Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog by Kyle Starks, Gabo #BookReview

Title: Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog | Series: Dead of Winter Vol 1 | Author: Kyle Starks | Illustrator: Gabo  | Publisher: Oni Press | ISBN13: 9781620104835 | Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Horror | Language: English | Triggers: Animal cruelty | Rating: 4 out of 5 | Source: Received a copy from Netgalley for review consideration

Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog

From the tabletop smash hit comes this new comic series starring your favorite characters from Plaid Hat Games’ DEAD OF WINTER, written by Kyle Starks (the Eisner Award-nominated Sexcastle), and illustrated by Gabo (The Life After).

In the pantheon of superheroes, none are more loveable and loyal than everyone’s favorite good ol’ dog, Sparky. Surviving in the wintery apocalypse of the undead, this former TV show stunt dog turned zombie killing machine just wants to make friends and be a good boy. As his fellow survivors scavenge for supplies in the frigid wasteland, will Sparky be able to protect his companions from threats both undead and otherwise? Collects issues #1-4 from the “Good Good Dog” storyline from DEAD OF WINTER! – Goodreads

Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog Review

Dead of Winter is not a kid-friendly comic. Just need to get that out of the way. I made the mistake of thinking “Hey, it’s got a doggo on the cover! That’s gotta be kid friendly, right?” And, well, if you minus the multiple curse words on basically every page, I guess it might be. Luckily, I have a chill child who knows she’s not allowed to curse, so she appointed herself Official Bleeper, and we kept reading. (She got to BLEEP a lot.) And, bleeping aside (or maybe that added to it), it was a hoot!

So, we’ve never played (or even heard of) Dead of Winter. So, this is simply a review of the graphic novel at face value, nothing more or less. We liked the few characters we got introduced to. I laughed at the Fireman in the Post-Apocalyptic setting. (Joe Hill nod?) Ruckus had us both snorting. The female characters were surprisingly non-annoying, but didn’t stand out in any particular way. Crazy Cop and Bad Santa were… well, they were there. Sparky the dog quickly won us both over. The golden with psychological issues and a cape is a national treasure, I think.

Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog contained four issues, and came in at 114 pages including cover variants. It was action-packed on both human and dog parts. Sparky can wield a weapon like you wouldn’t believe!  It was very on-the-surface, basically just an introduction and a bit of butt-kickery, really. (I do wonder about Crazy Cop, though…)   Overall, it was a fun read, even if it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting when I chose it. (I had Pestilence Vol 1 lined up to read before my kid was wanting to read with me. At least Dead of Winter nixed excessive nudity. Well, nudity at all, really.) If you’re wanting just a mindless, fun, zombie-themed read with an unexpectedly furry main character, Dead of Winter is perfect.

Miss L’s review: Funny! It was really good, but there was a lot of BLEEP words. But I got the job for that, so it was fun. Sparky was a cute doggy. Most of the characters were cursy but funny. We read them in accents.  I would give it 5 out of 5 stars. I would read more of it. But maybe with not so much cursing next time.

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