This isn't a comic-book, but a prose book, a mock "how to" manual about surviving an attack by the living dead. I was intrigued by this when I saw it solicited, because the title alone provokes chuckles. Unfortunately, while the book is tagged as "humor" on the back, it rarely achieves that description. Brooks has done an admirable job of mimicking a real how-to guide, applying these universal lessons to the outrageous concept of an attack by the living dead, but his mimicry is a bit too on the nose. With a specific reason for zombies (a virus) and equally specific analysis of the senses and abilities they possess and the only ways to deal with them, the book feels more like work than fun. If there ever were an actual zombie attack, this would be an indispensable book. If your problem is more boredom in need of some laughs, The Zombie Survival Guide can't offer much in the way of solutions.
Brooks has written the book as a cross between a textbook and a short survival manual, and it's divided into sections like Weapons and Combat Techniques, On the Run and On the Attack. Anyone who has ever read a business or recreational manual, a book on how to do something, will be familiar with the bold-face headings and simple rules to memorize, expanded upon in text that explains the rules. It's clear that Brooks has put a fair amount of thought into this, and there's a structure here for an interesting zombie tale, what with the rules of engagement and the common failings of people when they engage a zombie.
Unfortunately, the elements that Brooks are missing are the all-important horror and/or humor that makes zombie movies and books so much fun. There's an attempt at a sort of plot/character addition with the "Recorded Attacks" in the back, but they're just as dry and methodical as the rest of the book. There are certainly laughs to be gotten out of the irony of playing zombie attacks as a real threat, but there's never really a knowing wink at the audience or serious advice that comes off as ironic or funny. Instead, it comes off like serious advice, like getting a talking-to from your dad about the dangers of the undead.
In addition, Brooks has sort of locked himself into one mode by coming up with a specific world that these zombies come from. This may be a matter of potential copyright infringement, but there are no references to classic zombie flicks or books, only the most veiled reference to horror movie stereotypes, and some of the rules that he's set up for his zombies are arbitrary, clearly designed so that he can write the other chapters with a more effective eye. The senses and abilities of zombies, the way they come about, these are scientific facts rather than conjecture, and the result is that instead of being spooky or creepy, this comes across as about as much fun as a manual on how to deal with a virus outbreak. A little more variety, a discussion of the various creation rules of zombies from magic to genetic engineering to virus, beyond just a "that doesn't happen, there's just one type of walking dead" would have made the book a lot more fun.
In the end, this strikes me as a good resource for some very specific situations. If your area is actually threatened by the living dead, then you actually need this book... but I think that might have limited its audience quite a bit. More seriously, someone who is writing a zombie tale would probably find this interesting for ideas on how the heroes could react to the living dead, although Brooks's very specific rules for zombies might make even that use a bit of an imperfect application.
