By: Dan Abnett (writer), I.N.J. Culbard (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colors), Travis Lanham (letters), Mark Doyle (associate editor) & Will Dennis (editor)
The Story: The murder-mystery set in a zombie-infested Edwardian era London continues.
Recap/Review (with minor SPOILERS): This was a challenging review to compose. I kept starting by saying that, “The New Deadwardians is different than typical zombie-fiction because of ABC…”, only to pause and realize that all zombie fiction included ABC. Then I’d begin again by saying it was different “because of XYZ…” only to realize that XYZ is also present in just about all zombie fiction. It was frustrating because The New Deadwardians is obviously fresh and different even if I couldn’t verbalize the proper adjectives. So, I did some household chores, walked on the treadmill, fed the dogs….and it finally hit me…..
The New Deadwardians is different because it is clean. This world has all the standard tropes of zombie fiction: ghouls hissing from behind bars, scarcity of resources and the danger of your fellow survivors. That’s all present in TND just as it is present in The Walking Dead. But, the difference is that these people look clean and civilized: They look like they’ve taken a bath recently; the well-to-do still have butlers and cooks; the upper class still dresses properly.
Combine this cleanliness with the fact that this story is set in 1910 London and that the characters all act so very English, and you get a VERY different vibe from this zombie story compared to TWD which is focused on a group of mostly uneducated rednecks who look pretty stinky and are eating expired pinto beans from a can.
We learn a LOT about the TND universe in this issue too. We learn of how the zombies arose and how the ruling class of England “took the cure” to become vampires who could protect King and country. Clearly they were successful and carved out a safe zone in London even if there are still the “restless” pressed up against the gates to Zone B (get it? “Zone B”). I enjoyed how the choice to “take the cure” seemed both self-serving and selfless at the same time. On one hand, you got a very strong vibe that the ruling class was interested in becoming vampires because they knew that would save them personally from the restless (zombies don’t recognize vampires as food items). But, on the other hand, you also get the sense that they are serious about the noble protecting the realm from this horrible threat. This dirty job is for people of good breeding! The concept is charming because while we have similar concepts in the United State (such as an all volunteer military), we would never see our “ruling class” unite to do anything. In the US, our “ruling class”, whether politicians or merely the wealthiest citizens, are too chaotic of a group. Certainly the general citizenry of the United States would never expect these jokers to do anything this noble on behalf of the country.
So, Dan Abnett has shown American readers a romantic notion of what the ruling class could be. Who knows if it really works this way in England (probably not), but it is attractive to think of a time when people claiming to be “the best among us” would live up to the term. It’s also a reminder of the shared history the US and England have. As I’ve heard English tour guides say, “And all of this history could have been your history too, if not for the pesky revolution….”
Returning to the story itself, the universe is unveiled using a murder-mystery as the vehicle. I was concerned after reading and reviewing issue #1 that we’d end up with too much of a police procedural for my tastes, but the story is so well done that it is quite enjoyable. The enticing thing about this dead body is that he’s a vampire (or “one of the young” as they call them in the book) but he’s not dead by gold or wooden stakes…..he’s just dead. How alarming! Could it be that there is another way to kill these vampires? When the ruling class traded in their humanity, did they just get “immortality-lite”? The case is also interesting because it has a healthy stench of perversion! This vampire was definitely up to some kinky things that he ought not to have been involved in. Run of the mill murders are boring, but toss in some amputations, false teeth and potential visits to sex clubs and you’ll interest a LOT more readers.
The art is a great match for the cleanliness of the story. In fact, the art is largely responsible for the perception of civility and cleanliness. Culbard reminds me very much of the art that Peter Gross brings to The Unwritten. He works in a general 6-panel grid format and keeps it clean. Most of the panels could have been ripped from Wally Wood’s 22-panels too. Very nice stuff.
Conclusion: I’m really enjoying this world. It’s a very fresh take on the zombie apocalypse.
Grade: A-
– Dean Stell
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