UNDEADED review

(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
UndeadEd is another brilliant indy webcomic series on Line Webtoon. Done by Boredman, UE is a hit paranormal dark comedy about Ed, who's sort of stuck in a Limbo, not really knowing who he is in the afterlife. Complete with 120 installments (which amounts to around 480 panels), UndeadEd is another great read on LW, one I'd almost hazard to say you can't have a reason not to at least try it if you're reading this review.

The art is cutely cartoonish thanks to the aesthetic, character anatomy, and other neat visual elements. There are minor inconsistencies (like in one scene he has a reflection, when it's already established early on and brought up several times later that he doesn't have a reflection anymore), but again, they're minor and few and far between. All around the visuals are great, stylish, and fit the series very well.

The writing is top notch as well. The plot's nothing convoluted but it doesn't need to be, it's fairly straightforward with a few decent twists and red herrings. The narrative is compelling enough in what is really a character-centric comedy, I can let it get away with not being particularly "cerebral" for the most part (more on this later). If it were going for something high-minded I'd expect it to be so, but since it doesn't any complaints on that front seem trivial to me. The pacing is buttery smooth, zero complaints on that front. It doesn't seem rushed or too slow nor does it outstay its welcome. As I mentioned before, UndeadEd is character-focused, and the entire cast is great. Ed's no Gary Stu as main protagonists can be (he's actually kind of a dick, but a likeable asshole in a way) and the side cast is a lot of fun too. It's a very colorful group of characters and one of the many highlights in UE. The ending is pretty intriguing and very well executed, although to go into it would be to veer into spoiler territory.

Where UndeadEd could easily have faltered is in its humor, and thankfully it does not. There are a lot of jokes, some more subtle or darker than others, and most hit bull's eyes. It's clever, a little quirky, and just plain funny. Another big aspect is the dialogue and, again, in UndeadEd it works extremely well. A lot of banter, snark, and irony to it and a lot of characters have a distinct way of talking to 'em. For instance, there's a dude with an awful German "accent" and others use their own certain types of jargon that make sense.

UndeadEd is yet another must read indy series, much like Scurry and Oscar Zahn, although this one's very different and finished. As always, kudos to Boredman, who's now on to another series called Apocalyptic Horseplay, which I'll be checking into soon. Until then, UndeadEd gets a 9.5/10.

Must-read

Summary:
An excellent comedy due to its aced humor, brilliant dialogue, superb characters, great art and cartoony art style, perfect pacing, a compelling plot, and a great finale. For a free series, one might not expect something so phenomenal--assuming said person hasn't read other stellar indy series which also cost zilch.