Review by Ian Keogh

Max Brallier’s Last Kids on Earth series has been a global success resulting in a TV show, but despite following four kids after the zombie apocalypse the tone remains light comedy adventure. Their sixth outing, Thrilling Tales From the Apocalypse was a graphic novel, but The Last Comics on Earth takes a different route. Dirk, Jack, June and Quint have been reading the adventures of their favourite superhero Z-Man, but the zombie apocalypse has inevitably resulted in Z-Man no longer being published. Their solution is to continue Z-Man’s adventures via creating their own characters to help him out.

Douglas Holgate supplies illustrations for the books, and a few pages of his art are included here, notably the opening and closing sequences drawn in the same style as the pictures supplied for the novel. The majority of the art, though, is drawn by Jay Cooper. The format calls for considerable variety on his part, as each of the four kids comes up with a superhero reflecting their personality, and as seen on the cover, they’re very different. Cooper nevertheless has a busy style able to incorporate the clash of designs.

Ballier and co-writer Joshua Pruett provide a script as dense as the novels. It involves giving each character an origin story (including the villain), and a guide to their secret lairs. Once they’ve been seen it’s back to main adventure where the heroes attempt to prevent Z-Man’s demise. As in the books, the path is entirely unpredictable, wildly creative and very funny. Brallier’s involvement, even if limited to supervision, ensures the same madcap style of the novels, and when he tires of one situation it’s gone, to be replaced by the next.

Too Many Villains is promised during 2024, and it can’t come soon enough.