Admittedly I have not played the table top game upon which this is based, but Sparky certainly has me considering it. An enjoyable story, but no real meat to it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel.

What could possibly be better than facing the Zombie apocalypse with a smart and loyal dog at your side?

All fans of zombie fiction will enjoy this graphic novel and will wish they owned a dog like Sparky.

4 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog' by Kyle Starks with art by Gabo is a graphic novel based on a tabletop game.

The zombie apocalypse can be rough but when you have an amazing dog like Sparky, things can be a little easier. Sparky, who is a former TV stunt dog, hates zombies with a vehemence. When the people around Sparky are dumb enough to find themselves in a jail and an abandoned mall, Sparky may come to the rescue, wielding a katana in his mouth, so he can kill even more zombies.

I'm not familiar with the board game, but the premise is basic zombie survival with the same kind of stereotyped characters. The reason to read this is to see how ridiculous this dog is at killing. I would have liked better art.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Sparky a good ol dog , is surviving the winter apocoalypse full of zombies . The TV show stunt dog has turned into a zombie killing machine and just wants to get hugs from the people he is protecting . Will Sparky be able to keep his people safe .
The characters in the graphic novel are well written. Sparky is a cross between best friend and a zombie killing machine . All he wants is family and scratches . The story is good and you are taken on an adventure that will have you cheering . The illustrations are well drawn and I love the way the author took them . The dialogue is a bit cheesy at times but that's what makes it such a cute comic. Its a different take on the zombie apocalypse . This is a fun book that will have you reading all night long

An alright graphic novel - based on a board game, which is a first that I can recall. Gabo's art is good, but could be better in some panels.

A mostly interesting comic. It's definitely worth reading. I definitely thought it was better than I expected.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Air Bud meets The Walking Dead!

From the tabletop smash hit comes this new comic series starring your favorite characters from Plaid Hat Games' DEAD OF WINTER, written by Kyle Starks (the Eisner Award-nominated Sexcastle), and illustrated by Gabo (The Life After).

In the pantheon of superheroes, none are more loveable and loyal than everyone's favorite good ol' dog, Sparky. Surviving in the wintery apocalypse of the undead, this former TV show stunt dog turned zombie killing machine just wants to make friends and be a good boy. As his fellow survivors scavenge for supplies in the frigid wasteland, will Sparky be able to protect his companions from threats both undead and otherwise? Collects issues #1-4 from the "Good Good Dog" storyline from DEAD OF WINTER!

My Review:
First let me say that I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, but I'm really glad I got the chance to read it. I love the cover, and the art style of the entire book is just refreshing and nice to look at. It's super gory, but it reminds me of a cartoon at the same time, you know? It's a good balance. I like how everything is laid out too.

The book starts off with three people trapped in the living room of a house, looking out the window at the front yard, which is infested with zombies. They have no idea what to do, and desperately need a superhero to save the day. Little do they know, exactly that is coming their way. A truck pulls up with two people in it, Gabriel Diaz and Ruckus Burley, along with a dog with a cape. He knocks at the door and hands them a note, which says that the his name is Sparky, that he's a good good boy and you can trust him, and that they should run towards the nice man waving. They do, and narrowly escape with the three's help. They live at a colon in an old government warehouse, and although supplies are running short, everyone's still alive to give their opinions when they get back. This book is just really wild, and I loved every bit of it. It's exciting and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon, and another link to the Author and Illustrator's Twitter pages.

https://www.amazon.ca/Dead-Winter-Good-Dog/dp/1620104830/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529376555&sr=8-1&keywords=dead+of+winter+good+good+dog

https://twitter.com/TheKyleStarks
https://twitter.com/galvosaur

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

Good boy, Sparky! Interesting cross between The Walking Dead and Lassie. I liked the use of colors. The graphic novel was mostly in black and white with splashes of color. It was a fun quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

Sparky is the hero of Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog which is a comic rendition of an adventure in the game Dead of Winter. The zombie hating dog manages to help save many of the characters by providing warnings, knifes, swords and even knocking over a policeman by driving a car! With his red cape, Sparky provides a splash of color in an otherwise bleak landscape. If you like funny zombie apocalypses, do read Dead of Winter: Good Good Dog!

I was browsing NetGalley on a day I really shouldn’t have – a day I was submitting reviews to help get me to that sweet 80%.

I figured a quick glance at the graphic novels would be safe.

However, there ready to be read was Dead of Winter.

I.E. the board game that my boyfriend gifted me last year. That we play as much as we can when I visit.

And it featured and starred our favourite character Sparky the dog.

Um yess I was going to download it.

Story wise its pretty straight forward and there was a decent amount of nods to the game.

Focusing on surviving, coming across other characters, dealing with the consequences of whether to save them or not, searching for supplies to keep the group happy, and of course the zombies.

Sparky was a key character even though the majority of the graphic novel wasn’t from his point of view. We got to see a bunch of his flashbacks to help understand how he knew how to save people, the lives he’d saved and lost, and why he is still such a good good boy.

He a very good boy. All the pets for sparky.

One of my favourite nods to the game is the use of the same damage tokens that appear in game. If you recieve 3 of the red blood drops you’re dead and a blue frostbite that indicates you’ll take a damage per turn unless healed.

I think my biggest gripe is that the art wasn’t really my favourite. I felt Sparky was done to a better standard when compared to people. It wasn’t terrible its just not like my usual graphic novel choices – where I pick stuff up because the art is pretty and appealing to me.

I’m glad I still gave it a chance regardless. I read this is one sitting whilst waiting for food.

You'd think that a Labrador with a red cape and a katana slashing zombies would be awesome.

You'd be right. But he's the only awesome thing about this graphic novel.
I came for Sparky and stayed for Sparky. Nothing much else.

Sparky the dog saved the day and my rating.

"Zombies? I mean, we could've been hiding from dragons in a cave or, hell, I don't know, casting spells at tree people or something but we are...goddamn zombie apocalypse."

It's the zombie apocalypse. A group of people are housed together against hoards of zombies. Nothing new. There is very little character to the people in this comic and they have the classic "Oh this is a horrible situation but if we stand together we can overcome anything" conversation.

You're thrown slapdash in the middle of a world with a very crass art-style. And it's really gross. I mean it's not a quirky redeeming crass like the Crow.

There's also a crazy police cop who charges survivors for stealing from malls. It's really weird and not convincing.

But did I mention Sparky? Sparky is the best. He has nuances and he's just a goddam hero. He has flashbacks, character development and regrets. Sparky's hate for zombies is rooted in a deeply troubled past.

Not a bad comic at all (with a fantastic main character) but ultimately the plot and story fall flat.


I'll recommend this book for:
1)People who love dogs and dog character development (which is probably not a thing).
2) Not for people who like good zombie stories.

Excuse me. I'm going to go put a red cape on my Labrador.

I was almost immediately hooked on when I saw the cover, as I'm such a sucker for a good zombie comic book. Generally speaking,, it was good fun. On the positive note, it showed that authors are interested in the zombie narratives and it was fun for them to make this. I honestly liked this part of the book. If you have spare twenty minutes, I'd actually recommend this book.

However this was somehow disappointment for me. It seemed amateur at best. I felt like the artwork need some improvement as well, especially regarding faces. They seemed satirical from time to time.
Back to the story, it was really predictable and dull, especially, for somebody who read so many zombie books/graphic novels. As I said it gave me big time school project vibes. And I wasn't aware that you can make a Mary Sue out of a dog (which is honestly not that surprising, actually).

Copy was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had an interesting premise, but it it didn't keep my attention.

Lassie meets the Walking Dead. An offbeat zombie story about a group of people running from a brain damaged cop during the zombie apocalypse. Given a major assist by a dog with Lassie's brains and Krypto's body. Weird, absurd, off kilter, but I kind of liked it.

Yet another zombie comic, except here the lynchpin of the valiant band of survivors is a dog in a cape. And you know, I love Rick and Carl and Michonne, but a dog in a cape is always better. Sparky seems to be somewhere between Lassie and Krypto - or did he just play that role on TV? - but boy, that dog sure hates zombies. Also, because it's by Kyle 'Sexcastle' Starks, everything else in the story teeters forever on the blurred line separating the kick-ass from the absurd, although I guess this metaphor implies something which is one usually can't be the other, and that's foolish because in a Kyle Starks story most things are both. Well, except the reprobate in the Santa suit. He's mostly just a dick.

The only way to describe this is: Lassie and The Walking Dead do a crossover episode and someone turns it into a graphic novel.

"Dead of Winter" was a super quick graphic novel which I managed to read in one setting. It follows a group of survivors stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. And no matter how tough or rough the situation, Sparky, who used to have his own show prior to the outbreak, always manages to show up and save these stupid peoples' behinds.

I found the artwork in "Dead of Winter" very enjoyable. It was a lot of black and white, probably because it's set during the winter, with other bright colors thrown in. Sparky appears to be a golden retriever or a lab and is always wearing a red cape, as we all know must heroes should.

"Dead of Winter" touts itself as a spin-off comic from a game I've not heard of. However, it does stand on its own and at times, was quite humorous because it tends to make fun of some well-known zombie tropes. If you enjoy graphic novels, zombie or dogs, you've no excuse for picking this one up.

**Big thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this one!**

I'm loving this dog, and this dog seriously HATES zombies! It has its moments of funny, and its moments of dead serious. (get it, dead???)

Ok, ok. Great artwork in here, I did like the story, and especially enjoyed the extra cover art at the end. But there isn't much development of any characters. It's like a glossed over walking dead reboot.

I am going to want to see more of this series, because there are loose ends. It felt the end of this was just too quick. Too much buildup, but if there will be more to come, that's going to work itself out.

Good gory zombie fun, with a zombie-killing dog in a cape for good measure! If you're looking for a fun alternative to the more existential zombie comic fare, or just want to see a dog go Kill Bill on the undead, this is a comic book series for you.

I didn't have any hopes for an original story with this one, but I expected it to be entertaining. However I found myself not even caring whatever happened with the characters. The art and dialogues were both pretty uninspiring. If there was even a bit of humor, I couldn't find it.