THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

Cyborg - a cybernetically-enhanced superhero from the DC Universe - has been taken and transported to a Hellish alien world by an evil villain from outer space named Darkseed. Cyborg's body now corrupted, he plays the unwilling host of a technological virus that has the capacity to turn the inhabitants of Earth into Zombie-like creatures, even the other superheroes!

MY VERDICT:

DCeased does exactly what it says on its metaphorical tin; it brings a Zombie apocalypse into the DC universe of heroes and villains. The enjoyment you get from this comic series will be directly related to this simple fact; if you are a fan of the DC universe and know your Supermans from your Green Lanterns, you will really get a lot out of DCeased - if superhero worship is not your thing, however, get ready to be confused. This is definitely not an introduction, heroes pop up and are consumed by ravenous dead with disturbing frequency and, when you don't immediately recognize them it can impact the story somewhat, important characters passing you by, unknown. Also, the normal humans (the majority of the infected) are almost totally ignored, the dialog choosing to focus on the struggles of the superheroes which, I get is the entire premise of the plot but some insight into how the Zombie virus effects the lives of the little people would be welcome. The lack of insight into the Zombie plague is definitely a problem for DCeased as the virus used is wonderfully unique; both biological - spreading through bites - and, somehow (again, you'll have to know your DC lore to understand why), technological - spreading through people looking at infected computer monitors or mobile phone screens. The main draw though is seeing the superheroes themselves become infected and, bizarrely but excitingly, continue to use their superpowers in diabolical ways, driven by some unseen force to spread virus far and wide. For example, when superspeed-ready hero The Flash becomes infected and turns into a man-eating Zombie, his superpower vastly increases the rate of infection - and is pretty cool to boot!