Newt Manwich, the nome de plume of Troy Gonzales, has been a frequent subject around this blog with the weekly reprinting of our KandyLand strips. As Newt, Troy’s works appeared in my anthologies Weird Business (he penciled my story), The Wild West Show, and The Big Bigfoot Show. Together, we produced a story for JAB #6 (1995) and the Zombie Boy mini-comic "Dead Plains Drifter" (1994). The latter is very rare with perhaps 50 copies produced.

A creation of Mark Stokes (who illustrated my LemonHead tale in JAB #5), Zombie Boy, as the name implies, relates the comedic adventures of an undead kid. If memory serves, Stokes was looking for back up tales by other creators to include in a new Zombie Boy series. For whatever reason, the series never happened, so Troy and I decided to produce this mini. The back cover of the comic features a kick-ass Kid Corpse pin-up by Stokes and the inside front cover advertises a series of mini-comics illustrated by Gonzales and written/published by "Dr. Joe Guy Pan."

In celebration of Newt Manwich’s birthday, I’m reprinting the entirety of Zombie Boy in "Dead Plains Drifter."

Click on images to enlarge