David Baillie, where to start? Well, as with most of his previous comics, Baillie again delivers with his trade paperback collection of Tongue of the Dead. It contains all the three issues of the series, and a whole host of extras at the back of the book. More on that later. His writing is great. It's a finely crafted story about an unwilling barbarian (Totox Bund), who is recruited to journey with a man to a place of zombies. Along his travels, Totox meets a man named Kilgore who appears to be invisible to all except Totox. From there it's really two stories, as we see how a man recruits Totox, and to what lengths he is willing to go, and then the latter story of Totox's return to his town, and his want for a peaceful life.

Baillie's dialogue is great, nothing ever seems out of place, and the characters are totally at home with themselves. The writing, and the actual structure of the stories is done with such care and attention, many filmic links are used that are just great, and you don't see enough of in comics. In the second chapter there's a great part where Baillie uses 6 small square panels of eyes to link up these two scenes, and it just works so well. Dave also managed to keep the surprises coming, I didn't guess half of what happened, and it's not revealed in a "this is so crazy you'd never have guessed" kind of way, but in a logical surprising way. The story is also chock full of Baillie's trademark humour, while keeping a serious tone to the fantasy. However, I will have to say that not much seems to happen in the 81 pages of the story, it's the standard story format of hero ventures out and returns with a big battle at the end, but Baillie's pacing and humour and writing manages to keep you entertained throughout the whole story.

The artwork is just what you'd expect from Dave, clean, cartoony, but very suitable for the story. There's a few places where some characters seem a bit out of proportion, and many panels are simple white spaces with characters. It's hard to say much more than that, because if you already know Dave's style of artwork, you know to expect a great consistent quality that only he can pull off, and if you don't already know it... what are you waiting for?! This is the perfect opportunity to check out Dave at his best.

The extras at the back of the book (including some great funny "interviews" with zombies, notes and sketches, and a short prose story by Baillie) is almost worth the purchase itself. Writing some great zombie parts ("Iiiiiiii... Faarrrttt") and just showing off his great and funny linework, and the notes and sketches are a great insight into the mind of Baillie. The final short story is also worth the read, but quite honestly fails to live up to Tongue of the Dead itself. I can't find much to fault with the book, it's just standard David Baillie. And standard David Baillie is always top notch work, fun linework coupled with interesting and funny stories. Can't recommend it highly enough!