AUTHOR: TOM TAYLOR | ARTIST: JAMES HARREN, STEFANO GAUDIANO, TREVOR HAIRSINE | PUBLISHER: MARVEL COMICS | FORMAT: SINGLE ISSUE | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
All hell breaks loose when a deadly virus infects an alternate reality comic book universe, turning beloved superheroes into slathering bloodthirsty zombies. This isn’t Marvel Zombies though, nor is it even their variant on the theme, Marvel Universe vs The Punisher. This is DC finally getting in on the superheroes-as-zombies action, with Tom Taylor helming the alternate universe event.
Things begin in an unassuming regular Justice League manner; the situation looking bad for Cyborg, but not apocalypse-level bad. Kidnapped by Darkseid after their latest battle, Cyborg is infected with a techno-organic virus which, upon contact with humans, turns its hosts into vicious zombies. Ejected from Apokolips before he can do any damage there, Cyborg lands on Earth as Patient Zero, promptly turning millions of people into snarling, face-shredding zombies.
With his virus spread by cell phones and social media (going viral, geddit), Taylor sets a different tone to any of Marvel’s various zombie apocalypses, bearing more in common with Stephen King’s Cell than your traditional 28 Days Later style story. The zombies themselves are a little different too; more Crossed than The Walking Dead.
There’s an enjoyably nippy pace to the story, letting readers get a glimpse of the action before cutting to its first cliffhanger. And what a cliffhanger! DCeased #1 offers some of the most cinematic storytelling seen in a comic book, playing out like the ideal amalgamation of horror comic and superhero story. The art team (Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Guadiano and James Harren – with colours from Rain Beredo) do a tremendous job of working within these two wheelhouses, grounding our heroes and their actions while also being very recognisably a part of the DC Universe. Most importantly, Taylor gets the characters just right, which will make their imminent downfall all the more upsetting once the zombie spit really hits the fan.
It’s hard to offer anything new when it comes to zombies these days, but DCeased #1 is off to a good start, offering a relatively fresh hook and exciting creative team. There are a lot of ways this one could still go off the rails, but it’s an impressive debut from the inevitable DC Zombies.
