hen you create a zombie graphic novel and you ask none other than the God of Zombies, George Romero, to provide your introduction, it better be a damn good collection. "Fleshrot Tales from the Dead" delivers with an EC homage style, spectacular art and a contemporary voice.

Described as Book One by Frightworld Studios, it sturdily weighs in at about 130 pages (no page numbers so we can't be sure, might want to add those to later editions but not a big deal - other than a reviewer, no one would probably count pages or give a shit.)

The production on this is topflight - fantastic color glossy cardstock cover and packed with a slew of artists whose assortment of styles give this book surprising texture beyond it's black and white interior. Editor John Pearson brought together artists and writers from all over the world and the time it took to produce and coordinate these efforts truly paid off.

Now let's get to the meat of the matter (and fit as many dead-eat-the-living puns in here as possible)...the guts of the book. The foreword by Romero is a great touch. Romero talks about how he uses zombies metaphorically looking for real terror, not just the jumps. Much like Robert Altman's satirical work in M*A*S*H and Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Romero talks about zombies as the blue-collar monsters and how this was captured in Tales from the Crypt comics and comments on how Fleshrot carries on this tradition. He says the artists and writers in Fleshrot re-inspire him - that's heady praise coming from the man who brought us "Night of the Living Dead."

There is a pile of fantastic writing and art in this collection. As with any anthology, every story won't appeal to everyone, but it won't be because of the quality. This is creative and pro stuff covering an incredible array of styles.

Deadtime Stories kicks the book off and is a great framework piece. Other highlights are the short but stomach-kicking "My Wife the Corpse" by Jeremy Wabiszczewicz, "Whatever" from Yongwoo Cho, and Daniel M. Lynch's "Mustard's Last Drink," with an R. Crumb quality going on.

On the absolutely stunning side of things is Socar Myles "The Restless Season." Very similar to an old Japanese fable in nature, Sweden's Myles tells us the story of a rat and a sparrow. The art, story and sophisticated panel work is tremendous. It's almost criminal to call this black and white, as the artist's technique provides layers of depth that make it seem like color.

And don't pass over the ads. Some ads are the real deal but several are tributes to old-school comic ads and are hilarious. Don't miss the Sea-Monkeys as Sea-Zombies advertisement near the back of the book.

Many of the pin-ups are more than simply great-looking art. Some are stories within the one panel and that's a nice addition as well. We can't say enough about the caliber of artists in Fleshrot - the idea of getting creators from all over the world was inspired on Pearson's part. Several of the 'don't miss' artists who contributed pin-up pages are James Ryman (with a John Bolton feel to his work), John Dunivant (a Dan Brereton quality), Gerri Alanguilan (Bernie Wrightson-esque), Matt Jacobs, Jeff Preston, Dave Gink, Jay Fotos, and a bunch of others.

Pearson has put together a book to be extremely proud of, absolutely top-drawer and it should be in your collection if you're a zombie fan, comics fan or horror fan of any ilk. Looking forward to the next one!

Follow this link for more about Fleshrot and purchasing information: http://www.fleshrot.com/