Dead@17 first caught my eye at the San Diego Comicon, where Howard's artwork adorned banners at the Viper Comics booth, and the image (similar to the one on the cover of issue one) piqued my interest. Within the pages of Dead@17 is a promising story, one with very nice artwork, but one that has some significant obstacles to overcome before it can really live up to its potential. Howard's premise is one that feels a bit familiar in this post-Buffy the Vampire Slayer world, and his dialogue, while not terrible, often feels a bit stilted, and the combination of these two factors sort of kept me at arm's length, keeping me from being really engaged by the book. However, there are some interesting notions here, and Howard is to be credited with a fast-moving and nice-looking story, even at this early stage.
I'll be honest, the big selling point of Dead@17 for me is the artwork. Howard's style is a sharp, angular style with animated influences that calls to mind the work of Mike Avon Oeming and the general look of anime. Combined with bright, eye-popping color, the artwork jumps off the page, and Howard's layouts are excellent, clear and uncluttered and indicative of plenty of mood. I'm especially impressed that he manages to convey the darker, horror elements of this book without losing the bright tone that defines the artwork.
Howard avoids several of the pitfalls common in new talent, and it's worth noting that the story of Dead@17 is neither overly simple nor overly complex. There are mysteries, including a mysterious villain and the central mystery of the abilities of the protagonist, and there are some interesting character relationships, including a guy who has been the subject of interest of three of the girls in the story. Howard's story also moves along nicely, starting off with a surprising murder and growing weirder and faster from there. By the end of issue two, we're well into the story, as opposed to just riding out the exposition, which is where too many writers would be in today's marketplace.
Where the story has its flaws are in the rather crucial elements of originality and dialogue. Dead@17 can't really be called derivative, but there are several elements of the story that feel familiar, from the mysterious government organization that investigates the supernatural to the "chosen one" nature of Nara which unfortunately calls to mind the Buffy archetype a bit too strongly. Even the mysterious evil bad guy is something of a cliche. The dialogue falls into a similar "not crippling, but not great" category. The dialogue isn't clunky or cheesy, but neither does it have the flow of real speech or the kind of wit or cleverness that can make the stilted nature forgivable. I was always reminded in reading the dialogue that I was reading a comic, as each line sort of feels like it's there only to inform the reader of something important, rather than to flesh out the characters.
Dead@17 has a lot of elements that could be a lot of fun. Zombies, guns, a resurrected chosen one and sexy young girls, all drawn in a clear and attractive art style, adds up to something intriguing. However, while Howard's artwork is very strong, his writing could use some polish.
