Jill tried to eat her boyfriend's brain. That's the kind of thing that just kills a relationship, so Jill is left on her own to try to understand what happened. Why was she so overcome with the urge to eat Steve's brain? A move to the countryside means Jill is able to re-assess her life and start anew. It also means that, without the television that was once ever-present in her life, Jill doesn't see the news reports about what seems to be a spreading zombie plague.

J. Marc Schmidt, creator of the hit graphic novel Egg Story, has returned to the comics scene with Eating Steve, a social satire about what happens when people shut off their minds, to be published by SLG Publishing in October. Schmidt was interested in zombies as foils to humans as he created this graphic novel

"Human beings are naturally curious, independent, learning, questioning, different, annoying, funny, reasonable, brave, alive -- lots of things," Schmidt said, "while zombies are mindless, are driven by instinct, rather than guided by reason, and are soulless and dead."

Schmidt sees metaphors for zombies all over modern society. "We kind of become zombies when we are put on hold on the telephone by a big company," he said, "or when we spend half our waking lives in a job we hate just for the money, or when we watch too much TV, and so on."

Schmidt depicts Jill's movement from a zombie-like state to life in the "clear line" cartooning style pioneered by his favorite cartoonist, Hergé. In this style, there is no variance of line weight or thickness. The simplicity of the visuals, matched with a tone that contrasts with the darker elements of the story, contribute to Schmidt's goal of producing a positive work. "I wasn't interested in doing a comic that was too negative or complainy," he said.

Eating Steve, an 80-page graphic novel, will be released in October 2007. It is now available for pre-order from Diamond Comics with the code AUG073319. It will retail for $5.95. A preview of the graphic novel is at SLG Publishing's website, www.slgcomic.com.

Established in 1986, SLG Publishing is a San Jose, CA-based publisher of comics books and graphic novels. Operating under its imprints Slave Labor Graphics and Amaze Ink, SLG Publishing has published graphic novels by such notable cartoonists as Jhonen Vasquez, Roman Dirge and Evan Dorkin. More information about the company can be found at its website at www.slgcomic.com.