Tom Taylor's DCeased Franchise is Unkillable, Launches Sequel

Tom Taylor's DCU Zombieverse marches -- or perhaps, I should say -- shambles on with this new chapter set in the strange new world of the zombie apocalypse...with superheroes!

After Darkseid released a corrupted anti-life equation (which killed him and all of Apokolips), Cyborg became the seed for infecting the rest of the Earth when it broadcast from him to every digital device on the planet. If you looked at a screen, you saw the equation. If you saw the equation, you became a zombie...who could, of course, make other zombies by scratching, biting or otherwise enountering another human being. Or Themysciran. Or Kryptonian.

That's right. Earth's mightiest heroes have been given over to the scourge, and many have been put down for good. But the world is still in the throes of an undead cataclysm, and those who survive aren't necessarily those of the purest hearts. Take, for example, Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke. His healing factor helps him stay human even if he gets infected and becomes a temporary zombie. He has one goal -- to save his daughter, Rose. But in so doing, he becomes recruited into a band of surviving super-villains led by the immortal Vandal Savage, who wants to prepare them to inherit what remains of the world with tnis extinction event plays out.

Playing out alongside this scene is the tale of Jason Todd -- the Red Hood -- returned home to Gotham City to find Batman, Nightwing, and Robin dead in the Batcave. (It's a little odd, as Robin is clearly not Red Robin, and is about Damian Wayne's size when compared to the other two bodies, yet Jason later says that Damian was alive and in Metropolis, so there's clearly a mistake in the art in this panel.)

After burying the dead, Jason sets out to find the two remaining members of the "Bat Family" before heading out into the great unknown with them to keep them alive. These include Cassandra Cain and Jim Gordon, and we get confirmation on the death of not only the other bat heroes, but also a bat villain, a death which has a special meaning for Jason Todd -- and, perhaps, the nominee for Most Grotesque Automobile Grill Ornament of the Year (or ever).

Taylor's story obviously has some sticking power, making the DCEASED franchise perhaps the next INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US series in terms of having storytelling legs. Karl Mostert's linework is lightly inked, leaving it an almost penciled-only kind of look, which is enhanced by the muted colors applied by Rex Lokus. The soft visual tones provide a disturbing contract to the dystopian tone and garish activity that takes place throughout the story.

DCEASED: UNKILLABLES is a fun amble through desolation with the assembled baddest of the bad, just trying to stay alive -- a sort of Walking Dead with tights.