What does it mean to live forever? Is it a blessing, a curse, or something less binary? These are the questions many fantasies – particularly of the apocalyptic zombie kind – presents us with, whether knowingly or not. “The Dead and the Damned” tackles it head on, starting from the curse and then asking my favorite question: Why? Come. Let us join a world most fierce, forged in steel and magic, in a place ravaged by the scourge of the undead.
Spoilers ahead
Cover by Kelly WilliamsIllustrated and Colored by Kelly Williams
Written by Sebastian Girner
Lettered by Jeff PowellA dark fantasy apocalypse set in a world that for centuries has been ravaged by a horrifying curse where all things that die return to wage war on the living.
Equal parts sword and sorcery epic and end-times road trip, The Dead and the Damned is a Mature Readers fantasy adventure featuring a sprawling cast of characters, jaw-dropping visuals, soul-wrenching drama, and a darkly humorous outlook on a world where the only fate worse than death… is life.
It’s always nice when I read a first issue and come away with a firm grasp on the series’ premise. It helps when that premise is modified by the actions of the first issue, thus changing what one thinks the series will be about.
With “The Dead and the Damned,” the opening sequence makes this miniseries appear to be the fight against The Gravehand, a necromancer who has raised the dead of this world into his neverending army. We would follow the final band of survivors as they attempt a last ditch effort to win, through triumph or defeat. Instead, we will follow this group but also another: the four heralds of The Gravehand, among them a betrayer king whose mystery punctuates the final pages of the issue.
Color me intrigued.
Speaking of color, Kelly does a wonderful job of crafting a desolate world out of grey watercolors punctuated by arterial red and magical blue spot colors. While I like the figure work – grotesque and grimy, everyone weathered by years of war and despair – I like the environments more. That’s where “The Dead and the Damned” shines most. It sets the story apart from the many other lush fantasies on the stands as well as other grey & bleak dystopias, overwhelmed by muddy browns and hard to see blacks. I mean, just take a look at the two-page spread in the middle of the comic, the first time we hear “to the west Albrecht.” Gorgeous and meaningful.
And that’s also where I think the comic really picks up. The opening half is good setup but nothing to write home about. Nice, standard fare with a clear voice leaning on archetypes to catch us up to speed. Those characters have yet to move beyond their archetypes into characters of their own. The heralds though, once “freed,” immediately establish themselves, injecting, ironically, life into the issue. Girner gives them distinct voices that feel natural with dialog that is both funny and contemplative. I also love how Jeff Powell’s lettering is the same for both the living and the dead, only with the colors inverted. Good stuff.
I do want to criticize the portrayals of the merchants in the middle of the series. Their role is to be one of the competing factions within the fractious alliance we’re following. They are not particularly scrupulous and are always shown to be scheming. They are, to be sure, props more than characters, which is fine. It moves the plot along and gives texture to the world. What’s not fine is how they’re visually presented, with steepled fingers and malicious visages, garbed in turbans and tunics: the very picture of a nasty stereotype.
It’s one panel too, which makes it stand out all the more, sucking me right out of the story and leaving a sour taste in my mouth. Yes, this is a fantasy world and yes the other characters in that scene are also props but that’s no reason not to take the comic to task for mindlessly reproducing a harmful stereotype that has persisted in fantasy fiction for years.
Continued belowBut let’s not end the review on such a sour note. “The Dead and the Damned” does plenty well and this is one black eye on an otherwise well done comic. For the sword and sorcery crowd, there’s the right balance of familiarity and novelty to make this a comic worth checking out. For those with less affection for the genre, it hits a solid balance of serious action and levity, like we’re watching two different DnD groups, one overly serious and sick of each other’s shit and the other newly thrown together, screwing around and figuring out their dynamic.
I enjoyed my time with this first issue. It didn’t blow me away but neither did it disappoint. If you have even a passing interest in sword and sorcery, general fantasy, or even zombie fiction, you’ll find a lot to love in this opening chapter and more than enough to want to see this ride out to the end. It’s even got a 5-page prose story in the back! The questions are tantalizing, the banter sharp, the party perfectly dysfunctional, and the art beautifully desolate. A fitting start to following the Dead and the Damned.
Final Score: 7.3. A solid start to a new sword and sorcery mini from a fledgling publisher. Come for the blood and undead guts and stay for the philosophical questions and banter.
