Reviews

Hard to overstate how fresh this felt in 2003. Kirkman builds the world with restraint, Walker keeps it grounded. You feel the genre love in every panel. The first issue every other "kid in a superhero costume" book gets compared to.

Local Man is the only book on the stands that pulls off the meta superhero genre swap. Tony Fleecs and Tim Seeley clearly have a blast with the format. The 90s flashback throwbacks are a great touch.

Day one zombie comic. Restraint is the magic — issue one is more about people than walkers. That cliffhanger still holds up. Kirkman/Moore lit the fuse on a 16-year run that changed indie comics for good.

Gaiman finds the voice almost immediately — by issue one we're in his world, not borrowing from someone else's. Sam Kieth's art on this opening arc is rougher than what came later but it has its own charm.

Re-read. Still works. Moore/Gibbons/Higgins built the seminal deconstruction of superheroes here and the symbolism in just the cover works on three levels. If you've never read Watchmen, start tonight.