MonkeyBrain Comics’ The Fallen #1 and #2 mixes a world of zombies and superheroes with a generous dose the wild west for good measure, but does this mash-up make the most of each genre’s best bits or does it just end up fallen?

Publisher: MonkeyBrain Comics
Writer: Alex De-Gruchy
Artist: Michael Montenat
Price: £0.69/$0.99 from ComiXology

The Fallen tells the story of Sam and his friends who are travelling across a desolate American wasteland in search of settlements and other people. There is only two problems while carrying out this plan; the wastelands between these settlements is full of insane cannibals who were created by a supervillain’s experiment. Those people who aren’t cannibals really do not like superheroes, which just so happens to have been Sam’s prior occupation. Of course, Sam isn’t the only former superhero trying to survive this new world, and the heroes aren’t the only super-powered people left either.

Alex De-Gruchy has stitched together a story combining three different genres; a superhero comic and a zombie apocalypse with a dash of western thrown into the mix. Now, while it would appear, at first, nothing more than an attempt to capitalise on the popular trends currently appearing in comics, De-Gruchy has brought all the pieces together incredibly well to create a story that, while seeming familiar, is very much different enough to make it an engrossing read which is essentially it’s The Walking Dead meets I Am Legend via Unforgiven – but with superheroes.

Along with this intriguing premise, what helps keep The Fallen engrossing is the art. Michael Montenat has skilfully created an incredibly creepy backdrop for this very dark, depressing story and throughout both the first two issues, his work is incredibly detailed on a consistent basis. With Ron Riley’s natural colours  enhancing how unnervingly real each panel looks, it makes the whole package work well.

Unfortunately, the book is not without issues, worst of which is the unnecessary amount of exposition at the beginning which causes the opening of issue one to feel very slow and cause the flow of the story to stumble. Nonetheless, this is a minor quibble to what is otherwise a highly interesting and, ultimately, entertaining start to this series.

“In a storytelling medium where zombies and superheroes currently reign supreme, the Fallen does a great job of taking the best bits from each respective style and mixes them together to make something which is a worthy read for fans of either genre.”