Zombocalypse Now is a comedy/horror reimagining of the classic choose-your-own-ending books. Written for adult geeks, the book places the reader on a blind internet date with the living dead, and then spirals out of control along any number of increasingly-bizarre paths. You'll be confronted with undead hordes, improper police procedure, the sexiest zombie ever, and the very real possibility that you'll lose your grip on reality and wind up chewing the carpets. Zombocalypse Now SRP: $14.95 SKU#: ATH CB001 Order Now From Alliance!

For added incentive, here's GTM graphics guru Matt Barham's robust review of Zombocalypse Now!

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Zombies have long been one of the horror genres most versatile ghouls. They’ve been used by master directors such as George Romero as substitutes for the social ills that plague us (such as Communism, Consumer Culture, the Military Industrial Complex, Corporate Corruption, etc.). With such a heavy-handed history, it’s nice to have someone give the idea of zombie as a serious metaphor a quick boot to the teeth and have some fun (Shaun of the Dead notwithstanding).

Matt Youngmark’s Zombocalypse Now hearkens back to the old school Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books we geezers in our 30’s grew up reading, although with remarkably fewer positive endings you can try to cheat your way to (Sure, like you never did that. Liar). In fact, out of the 112 possible endings the book boasts there are “At least seven in which you don’t die!” I went through ten adventures myself in preparation for this review and was able to survive approximately zero times. Clearly I’m doing something wrong.

The book starts off with you sitting listlessly in a generic spaghetti house contemplating the authenticity of “deep-fried ravioli blasters” waiting for the blind date you met on PerfectForeverLoveMatch.com to show up for what is sure to be an awful experience. This is also a good time to point out that you’re a stuffed bunny.

Once your date arrives it quickly becomes apparent that she’s more than just a crappy date, she’s a zombie and isn’t interested in eating any deep-fried ravioli blasters (I however, would split an order with you). From that point on your left with a series of tough choices on how to get your bunny butt out alive.

You now find yourself engaged in an epic struggle to survive, meeting a slew of strange characters along the way, from hyper-violent police babes, conspiracy-minded friends, wannabe Italian Scandinavian mobsters, metalheads in souped-up zombie killing vans, to surly teens more interested in texting than surviving. A great many of these people will not prove useful to your quest to make it out alive. At least they didn’t for me. Jerks.

It’s very disheartening to turn to a page after making what you think is the best choice ever only to be greeted by “The End” anchored mockingly at the bottom of the page. With such a poor survival rate, a great deal of the fun in this book is just trying to prove to yourself you’re not a complete idiot and finding a way to make it out alive. It’s quite a challenge, to say the least. And by the end of it all you’re forced to realize (for perhaps the first time in your life) that you’re not as totally awesome as you thought you were.

That was always the most fun aspect of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, the chance to attempt to vicariously live some action-packed Saturday morning cartoon style adventure. Even the most well written titles were always subject to wander off to nonsense where you, as John or Jane Anonymous, saved the day by fighting off a squad of highly trained ninja sasquatches (a very realistic situation to be sure, I had to fight off three highly trained ninja sasquatch squads today before lunch). By writing the book as a comedy/horror story, the author has allowed sophisticated adults such as ourselves to enjoy something that brings us back to our youth without any of the residual guilt that follows trips down memory lane. Also, you get to kill zombies.

It’s important in a comedy book that the jokes actually be funny. I’m sorry if this seems harsh to some of you but that’s really the name of the game. Thankfully, this is a legitimately comical book with great artwork (also done by Youngmark) that fits the tone of the book nicely. Each situation you find yourself in gets more and more absurd, but in an entirely enjoyable way. Youngmark is no hack, either. The book is well written and provides you with enough options that make sense (in the situation at least).

For an author’s first book, Zombocalypse Now is a pleasant surprise. Matt Youngmark has written and illustrated a fun way to spend a few hours testing your zombie survival mettle. Just accept that with a one in 16 chance of making it out alive that your survival mettle is going to come up awfully short.