Chaos Campus 6

Chaos Campus #6
Created, Written & Lettered by B. Alex Thompson
Illustrated by Kewber Baal
Coloured by Schimerys Baal
Post-Scripting & Polish by John Ward
Published by Approbation Comics

Under the best Quinton Bedwell cover yet, issue six of Chaos Campus: Sorority Girls Vs. Zombies presents us with the second half of "Haunted Hell House". After reuniting with another group of coed survivors of the initial zombie attack on campus, the group find themselves locked inside of a house that seems both alive and more than a bit hungry. To make matters worse, Paige and Brittany have both been possessed by demons, the violent slasher Kurtis Kasey is prowling around outside (along with a rapidly growing zombie plague), and the boys in the crowd are understandably getting turned on bad by the scantily clad heroine trio.

Continuing his homage to the cult classic horror flicks we all know and generally love, B. Alex Thompson spices this iss up with references to at least five different and monolithic scary movies, and does so with tongue in cheek. This is the end of a long, long night for Jaime and the rest that began with the first issue, and it is now especially a true race to sunrise for them and their friends. And of course, in spite of a few laugh out loud funny one-liners, not everybody makes it out alive.

Baal's art is rocking here, enough to see why the name has since popped up in other Approbation books. Great page design and panel arrangements, solid inks, and a clear love for the Lovecraft ethos. Thompson expresses in his liner notes at the back of the book how important it is to write for his artists, and Baal's sweet pics here are proof positive that there must be great fun involved in the creative process behind Chaos Campus. His take on the Phantom Avri-created Kasey murderer going to town with his already bloodied chainsaw on a tentacled thing bigger than a house is alone a showdown that even some of the movies honored in the comic failed to match in explosive energy and outright fun. These are just some big, crazy scenes for any rookie artist to take a bite out of, and Baal pulls it off well.

So, the first major story arc concludes with this issue and there is now a solid enough foundation in place, but there is still a town full of zombies and god knows what else for the "Boob Crew" to survive. My Hallowe'en week reviews will continue accordingly, because this is exactly the right kind of series for the season, and exactly the kind of small press comic book that more scrutinizing readers should know about. Something for almost everyone.
And it occurred to me that fans of the also worth reading Hack/Slash comic from DDP would dig this as well. Both books being a cheesecake metafictional stab at the better horror properties of American cinema, beit theater or B-movie vids. Both books being fueled by some truly intense imaginations. Read 'em.

www.chaoscampus.com