I always tend to be cautious when reading comics about rednecks and hillbillies. They tend to be predictable, full of unfunny potty humor, and lame jokes. American Wasteland took me by surprise; while it isn’t a fantastic or witty comic, it is much better than others set in the American Mid-West. We follow a truck driver who ends up being attacked by zombie vampires—that’s an interesting take, for sure—and quickly befriends locals. They fought off some zombies, but then he ends up with a mentally retarded boy who can only say “sumbitch.” That’s his only vocabulary; I’m not joking. This isn’t for comedic relief either; the comic is deadly serious. As you follow this driver’s escapades, he ends up having to fight off the leader of these zombies. You also run into a military encampment and a badass girl. The dialog itself isn’t anything amazing—just a bunch of rednecks talking smack to each other while they work out terms to exchange supplies. Everything ends up going wrong, but it is still entertaining.

There’s a lot of gore in this comic, and it’s pretty graphic. The art is fantastic, so it gets big props for that. The overall story feels very linear; the journey only goes so far, and then you end up back at the beginning. I also would have liked to have known where this zombie vampire thing came from and maybe even another character to follow. What’s here is entertaining but very forgettable in the end.