'Zombie Broadway' (Virgin Comics)

As you know, I'm a big fan of zombies so whenever I see new zombie stuff (books, comics etc) it's a safe bet that I'll be checking it out sooner rather than later. It was with this attitude that I picked up a copy of 'Zombie Broadway' at the weekend but having finished it all I can say is, "Nice idea, shame about the execution..."
New York has been infested with zombies and it's 'last resort time' for the US President who is about to authorise a nuclear strike on the city. At the very last minute the Mayor of New York comes up with an surprise development, it's been discovered that zombies love music and this could be the way to regain control of the city. What's the best way to do this? Put on a Broadway show with zombies in the cast and audience...
Now, I love it when someone goes for a 'new spin' on any genre as it's this kind of thinking that keeps things fresh and interesting. If it doesn't work though (well, it didn't for me) then the whole thing just ends up falling flat on it's face! My first issue was the artwork where, although I could make out who the main characters were, everyone just seemed to merge into one faceless being. Really difficult to follow the story if you can't make out who's who... The second issue I had is more subjective, I felt that the focus was wrong and more attention was paid to the infighting between the theatre staff than the zombies themselves. This is meant to be a comic about zombies but it came across (to me) like a more of a soap opera full of backstabbing, affairs etc. That wasn't what I was after but that's what I seemed to get! The ending didn't make a lot of sense either. After everything had been wrapped up, an ending was tacked on that seemed like it was there just to shock rather than add anything meaningful...
Like I said at the start, 'Zombie Broadway' had a good idea behind it but came across (to me) like it had been set loose just that little bit too early. At least I have my 'Walking Dead' comics to fall back on!