Eibon Press have spent the last year or so putting out an over the top comic book re-telling of one of the greatest zombie movies in the genre, Lucio Fulci’s Zombie. That whole time the promise was to take the story beyond the walls of what the film showed us, to expand the story and show us a zombie apocalypse ala Fulci and this issue begins that story, now that the first story arc is finished.

Peter and Ann have returned to New York to find it just as swarmed with zombies as the island they just fled from. They attempt to make the best of a bad situation but things quickly escalate and they are standing down the advancing zombie horde right beside the legend himself, Lucio Fulci. The casting of Fulci as Colonel Louis Fulci is a fantastic way to include the director in this extentension of his work and is not out of character as he did appear in a number of his movies, notably A Cat in the Brain. The fiery showdown promised by the title of the issue is set in perhaps the most fitting location possible , allowing artist Pat Carbajal to really go to town, filling page after page with flaming mayhem and packing tons of little details in that reward studying the pages. In addition to the line-work of Mr Carbajal, the other part of the visual equation is the right mix of gut-churning color to make all the gore pop and this is handled skillfully by Fatboy, whose work can be seen in the previous four issues in the series

Beyond the BBQ, the art shines throughout and delivers on the blood and guts just as much as the preceeding issues. These comics don’t fuck around when it comes to showing you each and every little bloody detail, never shying away from entrails in true Fulci fashion. Obviously, if you aren’t into blood and guts, this might present a problem, but for people who appreciated series like Crossed this should be right up your alley. Issue #5 does a good good of laying groundwork for where the story is going to go, namely pursuing the former SS scientist behind all this, Dr Menard, back to his island of voodoo zombie hell, taking Fulci’s fire to him. If the pages that show us glimpses of the twisted voodoo behind the reanimation of the dead in this and previous issues are anything to go by, the descent into the underbelly of hell truly has just begun.

To round out the package, because telling an entertaining story with great artwork isn’t enough, Eibon Press loaded this issue up (like every issue) and makes it feel like an event. Packed with trading cards (including exclusive chase variants for hardcore fans to lust after), stickers and posters then wrap all that in a cardboard sleeve with alternate cover art. Suffice it to say, these guys know exactly how to lock onto collectors so it isn’t hard to see why they have people clamoring for each new release.

If you’re a Fulci fan, this is essential reading. It just went on sale on EibonPress.com last week, but as with their other releases this is a limited run of only a few thousand issues and then its gone.

Thanks to Shawn Lewis and everyone at Eibon Press for allowing us to check out an advance copy.

-Scotty Floronic