The New Deadwardians #1 of 8
Written by Dan Abnett Art and cover by I. N. J. Culbard
Reviewed by Steve Seigh
Chief Inspector George Suttle of Murder Squad is not having a good night. He can’t sleep, there are strange noises coming from below his bedroom, and a zombie is in his kitchen, currently munching on poor old Mrs. Hedley. The Deadwardians is most certainly an intriguing read. Often times #1 issues of comics like to pull out all the stops, laying on the bells and whistles on nice and thick, and belt you in the face with a cliffhanger at the end. However, The New Deadwardians #1 is much more subtle in the delivery of it’s intrigue.
Something terrible has happened to the city of Marylebone, London that has caused it to be divided into two specific zones. Zone-A is where the seemingly still living citizens reside, while Zone-B is crawling with the undead. Unrest between the two zones appears to be mounting and very soon Inspector Suttle and his compatriots over at Scotland Yard may very well have quite the apocalypse on their hands very soon. What’s more is that dead bodies are beginning to show up around town, leaving the police quite baffled.
The pull of this story isn’t in it’s rather refined art style, but more in the mystery that revolves around the book’s quirky characters. Rather than give you too many pieces of the puzzle this first issue spends much of it’s pages introducing you to the language of our characters and the overall “feel” of the town in which our story takes place. Personally, I found this to be a rather good way to go for a first issue. With seven more issues planned for the series there’s plenty of time to get to all of that zombie nonsense further down the line. But make no mistake, there is more than enough here to keep you reading and make you want to check out the next issue.
VERDICT
Check it out – If you’re looking for a new zombie book, one that seems to have plenty of mystery and colorful characters contained within it, you might find yourself very pleased with The New Deadwardians. It won’t be for those looking for a fast paced read, but it’s new, it’s fun, and it’ll keep you interested none the less.
