skin tones and hair variations are the only way I can tell most of these girls apart".
Maybe I'm just too old for this type of material but I enjoy Roald Dahls childrens books now just as much as I did back when I was seven. Basically a piece of work transcends age demographic if the work is good and Dead@17 just didn't make that leap for me at all.
I don't think I've ever had such distaste for a book so quickly. First of all, saying the characters are one dimensional would be diplomatic. Sure, maybe that's not the point of a series like this but good characterization will hold my attention even if the story is a little lackluster and in my humble opinion this is the very definition. Halfway through I still didn't care about any of these people and was actually rooting for the bad guys.
So I didn't dig the story or the characters, what about the art? It's slick, stylish and not BAD art by any means but my main complaint is that Josh Howard can only seem to draw one type of female face. I remember saying aloud to my boyfriend "It's a really good thing this isn't in black and white because the skin tones and hair variations are the only way I can tell most of these girls apart".
Maybe I'm just too old for this type of material but I enjoy Roald Dahls childrens books now just as much as I did back when I was seven. Basically a piece of work transcends age demographic if the work is good and Dead@17 just didn't make that leap for me at all.
August 31, 2015
Having read the last arc released in comics, Blasphemy Throne, I was hooked. Not because the plot was superb but because it was enticing and compelling.
Therefore I wanted to know the beginnings, thus buying the 1st 4 Arc in this ultimate edition.
Keeping the story short, teen girl sets to save the world from the forces of evil. It has been done and re-done, and again written and told, but it still brings something new and enjoyable, while not overly creative.
It did not disappoint. Again, the plot was nothing out of the ordinary, but continued to keep me hooked. It is easy to read, addressed more to mature reads, which is a plus for me. The dialogues fit, not complex, but not at all shallow. The art is quite simple, but it is visually effective. has enough detail to complement the dialogues.
Overall I find this story quite entertaining and a definitive read for all that enjoy fantasy, super-natural, good vs evil, secret societies sort of stories. ImageComics continues to deliver outstanding stories and being (imo) the best publisher around. Sometimes without the usual creativity (which is the case of Dead@17) but still enticing enough to make it wonderful.
Therefore I wanted to know the beginnings, thus buying the 1st 4 Arc in this ultimate edition.
Keeping the story short, teen girl sets to save the world from the forces of evil. It has been done and re-done, and again written and told, but it still brings something new and enjoyable, while not overly creative.
It did not disappoint. Again, the plot was nothing out of the ordinary, but continued to keep me hooked. It is easy to read, addressed more to mature reads, which is a plus for me. The dialogues fit, not complex, but not at all shallow. The art is quite simple, but it is visually effective. has enough detail to complement the dialogues.
Overall I find this story quite entertaining and a definitive read for all that enjoy fantasy, super-natural, good vs evil, secret societies sort of stories. ImageComics continues to deliver outstanding stories and being (imo) the best publisher around. Sometimes without the usual creativity (which is the case of Dead@17) but still enticing enough to make it wonderful.
December 25, 2012
So I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book right now. I bought it at Barnes and Nobles many years ago and then didn't read it right away b/c I suddenly realized it had a religious connotation to it wasn't in fact just a zombie story. I finally started reading it the other day and while it is a little religious it's not trying to push an agenda so I was able to kind of get into it, but then all of a sudden it stomped following it's main characters (Hazy, Nara and Elijah) and started following other characters (Asia & Davon) that felt much less likable. Then Hazy and Nara were suddenly brought back.
I'm mildly curious to see where it goes but not so curious that I feel willing to buy the next volume at this point. I'm honestly not sure that I am going to keep it.
While I did like the art style there was an awful lot of cheese cake here, which at certain points was just distracting from the story (seriously she's only wearing underwear and her t-shirt is totally ripped again....)
I'm mildly curious to see where it goes but not so curious that I feel willing to buy the next volume at this point. I'm honestly not sure that I am going to keep it.
While I did like the art style there was an awful lot of cheese cake here, which at certain points was just distracting from the story (seriously she's only wearing underwear and her t-shirt is totally ripped again....)
October 2, 2011
Pretty meh. The art is good if you can dig the style, stylized and simple but relatively clear with decent action. The characters and plot are paper-thin, though, with really broad depictions and lots of tedious expository dialogue. The plot itself is a by-the-numbers good-vs-evil straight out of Revelations.
In the third and fourth books, this starts to become more of a problem, as it becomes clear that it is *literally* right out of Revelations. The Christian stuff goes from subtle symbolism to overt, and somewhat alarmingly the bad guys become Islamic. (Not explicitly, but it's hard to argue with -- they wear green headbands with cresent moon-and-star, and say things like "...the Prophet, peace be upon him.")
All in all, not much to write home about. You can do better in this genre.
In the third and fourth books, this starts to become more of a problem, as it becomes clear that it is *literally* right out of Revelations. The Christian stuff goes from subtle symbolism to overt, and somewhat alarmingly the bad guys become Islamic. (Not explicitly, but it's hard to argue with -- they wear green headbands with cresent moon-and-star, and say things like "...the Prophet, peace be upon him.")
All in all, not much to write home about. You can do better in this genre.
February 29, 2012
As a fan of Buffy and Charmed, I felt like this book fit very well in their company. The story arcs have episodic feels to them, and the characters are all relatable and heroic. The pop-art/animation style of art really fit the subject matter and characters. The mythology is a little muddled and confusing at times, but this is a book that doesn't really take itself seriously, so inconsistencies aren't as henious as in other graphic novels. Overall, light and action-packed, I enjoyed it. The Ultimate Edition is definitely the way to read this series; it gives the reader an overall look at the whole opening series and has a great layout. The binding is well done and the "gutter" isn't so tight that the art is obscured; every panel is clearly visible and very vibrant.
September 8, 2009
just finished dead@17 and loved it! this collects the four current miniseries by josh howard that are for the most part centered on nara, a 17-year-old who is killed for mysterious reasons...and then is resurrected shortly after. she is imbued with powers that she doesn't understand and a language that appears to be the language of angels. what follows is a shadowy organization facing off with another organization known as the protectorate in order to use her for their own purposes. nara must face off and win through her own means in order to save not only herself and her friends/family, but also the entire world.
March 4, 2016
Every single thing I hate about the comic book industry is present in Dead @ 17. Incomprehensible plotting. Poorly written expository dialogue. Characters that have less depth than cardboard. Gross, demeaning art design that sexualizes female characters all under the age of 18. The collection started poorly & somehow got worse as it went along, though there was slight redemption at the final volume by virtue of the point of view shifting to previously unseen characters who weren't the irritating protagonists of the rest of the tale.
I literally threw this in the trash bin after I finished. Let us never speak of this again.
I literally threw this in the trash bin after I finished. Let us never speak of this again.
August 1, 2010
Ok, sorry to say, I'm having a hard time finishing this one, and for all the schlocky comics I've read, that tells me the story and/or art just isn't that good. In fact, I'd say while the ideas are interesting, the execution should've been left up to more inspired people (kinda like a lot of Kirkman's latest stuff - Wolfman, anyone?). I think I'll just return this and forget I ever wasted a few hours.
April 29, 2010
This was just okay. Not great.
A lot of the characters looked alike (male and female) so I got confused a few times. I feel like the heaven vs. hell is overdone. Honestly, I got bored with it at the end and couldn't wait to finish so I could start something else. Maybe it's because I read the ultimate edition. Maybe I should have taken a break between the issues.
Whatever the case, I wasn't too impressed.
A lot of the characters looked alike (male and female) so I got confused a few times. I feel like the heaven vs. hell is overdone. Honestly, I got bored with it at the end and couldn't wait to finish so I could start something else. Maybe it's because I read the ultimate edition. Maybe I should have taken a break between the issues.
Whatever the case, I wasn't too impressed.
July 19, 2015
The biggest crime for an action/horror series is that it's DULL. The artwork style makes every male and every female look the same. Splash pages are utilised for no apparent reason, and pages upon pages are filled with nothing but clunkily-written dialogue and big facial close ups that all look the same. The plot is nonsensical and fails to Show anything, preferring to Tell it all. I'm not touching it ever again.
January 13, 2010
A guilty pleasure for me to be sure. I could not help but think about how I would have done this differently almost during the entire read, and the Christian slant seemed a little bit trite and unnecessary. So while I would not consider this a "good" book I admit I did enjoy it. Maybe it was the cute young girls fighting zombies... hehehe!
Read
July 28, 2011Enjoyable comic series about an undead teen girl and the various demons out to end the world While it has shades of Buffy, it really doesn't belong in the same class of storytelling. The strongest story is the first one, by the last one the reader is underwhelmed by the paper thin plot, however there is a lot to enjoy here if you like sassy comics about hot chicks with weapons.
April 20, 2012
The first three of the four collected stories are pretty great. A nice cohesive narrative. The fourth story goes off the rails a bit and doesn't make much sense until you get toward the end, and even then it feels out of place. If you buy this collection, I recommend just reading the first three (12 chapters) and then stopping.
did-not-finish
November 14, 2016The first few issues were allright, I enjoyed the art and the story was a little over the top but not too bad. I expected zombie killing badass teenager with maybe a few problems and relationship issues along the way, instead it's demon possession ancient entities cults weird federal agents and random teenagers that all look and act alike. I couldn't continue.
January 13, 2010
I loved this! Yes, it reminds me of Buffy, but that's okay. It was fun and had some good zombie action. I could only give it 4 stars, however because the last third of the book had some amazing gramatical and spelling errors. It's almost as if it was decided an editor was no longer needed.
June 28, 2009
Was OK...but I kept thinking about Buffy while reading this. I am giving up after 'book 1'....too soon?? Oh well.
August 1, 2009
in spite of the christian nature of this comic, it was actually pretty good. mix buffy with hack/slash and a lot of short shorts and you get dead at 17.
August 16, 2010
I really liked the first book, and even the second. But then it got needlessly "epic" (read: complicated) and just a little derivative. Great art and color, though.
Read
August 7, 2011heaven against hell. hot chicks vs. demons and zombies. fun artwork. what's not to love?
May 11, 2012
It was good...more religious than it sounded in the description. Also, way more questionable content than expected. Very scantily-clad girls at points. Who is the audience for this book???
September 21, 2012
The art grabbed me but the story lost me. Then I started noticing how flat and repetitive the art was. Pretty disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews