You, Me, and Zombie; and the art of Agnes Garbowska

Todd Jepperson



If you follow the Convention circuit much, you may recognize today’s featured artist. Her work has been published multiple times by comic book overlord Marvel and also the popular trading card brand TOPPS. Today, though, we’re happy to present to you the cuddly-cute undead creations of Agnes Garbowska.

Born in Poland, Agnes moved to Canada when she was very young. There, she began to adventure through the pages of books, comics and the vibrant world of Saturday morning cartoons. Since then, she’s been hosting vast parades of uniquely styled characters and bringing us their stories. Agnes has been credited in Marvel’s Girl Comics 1 and 2, and if you follow this link, you can see her version of New Avengers No. 1.

Instantly recognizable, her distinguishing panache reflects themes like western comic art, Japanese “chibi,” and a softness akin to traditional eastern watercolor. At any given time, she’s busy updating her three webcomics, including You, Me and Zombie. In that comic, Olive wakes up one morning to find that her world has been turned upside-down and everyone around her has died and risen hungry. As I’m always looking for ways to share my diseased passion with my own kids, the all-ages aspect of the comic is a rare delight in this market.

She has been kept very busy by the Con circuit, as I mentioned before, but we worked through it and Agnes was kind enough to participate in an UNDEAD BAZAAR style interview:

First, Agnes, thanks for setting aside the time to hang out with our readers. This is one of our favorite things to be able to do. Now, I can pull the date from the first post on You Me and Zombie for how long it’s been running, but when did it really start?

The hard cover of the You, Me, and Zombie Prelude was a self-published release on around June 30th 2009. The web comic started up August 4th 2010 and is currently still running. I also self-published a web comic collection July 2011 that collected the web comics, including You, Me, and Zombie.



How did you get the idea to put Olive and Otis in a world full of cuddly zombies?

I always loved zombies and monsters ever since I was a kid. The only problem was that a lot of the movies and books I read when I was a kid scared me so bad I could not sleep at night, unless I left the lights on. I always knew I wanted to do an all-age zombie book, but I did not know how to go around it. That is when I got the idea of You, Me, and Zombie. The characters are based on my dogs (both Shih Tzus) by the same names. In real life Olive is very head strong and not afraid of anything, just like Olive in the story. Otis on the other hand is a bit of a coward, but when it comes to defending his sister he is always there. Otis in the story is the same, but will do anything to protect his owner Olive.

Why is it that you chose Zombies?

Because zombies are cool...and they totally creep me out. I thought they would make for a fun story.

Do you have a favorite Zombie Book/Movie/Game?

I have a bunch really. Favourite zombie comic is for sure The Walking Dead. Favourite movie, three come to mind and they are 28 Days Later, Zombieland, and Shawn of the Dead. I lost count of how many times I have watched these movies. Favourite zombie game would be House of the Dead at the arcade since I have such a blast shooting zombies with friends. At home I love Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead.

Do you have any favorite scenes or pages?

Page 9 of the web comic when Olive turns around to see her mom as a Zombie.

Do you update You, Me, and Zombie regularly, or is it just something you do on the side?

I try my best to update it regularly. Updating three web comics is not easy. There is always an update to at least 1 to 2 comics each week. Sometimes one misses a week depending on how busy I am with work.

Are you planning print and distribute any physical copies we can buy; or will your comic remain uniquely digital?

All my books can be bought at conventions that I attend. For information on the books and how you can get them head on over to the You, Me, and Zombie Blogger http://youmeandzombie.blogspot.com/. I update my convention list on the news part of my website which is http://mymisiu.com/.

Do you have any other projects on your plate?

I am currently working on two other web comics Imagination Station and Waking Up Abbey. Imagination Station is about three girls that imagine their whole world as a giant space adventure. Waking Up Abbey is about a girl who wakes up each morning with a new special ability. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I do accept commissions.

(click on the banners to view the comics)

Do you accept commissions, and if so, how can we submit requests?

I can be emailed at agnes@mymisiu.com to get on my commission list. I take a few commissions a month.

Do you have a preferred vendor for your art?

I am my own vendor really and I sell my books at conventions and my website. There are some comic store around Toronto and other cities who do carry my book too. Paradise comics in Toronto and Stadium comics in Brampton are some of the stores that carry my books. I am talking to Little Island Comics in Toronto, the first kids only comic story to carry both my Prelude and my web comic collection titled MyMisiu Gazette Vol. 1. I always post a list of up coming conventions that I am attending on the news part of my website http://mymisiu.com/.



We always like to give you the chance to choose whether we end your misery, or let you live on forever as one of the endless roving dead when the world ends. So, if you were bitten by a zombie, do we shoot you, or leave you alone?

Leave me be! In my story the zombies don't really "die". Olive is out to find a cure. If I am part of my story there is some hope for me! ....maybe.... If it's not part of my story, leave me be anyways. It might be fun being a zombie. Grr...Arrrggg....

After it’s all over and society gets back to normal, (if it ever does) and we were to make a collectible Agnes Garbowska figure; would you like to be a Zombie or Survivor? What kinds of accessories would you come with?

Survivor! I would like to have a cool outfit on, something cool. Kind of like what Alice had on in Resident Evil: Extinction. And I would like to have a bat. It's an easy must go to zombie fighting weapon. Or a machete if we make a figure not based on the no kill theme of my book. If we would do a cross over zombie/gears of war figure I would like a Lancer. Can you just imagine going after zombies with out of those? So cool.

Definitely. Gears of War. . . I’ve always thought of the Locust as undead anyway. The Lancer would be a definite game changer. The Torque Bow would also be amazing. Either fire it into the horde and even up the numbers a bit, or use it for some misdirection. A loud boom over there means all clear over here.

Anyway, back on topic here. Up for grabs is a copy of the Olive and Otis prequel to You, Me, Zombie complete with an added hand-drawn bonus sketch inside!

To enter to win, send an email with your name and address to MyMisiu@zombiesandtoys.com. Agnes, thanks for being such a good sport and hanging in through all of this. It’s definitely been a pleasure.