Wasteland warriors by Adam Wallace and James Hart

It is 2046 and the world has suffered a nuclear catastrophe, opening portals to other dimensions letting in all sorts of demonic beings. Our hero, aka The Loner was just a lonely kid at summer camp but then the camp was overrun with zombie chickens. Hiding in the cool room he is surprised by a mustachioed man who points out that a creature with 87 radioactive mouths is biting him. The result is that Mousachio kills the beast and The Loner is transformed into a manga like superhero. Moustachio, or Stephen, becomes Loner’s mentor, training him to survive in a world where everything is trying to kill you. That is, until he is bitten in half by a mutant t-rex. Determined to avenge his mentor’s death The Loner sets out with his chainsaw, flame thrower and cheese grater, to find and destroy the aliens. Along the way he is joined by an annoyingly cheerful girl, Ariana, a cute puppy, Alby and a baby vampire bat that calls him mum.

With constant action, revolting monsters and plenty of gore this is bound to appeal, with its energetic cartoon characters and inexplicably available ice cream, all presented in black and white on grubby looking crumpled pages. The first-person narration lets us know our hero is afraid to get close and become a team because he doesn’t want to lose someone he cares about, but eventually he admits to wanting to save his crew because he cares.

Themes: End of the world, Monsters, Zombies, Humour.

Sue Speck