If you’ve been holding out for the Everything Dead & Dying trade paperback, the wait is finally over. This is easily our most anticipated trade paperback (MATP) for the week, and once you see what’s inside, you’ll understand exactly why everyone’s talking about it. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this one since the single issues started making waves. It’s a fresh, haunting zombie story from Image Comics. Tate Brombal handles the script while Jacob Phillips takes care of the artwork. This book is a heavy hitter. It trades the usual survival tropes for a quiet, suffocating sense of dread that feels entirely original.
What is the story of Everything Dead & Dying?
The plot centers on a man named Jack. He’s a farmer living on a hill just outside the town of Caverton. On the surface, things look great. He’s got a husband and a beautiful daughter. He spends his days looking after his land and the community. Brombal uses a macabre dualism to peel back the layers of this life; however, you quickly find out that Jack is actually living in a waking nightmare.
Everyone in Caverton is a zombie. Brombal doesn’t bother with long-winded explanations about how it happened. We just know that Jack is immune. The undead leave him alone as long as he keeps them fed and maintains the illusion of their old lives. He helps them go through their everyday routines. It’s a devastating look at how far someone will go to keep their family “alive” when the rest of the world has ended.
How the artwork of Jacob Phillips drives the horror
I got my hands on the physical copy, and Jacob Phillips has a realistic style that makes the gruesome details feel startlingly immediate. Yes, he’s drawing monsters, but he’s also drawing people you might recognize under all that decay. His imagery hits the hardest when Jack goes into town to feed what used to be his neighbors. There’s a genuine uneasiness to those scenes that makes the series one of last year’s most jarring reads.
The colors are a major part of why this works. Phillips handled the coloring himself alongside Pip Martin. They used intense, high-contrast tones that make the world feel vibrant and rotting all at once. The art carries the emotional weight of the story. If you’ve seen Phillips’ work on That Texas Blood, you know he excels at creating an atmosphere of impending doom. He brings that same energy here, and it makes every page feel heavy.
Comparing Everything Dead & Dying to The Walking Dead
The comparison to The Walking Dead is going to happen. Both are Image Comics horror titles featuring the undead. However, this series moves in a different direction. It focuses on a delicate exploration of diversity, family, and the burden of parenthood. Brombal creates a foundation that feels incredibly sturdy. It’s a story about the interior world of a survivor rather than the logistics of a group. Ultimately, Everything Dead & Dying is a massive achievement that proves there’s still plenty of life left in the zombie genre.
Honorary Mentions for Week 15
While Everything Dead & Dying is taking the top spot, there are plenty of other heavy hitters hitting the shelves this week. Here are the other trades and hardcovers you should keep an eye on:
- Vox Machina Origins Vol. 1 Omnibus: Every early adventure of the legendary D&D campaign gathered into one massive Dark Horse volume.
- Space Ghost Vol. 2: Beware the Council of Doom: Pepose and Lau keep the heat on this stellar revival. It’s all about SG’s biggest baddest villains.
- Speed Racer Vol. 1 TP: Mad Cave reimagines the classic racer as a gritty, lethal underground thriller. He’s fast, and he’s dangerous.
- Godzilla Vs. America Collected: The King of the Monsters stomps through the US in this high-energy IDW anthology series.
- Death of the Silver Surfer Collected: Pak and Kumar capture the cosmic swan song of Norrin Radd. It’s a high-stakes Marvel epic that doubles as a subtle nod to the Fantastic Four film.
- Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu Vol. 3: MacKay’s definitive run hits the 50th-anniversary milestone with plenty of street-level chaos.
