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Chris Ryall Starts Ongoing Zombies Vs. Robots For IDW

by Vince Brusio

When the world goes to hell, who will be left standing, directing traffic? Odds are it will be Chris Ryall, and he will tell you that you have to share the sidewalk with those who are suffering more from the radiation. You’ll get a second class pass, and will have to make way for those featured in Zombies Vs. Robots #1 (NOV140399), the new ongoing series that restarts Ryall’s series so that we can all make way for giant zombie squids, and much more lunacy!

Zombies Vs. Robots #1 (NOV140399) is in comic shops January 21.

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Article Image 48b0PREVIEWSworld: For those who may not be up to speed on what you’re doing with Zombies Vs. Robots #1, how would you talk about it to an audience at a Comic Con? How would you talk about it to an audience that wouldn’t be familiar with what came before with previous Zombies Vs. Robots tales?

Chris Ryall: Since I just did talk about this one to a comic-con audience in NYC and got a decent reaction, I feel safe in answering this one. I mentioned there that when ZvR started, Ashley Wood (the artist) and I basically started at the end of the story: only one human infant was alive in issue 1, dead by issue 2, and then we nuked the entire planet. So my approach here was… to just move forward from that point. So we pick up a year later, where humans in various spots (underground, on a space station, on the moon) still live and make their way back to Earth. Zombies are still somehow streaming into the world from somewhere, which is a mystery that gets addressed early on; there's also a mysterious guy on a moon base who may or may not be human, the long-promised appearance of mermen, and a giant zombie squid, a very different kind of robot, hints at possible zombie sentience, and much more lunacy. And that's just in the first few issues. Basically, I catch readers up to date with the world in issue 1 and plow forward from there in hopefully unexpected and entertaining ways. So anyone who comes to this new will be easily able to jump right in, and long-time readers might see a few familiar places, faces and settings along the way, too.

I set out here to not only restart the book in a new way but also to establish a more firm continuity, treat humans as more than fodder, and give people anything but a normal story.

PREVIEWSworld: Why is it the right time to commit ZvR to an ongoing series?

Article Image b55bChris Ryall: Because this is a world that's gone largely unexplored thus far -- like I say, the world got nuked early on, and then we spent much of our time in later series underground or on a Greek island. But now, a year after the bombs fell, the nukes changed the world, the zombies and the robots in different ways, so what we're doing here is hopefully much different and definitely more lunatic than other series featuring zombies or robots.

And also, in addition to what I'm doing here with artist Anthony Diecidue, and Ashley Wood's work, we also have Steve Niles and Howard the Duck co-creator doing some amazing stuff on a second story, "The Orphan," in each issue.

PREVIEWSworld: Without giving away too much, what scene(s) would you most likely want to blog about as being representative of the tone or fun factor for the first story arc?

Chris Ryall: Well, early on, some astronauts who make their way back to earth are taken to an undersea base by mermen and a giant zombie squid, there's an homage to Fulci's movie Zombi 2, and then the really crazy stuff starts happening.

PREVIEWSworld: What is the most challenging aspect about writing this series?

Chris Ryall: Like with any smaller book in today's world, the challenge is reaching and engaging readers on an ongoing basis. I have a lot of new ideas for this book and would love to really build it up into something it's not yet been, so I'm hoping the approach we're taking here will do just that and ensure a nice long run on the book. The writing part isn't the challenge as much as just figuring out which ideas best deserve the space on the page. I love writing these arrogant and posturing robots, bringing in ridiculous things like zombie minotaurs and squids and locusts (coming soon), and now spending a bit more time in giving readers human characters to follow, too. I definitely keep the focus on the zombies and robots, and have some new ideas for both sides, but I do think that having humans who don't just serve as cannon or zombie fodder right away isn't a terrible thing, either.

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PREVIEWSworld: If people want to know more about this book by touching base with the creators, what social media sites should they visit?

Chris Ryall: I tend to post a lot of artwork, from this and other IDW titles and artists, on my Tumblr page, but Twitter is probably the best spot to find me, Ashley Wood, Anthony Diecidue, and Steve Niles doing our daily thing there. (And I'll further add that following Ashley Wood on Instagram is hugely rewarding for anyone who likes his art, his designs, and his toys).

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