By: Dan Abnett (writer), I.N.J. Culbard (artist), Patricia Mulvihill (colors), Travis Lanham (letters), Mark Doyle (associate editor) & Will Dennis (editor)
The Story: Inspector Suttle needs to complete his murder investigation in the middle of a zombie invasion of ~1910 London.
A few things: 1). Ending to the mystery (minor SPOILERS) - The final resolution of the murder in TND was satisfying and unexpected. Even if some readers were able to guess the identity of the murderer, they probably didn’t guess the motive. Learning that the killings were revenge upon the men who caused the zombie apocalypse was pretty nifty, but seeing that the whole thing happened because Queen Victoria missed Prince Albert was a whole other layer. Again, it just serves to give this story such an English feel! Americans get small doses of English culture by watching the English Premier League or Doctor Who, but we certainly don’t know much about Queen Victoria. That can be viewed as a good thing if you’re the kind of person who enjoys Googling and learning; or it can be a negative if you find that too much of a hassle. This was a nice ending for history buffs.
2). Wonderful character work on Suttle - What really made this issue sing was the excellent character work on Inspector Suttle. By the time this issue rolled around, he’s developed into such a rich character that he’s starting to behave in a way that we expect. The reader feels like this know this guy and furthermore, he’s a guy that you’d like to have as a friend.
3). Excellent art - Through it all, artist Culbard has been up to managing a series that has a lot of talking heads. In some ways his art reminds me a little bit of Joe Eisma on Morning Glories; even though their styles are different, they’re both masters of body language, facial expression and how to frame a scene. Culbard is the one who makes Inspector Suttle seem like such a neat, trim and proper gentleman. If there is a failing to the art it’s that the action scenes aren’t that dynamic, but there isn’t much action in the whole series, so that wasn’t a major problem.
4). Less known about the zombieland than hoped - The biggest complaint about TND – given that this was the final issue – is that we learned so little about the zombieland outside of London. We know when the zombies arrived and how it happened, but beyond knowing that the British countryside is teaming with the buggers, we really don’t know much. Is the rest of the world in similar straights or is this a 28 Days Later scenario where it is confined to Britain? Is London the only fortified town on the island? Manchester? Edinburgh? Is there any plan to wipe out the zombies? While it is true that we also don’t know these sorts of things about the universe of The Walking Dead after 100+ issues, TWD is an ongoing and can dangle that carrot in front of us. TND is finished without revealing much.
5). Will there be more? - Is this “it” for TND? If so, it’s a shame. This has been a very good series. There hasn’t been much internet chatter, but those who have read it seemed to have really enjoyed it. In many ways, this story would be even more satisfying if we knew that this was merely the opening story arc and that we could look forward to a classic 50-60 issue Vertigo series. I vote for more!
Conclusion: A solid ending to a very solid series. The conclusion is satisfying and hopefully they’ll sell enough of this in trade that Vertigo will get this guys to creator more.
Grade: B+
- Dean Stell
Filed under: Vertigo Tagged: Dan Abnett, Dean Stell, I.N.J. Culbard, Mark Doyle, Patricia Muvihill, review, The New Deadwardians, Travis Lanham, vampires, Vertigo, Will Dennis, Zombies
