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Deadworld Restoration #1
Released by: IDW Publishing
Released on: December 4th, 2013.
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Brought to you by series creator Gary Reed and illustrator Sami Makkonen, this latest in the revamped Deadworld series picks up where the previous mini-series, the five part War Of The Dead, left off. In that series a rag tag group of survivors had to deal with 'the lepers' and the return of King Zombie, the character who goes all the way back to the series' roots with Arrow Comics way back in the eighties.
When this series starts up, the aftermath of the battle that took place is still a factor. Marah has survived and she meets up with some other survivors and we learn how Donna became a half human/half zombie hybrid that had some strange control over the undead hordes that now control the landscape but when she attacks a fellow human, it becomes obvious which side is in control. Those left alive are in need of medical supplies but there's none to be found though rumors of New Washington give some hope that, should they make the journey there alive, they might find an area protected enough from the zombies to make a go of it.
Away from this group is Clarence, a big black dude who also survived and who has been hiding out in a cave. But he's not really Clarence at all, see, because King Zombie has managed to learn to move his essence from one host body to another and so he exists Clarence's form and takes over the skinny white guy who found him in the cave. He slips on his trademark aviator shades and with Clarence now more or less just a zombie, the two of them get down to business.
The military, or some semblance of it, are around though - Sergeant Bowker and a few others are well armed and have a jeep, which gives them an advantage over everyone else. But Bowker's past with a sexy tattooed lady who is now more than she seems is going to be a problem. And on top of that, a few others have taken refuge in an abandoned insane asylum while The Dead Killer gets back to doing what he does best.
This is a complicated story if you don't know what happened before hand, but stick with it - Reed's obviously going somewhere with the script and Makkonen's artwork, which even occasionally incorporates the borders into the artwork itself, does a fine job of harkening back to the series' early days when Vince Locke's insane illustrations brought it to a sizeable audience, without ripping off Locke's style completely. The use of color is appropriately dire here, lots of Earth tones, browns and grays and heavy, inky blacks contrast with the occasional use of bright primary colors. When the blood flies, it really pops. This issue is heavy on dialogue but it appears to set up some interesting events in the next three upcoming issues.