I’m not entirely sure what I expected going into this, but it’s not what I got. Zombie Makeout Club sounds like something out of Tina Belcher’s erotic friend fiction. What I learned, after reading the entire manga and then doing some googling, is that Zombie Makeout Club is a brand of clothing sold at places like Hot Topic and Spencer’s, catering to fans of manga and Junji Ito. The story itself is called DeathWish.

The art is cool, but the plot is lacking. This is a horror manga, so of course it has its share of gore and violence. There’s no world building. This is the first volume, so I expected a little more of that. It’s about a teenager who is brought back to life after committing suicide. The description of this book states that she is piecing together her fragmented memories and trying to find out why she was resurrected, but if I hadn’t read the description, I would not have gotten that from reading the book. The characters kept referring to a backstory that isn’t included in the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me. I found myself lingering between pages just exploring the art. Fans of Junji Ito are not going to be impressed. If you’ve ever read his work, you know his imaginative storytelling and artwork are on another level. However, I think it would be right at home in the hands of the folks who love the clothing brand.

Big thanks to Peter Richardson, Diamond Book Distributors/ABLAZE, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. You can pre-order Zombie Makeout Club Vol. 1 on Amazon in multiple formats and begin reading it on November 22, 2022.