Customer Reviews

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Unlike a lot of the negative reviews, I knew what I was getting in the post when I ordered this (so if you can't read a product description, why are you giving a bad review?)...The graphic novel is a really fun read, especially for hardcore zombie fans.
It's exactly what the title states, a collection of short stories of recorded zombie attacks during several different times and places. Most are only about 9 or 10 pages, so you get through the book quite quickly. The art is fantastic, depicting gory details of the different attacks. The dialogue is a bit light however. I just wish that Max Brooks dove a bit deeper into each event, adding a bit more depth to them.
If you're already familiar with Max Brooks' other zombie books, you'll find this a nice accompaniment to the other tales. And if you're not, well this is a nice introduction to the world to zombie attacks! Also, if you like what you've read and what to read something a bit more detailed and character driven, try The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman.

An illustrated account of zombie attacks throughout the history of mankind, Recorded Attacks shows you in chilling black and white the best chapters of The Zombie Survival Guide. As a fairly serious fan of quality Zombie films and stories (I've been to the Monroeville Mall), I highly recommend this to anyone that is interested in Zombie lore. The only reason I gave it 4 stars out of 5 is because it's fairly light on dialogue, even for a graphic novel, but that is the only (minor) drawback to an otherwise great addition to the zombie mythology.

A worthy effort - I can truly see a product like this being fantastic, if the time had been taken to create original, engaging stories rather than merely license old ones. Even just the premise of applying the same methodical, historical/geopolitical thinking Brooks does to "World War Z" to stories of zombie attacks throughout history seems to write itself. Brooks would not even have been needed. An anthology of writers and artists would have been more than fine.

What you have in this product is instead some sparse accounts taken from the back of "World War Z" and illustrated. No dialogue. No flavor. You'll read the whole thing in about fifteen minutes and none will provide you with any real satisfaction. They're really just scenes, not stories in any sense.

Can only really recommend this for the hardest of hardcore Max Brooks fans or zombie fans. Not much in it for anyone else.

But if knowing that this seems like you're sort of thing, please enjoy.

NOTE: I think one of the reasons I was so annoyed by this product is that it's not advertised as what it is. The term "graphic novel" is so insanely misused that I can hardly blame them for it, but this isn't even a narrative at all. I was expecting a collection of short stories and it's not even that.

Let me start off by stating Im a huge Brooks fan. Overall the pictures where cool, but I read the same stories in Zombie Survival Guide. Not sure if it was worth the money, I finished it in about 30 mins and that included looking at the drawings in detail.

If you already have the fabulous zombie survival guide. Then you already have these stories.
If on the other hand you have no imagination then you may need this picture book.

I have to start by stating I am a HUGE Zombie fanatic, and I Love Max Brooks' work but - this was little more than taking the tales already told in his previous book Zombie Survival Guide, and providing some pictures to go along with them. There isn't even much in the way of dialogue. I was done with this book in about five minutes.

The stories are so brief, and the dialogue non-existant so it makes it difficult to feel anything for the characters. If you read Brook's Zombie Survival Guide, then you have read this book already. If you lack imagination, or need pictures so you can understand the subject matter, then by all means this book is for you.

I would pay $2.00 tops for this book - Very disappointed in it, myself.

I was very surprised at how unfulfilling this was. I'm a zombie veteran, and a big fan of Max Brooks and I can honestly say that this is worth 2 dollars on a used book stand. No more.

It fails at everything it should have strived for. It's a collection of VERY brief stories of human interactions with zombies throughout time. However, some of these stories get no more than a few pages, so you never connect with a single character in the slightest, it's just a quick face, then gone. If you are not going to have your audience connect to any characters on any level you better deliver on the spectacle level, and give us some really cool zombie action. Which is doesn't do very well.

How cool would it be to see a few pages of some cavemen throwing a few spears at zombies? It's not very cool. There were only 2 or 3 scenarios that depicted some cool scenarios, but hardly enough to warrant the creation of this book. Can't help but think that this is a shallow attempt in to CASH in. It lacks all the charisma of Max's earlier books.

Save your money for the next Walking Dead issue.

You've been warned.

I loved this new book by Max Brooks. It is incredibly detailed with the illustrations popping off the pages. I have to say that the pictures were a bit scary but that is partly what I love about Zombies. The imagery is unforgettable and the dialogue perfectly paced. It is very engrossing and I would definitely recommend it. Just don't read it right before going to sleep (YIKES). I think this book would make a great gift and a terrific addition to your Zombie library.

I'm not a big reader of horror-related books, but I couldn't pass up the ingenius humor of the Zombie Survival Guide when I first saw it in the bookstore years ago. I'm now a committed Max Brooks fan. His meticulously committed writing style soon had me convinced that zombies were lurking over my shoulder ready to take a bite out of my unsuspecting body at any moment. I couldn't help but reassure myself by quickly taking inventory of any possible bludgeoning item in the immediate vicinity. Even more intriguing were the Recorded Attacks detailing previously unknown zombie attacks throughout history. I waited anxiously for the release of The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks graphic novel and quickly devoured the contents when it arrived. Roberson does not disappoint. Each story was rendered to transport the reader to the historical era in which it occurred and leaves the reader with no doubt that our history teachers omitted extremely important events in history that would prepare us for fending off the zombie hordes. Recorded Attacks is visually disturbing as any zombie-related graphic novel should be, but not so disgusting that non-horror readers, like myself, would be repelled. Unfortunately, the book was limited to illustrating the accounts in the original. Understandable, but it left me wanting more. Guess it's time to re-read World War Z.

Max Brooks is clearly a gifted and talented writer and it is clear that his Zombie series has captivated a wide range of readers. I am not your average Zombie maniac and I must admit this genre generally does not appeal to me. But the graphic novel version of the Zombie Survival Guide is superb. For all those fans of everything Zombie, this book is definitely a must read. The illustrations in the text really help bring the story to life in a way that's far more interesting than when you read the book. Brooks made a smart decision by writing this graphic novel and i'm looking forward to reading more of his work.