Dead High Yearbook

Dead High Yearbook by Ivan Velez is a comic that made me roll my eyes in exasperation by the time I got to the end of reading it. The packaging of the book is very nice, but this does not redeem the stories from bordering on inane. I felt like it was trying to be be innovative, cool and dark, but failing miserably because the writers missed the point and focussed on the shock factor instead of telling a good story.

I'm guessing this book is targetted at a teen audience, seeing all the characters are high school students. For a young person who has not seen much, this book might be fun and provide a few scares. It is a collection of stories telling the demise of young people from a high school, who will be entered into a yearbook that is put together by an editorial team of dead people. The characters include vampires, zombies, mutants and basically some individuals who refuse to die. For a jaded adult like me, though, the stories don't provide much new material. Admittedly some are quite gruesome and ickky but none give new perspectives nor do they entertain with fresh or clever twists.

So overall, it might be ok for an older teenager (I'd keep the visual blod and gore away from younger kids), but it would just be mindless and humourless reading for an adult.