It's time to hit the beach for another trip to the Weird Zone. Or, to be more specific, the first trip, technically. Yes, my previous experience with this series was actually its second book, The Incredible Shrinking Kid! But given that we're still deep into (Woo!) Party Summer, I couldn't think of a better time to give this one the much needed induction ceremony it needed. Will it a surf star, or is it just another day at the beach? Find out with Zombie Surf Commandos From Mars!
Liz Duffey starts the book outside Grover's Mill, I wanna call it a "breakfast" section. A donut shop with a giant donut sign, and a pancake house with a giant sizzling pan on it called U-Hop, because I don't care how weird Grover's Mill is, we have to ape off a popular spot somehow. See, Grover's Mill is often referred to as [[TITLE OF BOOK SERIES]] and Liz often refers to everyone except her friends as "Zoners", given their just as weird as the Weird Zone they live in. Which, I get given it's a term for the strangeness of Grover's Mill, but I don't know, it does feel like it's very close to just being a slur. Speaking of her friends, Jeff Ryan shows up with a copy of the newspaper called the Grover's Mill Gazette, which mentions something about exports at the lavatory finding spit on Mars, but given the Gazette has no proofreaders, it's actually the observatory which found a strange spot on Mars.
Their other friend, Holly Vickers, shows up and mentions her brother Sean isn't around at the moment. And no, not because he got shrunk because, if you couldn't tell, these books connect with the same characters, so that's something unique, especially for books of this era. They then get attacked by a blob monster. But of course, this is just Holly's dad in a costume since he's a prop designer/director/producer/everything for a horror studio, which he plans to use "Blobbo the Hideous Mutant Brainoid" for his next movie which he plans to show at the "Plan 9 Drive-In". Okay, killer name that one.
After that, the three head to the nearby lake called Lake Lake. No, it's not the laziest name for a lake ever, it's actually named for a former resident of Grover Falls who was only known as Old Man Lake. As they go to get hot dogs, they notice a foul smell and some teens complaining that their surf boards were stolen. And out from the water on surfboards are a bunch of strange humanoid creatures. Grey flaking skin, army uniforms, lack of noses on their faces. They take over the beach, scaring off the other people, except for Liz, Jeff and Holly. In fact, one toddler sees one of the creatures and screams "Zombie!" her first word. And once the creatures start playing volleyball with the body parts of one another, that's enough confirmation for the kids, Grover's Mill's got some zombies.
The zombies then circle in a drenched fire pit and one of them begins to play the bongos. A tall zombie, the leader, begins to sing that they used to be cool and shiny, but now they're dead and whiny. They need brains to survive or else they'll dry out and die before their mothership returns to take them back to Mar-zzzzzzzzzzz. The bongo zombie's hand breaks on the bongo and one of the fingers lands on a hot dog stand where the kids are at, with the finger then marking the forehead of Holly, which means she's marked for eventual brain consumption. But that's enough weirdness for the three to finally make a break for it.
However, the zombies almost get them before Jeff's mom arrives in a helicopter, because I guess she works with flying saucers but isn't very inconspicuous. I mean she says she "sells shoes", but that's still a flimsy poker face. After she leaves, the zombies continue after Liz and the others. They try to hide in the beach clubhouse, but are kicked out by their principal, Principal Bell, because they should be reading books for the reading program instead. If it's anything but the Reading Rangers I'll be upset. The kids return home where Holly is feeling weird and sluggish. There's still a dot on her head where the zombie marked her. Jeff's all let down, so Liz starts to sing for some reason. I guess because the zombies sang. The "weird" in this book's title is awful fitting right now.
Liz begins to suspect that this has something to do with the "spot" found on Mars. See, Holly's dad uses these super powerful floodlights at the drive-in to advertise, and it must have been so powerful, it emitted a beam to Mars, which caught the attention of the Martian zombies who now are stuck on Earth. They avoid more zombies and Liz makes it home where she's attacked by a zombie... and nothing happens with that. Okay? Jeff shows up, saying that Holly is missing and the two head out to find her as more zombies attack the town, including Principal Bell. The two find Holly, who has turned into a zombie, but isn't dead, so they might be able to reverse it. That's when Holly has the idea to lure the zombies to the Drive-In.
They find Principal Bell in a truck, zombified as well, and manage to get him to take them to the Drive-In since they're been reading with the reading program. So despite being zombies, they have some mind left. He drives, hitting several zombies as well. They make it to the theatre and tell Mr. Vickers that he's about to get a lot of undead customers tonight. They use the Blobbo costume to distract the zombies until the flying saucer finally shows up and blasts a beam on the aliens, which turns them back to normal, non-zombie Martians. They tell the kids (Holly's cured as well) that they were distracted by the lights and the movie playing which caused them to crash in Lake Lake, but everything's good now, so they make their leave. Jeff's mom shows up and says that it's a good thing they weren't zombies from Pluto because those are the brain eaters. I guess you really learn a lot when you sell shoes.
For the first book in a series, Zombie Surf Commandos From Mars isn't too bad. It is super rushed, which looks to be an issue that permeates with all of Weird Zone. But compared to The Incredible Shrinking Kid, this one uses the sum of its parts much better. It also has a few fun running gags like how whenever the kids mention the flaky skinned aliens, everyone thinks they're referring to an old lady named Mrs. Krafnutter, or how the zombies don't seem to want Jeff's brains and he's insulted. And the book is filled with action from as soon as the zombies show up, which doesn't take too long. It also pieces just enough of Grover's Mill as the weird zone to at least keep interest in readers.
Protagonists are alright. Liz is fine, but her "Zoners" mentality loses its charm nearly immediately. Like she's somehow above the weirdness of the town which feels kind of snobby in my eyes. Jeff exists to be the platonic boy character and Holly exists to be zombified. I love the idea of the zombie commandos, but the choice of having them sing is such a weird choice. Huh, "weird." How fitting. Again, I think everything works really well, and for being a quick read, it's a light recommend. If only it wasn't so fast-paced with everything, then it would have stuck with me better. But for light summer reading, I can't complain. I'll definitely have to come back to the Weird Zone sooner than later. Zombie Surf Commandos From Mars! Gets a B.
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