Review: Fatima The Blood Spinners...

by Steven Leitman

Fatima #1
By: Gilbert Hernandez
Dark Horse

I must have been living with my head in the sand because I had no idea who Gilbert Hernandez was before this issue.  People that I know had such rave reviews for his work over the years that I sat down to look at this issue threw excited eyes.  Here is what they saw.

            Right off the bat you see the art is very much an indie style book which coming from Dark Horse surprised me somewhat.  Till I learned was this his style and even then I still find it charming with a distinct quality about it that kind of says that he has a passion for what he does and yet a sense of humor while doing as well.  Now Fatima the main character has the proportions of a classic pin-up girl, though her face is a tad manly. 

            She’s interesting.  The fact that she is killing these zombies and is quite good at it and yet at the same time she seems almost bored with it as well gives her this complexity that I wasn’t expecting. 

            Flashback to how all this got started.  Fatima is new with operations and is on site for a shipment of Spin so large it could wipe out a city.  Very quickly we learn that Spin is a designer drug that people are having a hard time moving.  Mainly because after only one use the user becomes a zombie, which apparently isn’t that much of deterrent since they are all over. 

            There were two undercover agents were working for Mr. Bittermeat, yes that is his name and not unfunny actually.  When Mr. Chitts came to set the sting in motion it’s the two women in bikini’s that end up taking center stage.  Not only because one seems to have boobs bigger than Pam Anderson, which is slightly disturbing. 

            Alright we’ve got a zombie plague brought about by a drug, which I’ve seen in bad SyFy movies.  A badass heroine who likes to shoot guns and take out zombies, seems like Resident Evil to me.  Unfortunately the zombie thing is being done way too much so it’s hard to come up with a new take on it.  However that being said there is a certain charm to this issue that I found endearing.  All in all this was fun and I’m glad I got the chance to experience it.