It’s about to get a little… crazy.
 

The recent release of the new zombie horror flick The Crazies has spawned a series of side-story comics based on the universe created by the hit film.   Published by American Original and Top Cow Comics, each issue offers a unique story from the point of view of one of the secondary characters featured in the film.  Each comic is named after one of the connecting waterways that provide Ogden Marsh’s water supply as well as deliver the toxin “Trixie” that changes the citizens into The Crazies.

Issue one, called “Hopman Bog” is penciled by Jon Buran with a cover by Jeffrey Apokes and written by Ivan Brandon.  It provides a brief description of how the toxin enters the area of Ogden Marsh and begins affecting the residents.  It primarily focuses on the pig farmer Rory, but also introduces the hunters Nathan, Jesse and Red who also show up later in the series.  It’s a good introduction to the series but doesn’t dive very deep into the Crazies universe or show how Rory’s story ends.

Issue two is written by Brian Reed and drawn by Hugo Petrus with a cover by Tom Feister. It’s called “Dwyer Creek” and follows Bill Farnum, a cow farmer living in Ogden Marsh.  He gets the toxin from one of his cows and his slow descent into madness is truly frightening.  What he does to his family in the end is unimaginable and it makes this issue a must read above the others in this series.  Read and witness it, but be warned, it’s borderline sickening.

Issue three, called “Black Pond” is written by Marc Andreyko and drawn by Vincent Spencer with a cover by Frazier Irving.  It focuses entirely on Charlie Finly, the town’s mortician, as he begins to inspect the increasing number of bodies that show up due to the toxin.  He slips on a stitch and pierces his finger with the needle and becomes infected.  I felt that the art and story in this issue was the worst in the series.  I didn’t like the thick lined drawings and there was a lot less detail in the characters present.  The story felt like a copy of the themes present in issue two, but with less bite.  

The last issue, “Ogden Marsh,” is written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and drawn by Rahsan Ekedal with the cover drawn by Ben Templesmith.  It follows the same hunters from issue one, Nathan, Jesse and Red, as they unleash the fury on the horde of infected in Ogden Marsh.  The hunters begin to attack more than the infected and begin to collect the dead as trophies.   There’s a nice twist in the end that really makes this one of the better issues.  The issue also features a heavier amount of action throughout which is a welcome departure from the rest of the series. 

Overall

The Crazies comic series is a great addition to the film.  Each of the minor characters shown here really flesh out further details of the how the toxin affects the citizens in the film.  As a separate entity, the comics are good, but as a supplement to the movie, they’re great. 

ComicsOnline gives The Crazies comic series one-four 4 out of 5 bites from a pig.
 

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