Having had enough of “real life,real teenagers”. emotional storylines and classic manga titles, i’ve decided to show a bit of my dark side. Oh come on,you just knew there had to be more to me than romantic comedies!

Title: Reiko the Zombie Shop

Publisher: Dark Horse

Genre: Horror,Action,Comedy

Age: Older Teen 16+

Volumes: 3 so far

Violence: Lots of it with plenty of blood

Sex/Nudity: Fanservice,some nudity

Status: New series,still being published

The quiet town of Shiraike is firmly held in the grip of terror. It has recently seen a string of 29 unsolved murders, with all the victims being children. With no clues to be found, the police are stumped until help arrives in an unlikely form. Her name is Reiko and she is known as a Zombie Shop, that is, a free lance necromancer for hire. She’s able to raise the dead to help solve the mystery of thier demise. However,she takes no responsibilty for what the dead say or do after they have been awaken. With the help of the dead,she is hot on the trail of the killer, but an unguarded moment has made her the next victim instead, her head found lying next to her body. But no Zombie Shop worth the title doesnt have a back up plan, so with the help of a spell cast in advance and a wide piece of ribbon to hold her head in place, Reiko is back in the game. But as the hunt continues, Reiko begins to realize that there may be more to all this than she first thought and that the killer she’s hunting may just be the beginning of something much bigger.

Good Points: The art work is alright. The story has many funny moments. There’s enough action in the mix to keep just about any action junkie happy.

Bad Points: The art work can be kind of dark in places. The art/story dont flow well on some pages making it a pain to read. There is a heavy occult content in the series that may upset some readers (or thier parents) Reiko invokes the name of the Prince of Darkness in many of her necromantic spells.

Overall Review: To be honest, i’m not really all that big into horror manga, never really have been. About the only other horror titles i have in my collection are Evil’s Return and Boogiepop doesnt laugh (which i’d barely call horror). But i was browsing the shelves at the local bookstore checking out titles and i thought that i’d give this one a look. To say that i enjoyed what i read is an understatement. The series has a wicked sense of dark humor ala Evil Dead that i really enjoy. With it’s mix of dark humor,action and horror, the series was a lot of fun to read. The only thing that prevents me from making it a spot in my collection is that with it’s heavy occult content, my saintly and seriously Mormon wife would throw screaming yellow hissy fits until i tossed the books into the trash. As it is, we have a shaky peace accord about my manga collection, She pretends it’s not there and i dont try to get her to read it. LOL But to be honest, if the series keeps being as entertaining as it has been, i might just sneak it onto my bookshelves anyway.

Coengar2 says give it a look, you just might like it.