After a week of teases, DC Comics have announced the plot of “DCeased,” an event series from writer Tom Taylor and artists Trevor Hairsine, Stefan Gaudiano, James Harren and Rain Beredo starting in May.
The six-issue comic will take place outside mainstream DC continuity, and will see the DCU’s heroes confronted by a horrifying techno-organic virus created by Darkseid, which spreads to the world’s networks and infects roughly 600 million people via their screens – those infected begin to scratch and tear at their own flesh until they inevitably become a rage zombie. At first, it’s up to Batman to stop the pandemic, but as Tom Taylor tells IGN, “Without wanting to spoil too much, our virus affects the mind. Can Batman fight something that’s part of him? Or will Bat-god be revealed to be as mortal as the rest of us?”
Taylor explained that since the comic takes place in its own universe, “the stakes are real. We can tell a story without holding back. No one you love is safe. Even the icons can fall.” The writer previously penned the tie-in comics for the Injustice video games, which depicted a world where Superman had become a vengeful tyrant. He told IGN, “The idea [for ‘DCeased’] originated with editor Ben Abernathy. He had an idea to do a horror/zombie tale at DC, and hit me up to ask if I’d like to be involved. At the time I was pretty busy, but over the next few days, my mind was racing. I couldn’t stop thinking of new and terrible ways to torture my favorite heroes in ways that made ‘Injustice’ look tame by comparison.”
“DCeased” #1 will be released on May 1. Head on over to IGN for some (graphic) early artwork in the meantime.
