Meat Eaters

Ashley Moore had a foolproof plan:  Keep her head down.  Get good grades.  Graduate community college.  Get a scholarship to any college that would allow her to get the hell out of Twill, her hometown.  That all changed the day she woke up dead.  Now she doesn’t breathe, doesn’t have a heartbeat, and only craves fresh meat when she’s hungry (though coconut water will do in a pinch).  Oh, and she also has to learn about being undead and part of a brand new community that includes vampires, werewolves, and other things that go bump in the night.  Fortunately they’re all the friendly sort, except for those who aren’t.

This comes to us from creator Meredith McClaren who’s best known around these parts for illustrating “Heart in a Box” and “Black Cloak.”  Those two titles were both written by Kelly Thompson, but McClaren proves to be a pretty solid writer in her own right.  While the story doesn’t break any new ground, it succeeds in giving us a likeably anxious protagonist in Ashley.  She’s understandably freaked out by all this, but in a way that feels relatable while also getting her out into the world and forcing her to have new experiences.  Like finding out that bear mace also works on vampires (a little).

It also helps that McClaren’s art looks better than ever here.  She’s got a detailed thick-lined style that immediately seem like it’d be suited for drawing supernatural stuff, but there’s an etherealness to it which makes it work.  Her characters are also wonderfully animated, which helps sell the funny bits and the dramatic bits equally well.  The story doesn’t shy away from the latter, though, which isn’t as much of an issue as it would seem due to the subject matter.  It has the effect of making “Meat Eaters” feel like it’s all over the place, tonally, but with a story and characters that manage to feel at home wherever it is.