The New Deadwardians by Dan AbnettMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Though it deals with zombies and vampires, I tagged it for my "mystery and detective" shelf because it is more of a mystery tale than an actual horror tale, plus the gore factor is pretty minimal. Considering the crappy way zombies and vampires have been handled lately, this is actually a pretty good tale that offers a pretty refreshing take on both. The premise is this: during the reign of Queen Victoria, a zombie outbreak occurs. England is now segregated with zombie areas, human areas, and then higher class vampire areas separated. Yes, you see, in order to avoid becoming zombies, the higher classes have voluntarily taken "the cure," a.k.a. becoming vampires. So, we have the vampires (known as "the Young"), the zombies (known as the "restless"), and everyone else (called "Brights"). In the midst of this we have our protagonist, a young chief inspector from Scotland Yard who is the last detective assigned to the Murders Desk. After all, with most of the population undead somehow, there are not too many murders happening.
But a murder does happen when a Young is found dead in a river shore. How is that possible? The corpse does not show the usual causes of vampire death: decapitation, impalement of the heart, or burning, and he is missing a hand. What is going on? As our vampire detective strives to find the answers, he finds that the case touches on the highest echelons of British society and government. Some do not really wish for him to learn the truth. Abnett puts together a pretty good Edwardian era murder mystery. At the same time, he also does some very good world building, and we get a very good picture of what this new chaotic world is like. Vampires here are handled pretty well and in a pretty humane way. Our protagonist pretty much shows the price of being immortal.
Overall, this is definitely a must read graphic novel. It is labeled for mature readers, probably due to some brief nudity scenes.
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