From what little I knew of Night Club, I was expecting another zombie comic, riding the wave started by The Walking Dead and kicked into high gear by a couple of high-profile zombie flicks. In a way, Night Club is a zombie comic, but it's a very different type of zombie tale, one that focuses on a band of warriors before the zombie apocalypse comes, more of a shadow war against the undead than a full-out apocalyptic plague come to Earth. Baron and Norton craft an eclectic gang of outsiders for their protagonists, mix in a cliched but still fun villain and present an intriguing story that mixes a couple runaways, Biblical prophecy, zombies, a bar that's only open at night and a professional wrestler past his time into a tasty action/horror stew that carries all the flavor of a good John Carpenter flick.
In the traditional zombie tale, the world has either already gone to hell and we're trying to cope with all the zombies or the zombie plague has begun and society crumbles awfully fast. Night Club starts off a little earlier, when there are zombies and monsters on the streets but only a chosen few really know about it, and they're doing their best to prevent a full-on zombie plague from coming. Baron does a really good job of building up a cast of outcasts on the fringes of society who secretly are helping to preserve the very society they have been cast out of. He gets around lengthy introductions by use of the somewhat sketchy "I foresaw it in a dream" cliche, but it's forgivable because it allows him to pack in the basics of four solid characters while still allowing for a couple brief action scenes and a clear explanation of the premise.
That premise? The devil has come down to Earth after whupping up on the angels, and is all set to unleash some diabolical plan. This being modern-day Boston, the devil takes the form of a powerful billionaire with ties to the community, an antichrist type figure who hides his deviousness inside the modern trappings of power and privilege. Baron has stacked the deck against his heroes, as they're a bunch of has-beens, losers and never weres, and their adversaries are the establishment, with whom law enforcement and anyone else who could conceivably help is going to side automatically. Again, it's a very Carpenter-esque theme, reminiscent of Big Trouble in Little China and They Live in particular, and its a good vibe, immediately establishing our heroes as underdogs, and who doesn't love to root for the underdog? Especially when they've got memorable lines like "I'm a warrior, Jack. I'm here to kick Satan's ass" or "Satan had me, brother. He took my ear but I managed to escape." Night Club is a little bit B-movie, but it's knowingly B-movie, and it's a hell of a lot of fun.
While Baron brings the memorably cheesy dialogue and fun characters, Mike Norton is given the task of bringing them to life visually, and he does a terrific job. The story takes place on the fringes of society, and Norton excels at portraying a rundown bar, a battered junkyard or a rain-soaked Boston street and giving them just the right feel. He also does some great creepy zombie work, especially on the surly flesh-eaters on page two or the pack of ghouls that advance on Walter a few pages in, and captures some of the goofy humor of the piece in set dressing like the "Otto the Mangler" poster, the surreal sight of a mutilated man climbing out of a rose garden he's been buried in or the nonplussed reaction of bar owner Jerry to Walter's proposition.
There's plenty of room for action-horror in the comics market, especially if each comic comes with its own distinctive voice. The Walking Dead and Night Club are both zombie-related comics from Image, but other than that, they couldn't be more different. Night Club is, so far at least, a story of underground warriors against evil, with as much or more in common with conspiracy stories and action movies as a Romero gore and horror fest. A touch of horror, plenty of action and a little dollop of humor, along with some memorable characters and enjoyable art, makes Night Club a book to watch. 8/10
