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The New Deadwardians #1 of 8 Review

By Dan Horn
March 29, 2012 - 10:21

It feels rare that we see Dan Abnett writing comics without a co-author these days, and with The New Deadwardians #1, the fourth new title launched from DC's Vertigo publishing this year, readers are reintroduced--or maybe even simply introduced--to Abnett's formidable solo scribing chops.

This debut issue of the eight-installment miniseries presents several twists on pop-culture tropes, namely vampires and zombies. However, before you roll your eyes and dismiss The New Deadwardians, it's worth acknowledging the emphasis on those aforementioned twists. In this series, many vampires have assimilated functionally into London's Zone-A, a gentrified haven of the upper class, while in Zone-B the working class is forced to coexist with the Restless, ravening zombie analogues. It's a brilliant caste commentary, and a sort of Gothic Prince and the Pauper allegory in which an esteemed detective, George Suttle, finds his vampiric tendencies beginning to subtly reject his Zone-A acculturation. Couple that with a fantastic post-Victorian murder mystery and a dry British wit, and you've got yourself the best new Vertigo series yet, and one of the best new series thus far this year. Like Saucer Country, however, it's a bit of a short read and not much more than an introduction, but it's a brilliant introduction at that.

I.N.J. Culbard's artwork is clean and clinical, flawless in composition and deliberate in pacing and perspective. Culbard is undoubtedly in tune with Abnett's gift for storytelling, and the artist delivers something of a tour de force here.

Rating: 9 / 10

Last Updated: January 1, 2026 - 11:07