VIETNAM ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST #2
Issue 2 of Vietnam Zombie Holocaust picks up where the first left off and continues in exactly the same way, with the hero platoon battling groups of marauding undead in increasing frustration at not knowing what the hell is going on. The blackly humorous tone is kept up, with lines like “We’ve been ambushed a few times – first by a donkey, then through the night by dead farmers” delivered utterly straight, while the grim determination of the soldiers to make it through the chaos alive is evident in their every facial expression.
The comic doesn’t ignore the human side of war, or more specifically the dehumanising aspect of it, and acknowledges both the fact that soldiers are often forced to do awful things in order to just survive and the constant exposure to the horrors of death having a detrimental effect on your sanity, ever-growing army of undead or not. A zombie baby suckling on its dead mother’s breast is not something you forget in a hurry.
The artwork continues to impress, capturing the tropical heat of outdoor expeditions, the windowless isolation of secret laboratories and the cramped claustrophobia of underground tunnels. A memorable sequence juxtaposes some bloody zombie carnage with several bright and colourful panels featuring a troop concert with a country singer and a couple of busty backups, and one glorious page sees a zombie soldier with a necklace of ears crawling out of a muddy hole in torrential rain while jagged flashes of lightning illuminate the night sky behind him.
As present characters begin to fall one by one when the zombie virus takes over, a few new ones are introduced such as a one-man army Special Forces soldier who appears to be played by Chuck Norris, while the final panel promises even greater violent madness to come.
INFO: VIETNAM ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST #2 / WRITER: GEORGE LENNOX / ARTIST: JAMES DEVLIN / PUBLISHER: CULT EMPIRE COMICS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
