Zombie Years takes place in a near future Miami Florida, where the sky has fallen, the Gods have fought, Jesus Wept, and the snake has eaten his tail. Humanity if a bug on the windshield, and the sky is wearing down the cities.
The world has ended, but you still gotta eat.
The survivors of the horror now try to get along, the daily struggle to survive is the routine and the rule, and everyone watches for the The Fever: a maddening virus that drives people insane, eventually dying from it ….and then coming back.
We caught up with creator, Juan Navarro, to talk about The Zombie Years.
Horror News Network: How did you come up with the concept for The Zombie Years?
Juan Navarro: When living in Miami, there are times you can't help but want to see the whole place overrun in the undead and blood flowing the streets!
Just KIDDING! (kinda)
One of the parallels between Miami and Post Apocalyptic Zombie world, that made me come up with ZY, was Hurricanes. What do you during a Hurricane? Board up windows, ration food, and hope for the best. What do you do during a Zombie Invasion? Board up windows, ration food, and hope for the best... ad maybe bash someone in the head. After going through Hurricane Wilma and Katrina in Miami some years back, it came to me how similar it was, and what the idea behind Survival Horror might be. Sometimes just making it is hard enough, so Zombie Years was a way of looking at that, the Zombie Story in the long term and what it would entail to survive in it.
Horror News Network: When I read the book after we met at NYCC, it struck me as an “urban” Walking Dead. (Meaning the grittiness of the city streets mixed with urban characters with real ethnic backgrounds.).What are your thoughts on that?
Juan Navarro: I just felt that the horror genre currently, is all about gore and thrills, and that sometimes story is absent in it, and hence, Characters are absent. Sure they are caricatures of certain people and race here and there, just butting with racist looks and attitudes, with the occasional exception but overall minorities, and Latinos overall, are just not seen or represented. In a place like Miami, where you not only have the different races but also nationalities and culture that overlap and co-exist in such a place, that it makes for a brand new dynamic for story telling and showing off possibilities in a story. Seeing people of different background survive together, cause for them to have bond they would otherwise NEVER have, and that leads to interesting and amazing places to talk about our current attitudes about race and culture. Nothing like the rotting maw of a Zombie to have you forget all the Little bullshit differences you could have! It was also a chance for me as Latino creator to show that in Horror, we have different takes and ways of going about it. Now, this isn't a complaint or anything but most horror sort of deals with more of a caucasian America, and I think Zombies being equal opportunity eaters of brains can effect and destroy EVERYBODY. How that for affirmative action?
Horror News Network: For those that may have never checked out the comic, can you tell us about the main characters?
Juan Navarro: Well the first person you meet is Frank Nuñez, a survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse, it is a couple of years after the initial onslaught of the Zombies. Humanity Lost. He was the typical Miami kid, just trying to get high, get a laugh, and get laid. When all this happens he has to become another type of animal. Scraping by on bits and pieces, he’s turned into a scavenger, and is starting to wonder if this is all thats left in life, Survival? So then he starts the idea of forming communities and of putting something back together about making a real society this time around. Of course, there are bumps on the road, (to say the least) and least of it can be Zombies; thats the constant, but not the variable.
Human beings are scariest creatures in the world, and when you're in a corner, it's a wonder how you would react, what you would choose.
Horror News Network: Can you talk a bit about the different kind of zombies in the comic?
Juan Navarro: Well we make brief mentions here and there, but haven't really assigned any types of zombies just yet. One thing is for sure, is that thee is mutation and some zombies, like DUSTERS which are very old zombies, some around since the beginning who move or shuffle slow, like Romero zombies. They are sometimes more dangerous than other because they are slow and sometimes don't even move, lurking in shadows unmoving and then snapping out like an alligator at the moment, their leathery hands are like vices.
Other zombies include SCREAMERS who are freshly dead, and run, others like BLOATERS seem to just inflate and explode around people. MORE TO COME.
Horror News Network: What can readers expect from this comic in terms of blood and guts?
Juan Navarro: Well, one thing people maybe surprised about is that I'm not much of gore hound like other horror compadres I know, but it is starting to get grisly with Delilah's leg and other characters coming face to face with hordes of zombies as they try to bring together a community around them. There will be a lot of flesh being torn and screams as they are consumed but something as simple a flesh wound left untreated can sometimes be the goriest thing in the world.
Horror News Network: Where can our readers find out more about The Zombie Years?
Juan Navarro: Well, ZOMBIEYEARS.com is always churning not only with the latest updates that happen every wednesday but also the blog lists different new DIY, Survivalist projects and ideas, discussion and links to other Zombie/Survival works and just a general area I invite people to hang out and talk Zombie. Also, my Publisher CREATURE ENTERTAINMENT, www.creatureentertainment.com
Horror News Network: Horror News Network: In closing, what would you like to say to our readers about The Zombie Years?
Juan Navarro: Please feel free to come to ZOMBIEYEARS.com and check out the site and let me hear what you think. I really do want to hear form Fans and maybe even people who may not like the book, just so that I can see it from all sides. I also want to encourage folks to make their own Zombie Years story; next year we are prepping to make a anthology on Zombies and areas of the world, I want to hear about your neck of the woods, what would your home town look like under a zombie siege how would it go. You can always find on ZY or at my art blog, FWACATA.com
Horror News Network: Thank you for your time, Juan. Best of luck with The Zombie Years. Comment on this interview here. |
