Eclectic publisher NBM has some tempting new books, one of which is even in tune with the season.
"Zombillenium Volume 2: Human Resources" ($14.99) is the second volume in a series featuring a horror theme park somewhere in middle America, staffed entirely with various familiar monsters who have to restrain themselves from eating the tasty-looking customers. Because who wants to go back to the bad old days of angry villagers with pitchforks and torches?
But this uneasy detente between humans and things that go bump in the night hits a snag in this volume: unemployment. With more than 20 percent of the humans in the surrounding area looking for jobs, one of the biggest local employers — Zombillenium — is a flash point for its policy of only hiring the unliving. As tempers flare, humans infiltrate the park intent on sabotage. Meanwhile, a strangely familiar — and really irritating — patron is threatening a lawsuit because her enormous girth failed to get through a turnstile.
Also, the disembodied, motorcycle-riding skeleton Sirius has been kidnapped by skinheads. Finally, the staff is getting restive, keen on taking bloody revenge over all these insults. Unless manager Francis von Bloodt (a vampire, naturally) can solve all of these dilemmas, those pitchforks and torches loom on the horizon.
The first volume surprised not only in its inventiveness, but in avoiding generic story lines and familiar scenarios. The stars that emerged from "Zombillenium" were a teenage goth witch and a human who had the misfortune of being bitten by a werewolf and a vampire simultaneously. None of that could have been predicted from the setup, so their star turns — with a hint of romance — were unexpected. Spoofs usually stay in familiar ruts instead of blazing trails, but "Zombillenium" takes the latter course.
"Human Resources," remarkably, does the same. Our stars from the first book blend back into the large (and ingenious) cast of supporting characters, while new heroes and villains take the limelight. Once again, it's nearly impossible to guess where the story is going, until the various strings are tied together in a satisfying climax.
All of this imagination is courtesy of French artist and animator Arthur de Pins, who illustrated the book entirely in Adobe Illustrator. His work is Disney clean, direct and — despite the subject matter — delightful.
On the non-Halloween front, "Beauty" ($27.99) is more disturbing than "Zombillenium." What it reveals of the human condition is a horror story in its own right.
