Review

"That pervy bitch just grabbed my ass!" - Sabrina

Issue #9 of Decay magazine sees Editor Darren Koziol adding the finishing touches to the changes set in motion through Issue 8. While Decay still retains the story orientation that first drove people to its doors, the various Artists continue to exert themselves, and the photo journalism entertains, added into the mix are things like reviews and the short and sharp "Tales 2 Tremble By". Issue #9 is memorable for the final fling of Splatt the Zombie Cat and the return to newsstands of a venerable Australian cartoon character, more on that later. Let's rock into the lab and see what Koziol has on the slab.

The excellent cover for Issue #9 by Dave Heinrich only serves to whet our appetites for Oz Zombie carnage with clearly the long awaited return of our South Australia duo to the fray. While the resulting story Oz Zombie Tales: Pit Stop doesn't spell it out, we're clearly still talking Dan and Sally tooling around the post-apocalyptic wastelands head shooting zombies as a fair clip. While I enjoyed the story, and Cristian Navarro continues to impress with the artwork, I'm still sweating on a return to a downtown Adelaide mall and what looks like an impossible situation. Don't be making me wait long Koziol, I'm a reader on the edge and I have a Jack Russell terrier I'm not afraid to unleash!

In what is rapidly becoming a regular feature, not complaining yo, we get a Sisters tale titled in wonderful "B" movie grandeur Cheerleader Massacre that sees the three best vampires in the history of comic books trying out for the squad, oh and having a bite to eat. Danikah Harrison is solid in visualising another Koziol fable of blood and mayhem. I know there's a one shot of the Sisters coming from Dark Oz Productions, but fingers crossed they keep cropping up in Decay, loving me some decent vampire action over here.

Drop your linen and start your grinning folks Issue #9 marks the return of the infamous Killeroo to Oz comics in the lead off story redneck wonderland. It's been a long time between Rufus drinks, but well worth the wait. Darren Close might be treading some old ground story wise, we're talking a reboot here so totally acceptable, but shows his skills with the art supplies have hit warp factor nine with a highly impressive display. I'm hoping Decay becomes a regular haunt for the marsupial anti-hero, but also have my fingers crossed a one shot or graphic novel might be in the works. Close and Koziol working together? - we're talking the collapse of civilisation folks.

Okay so the sharp eyed amongst the readership are probably at about this stage screaming out pull the buggy up to the bumper we're a couple of stories short on regular contents. Fear not, on top of the standard length stories you also get a bumper crop of seven "Tales 2 Tremble By". That's some reading you got ahead of yourself, and let's be honest here Koziol lays down some pretty gruesome vibes to keep the claret flowing. Interesting we get two takes on the old story of being shipped wrecked without any food, and also a twist on the staring into the abyss funk.

On top of the story line-up the usual features remain fresh and alluring, keeping Decay rocking like a night up the Cross. Darren Koziol lays down a solid editorial, we get a bunch of hosts including the return of Dead Ned, two pictorials of recent events of interest to dark genre fans (Avcon Adelaide and Supernova Sydney), a teaser for the forthcoming Sisters one shot, and Darren Close jamming on the Killeroo feature. I did mention we get a couple of reviews right?

Overall I had a real good time with Decay #9, actually I have had a rocking time with each issue so far, Koziol presents an issue just perverse enough to have most dark genre fans lapping it up. Perhaps the only real problem I had with the issue was a slight dip in story quality from preceding issues. Don't get me wrong, you are still in for a hell of a time, but I get the feeling Darren Koziol might be stretching himself slightly too much to maintain the absolutely high standard Decay has been putting down since Issue 1.

Before summing up I would just like to extend a huge thanks to GOO for the remarkably entertaining Scatt the Zombie Cat. The strip has been a regular feature of Decay since Issue #1 but with Issue #9 we bid a fond fair well to the undead feline.

Issue #9 of Decay is available from Dark Oz Production for a very reasonable $10 that should have most readers happy with life. Actually most of the previous Issues remaining in stock so knock yourself out friends and neighbours, buy a whole bunch of em and have a rip roaring summer.