the deadworld saga continues! Following the acclaimed War of the Dead mini-series which won the Ghastly Award as Best Mini-Series of 2012, Restoration reaches deeper into the series described by Talking Comics as "frightening, haunting, gloomy, grave, and delectably mystifying.” With the lepers slaughtered, the human breeding pits abandoned, and the King Zombie appearing disposed, the survivors of New Washington can continue their plan to bring the zombies under control. But Donna, the halfhuman// half-zombie hybrid is searching for her daughter and she’ll destroy anything and anyone in her path to find her. When the grakken, four-armed killing machines are unleashed, the zombies have a new ally, one far more vicious than the brain-dead zombies. “This is thinking man’s horror done right.” -Comic Bastards “This comic really rewrites the genre and gives it a breath of fresh air… .” – Unleash the Fanboy -
“Plain and simple, you need to read Deadworld...…it is at the top of my list of horror comic must read titles.” – Horror News Network www. i d wp u b l i s h i n g . c o m • $19 . 9 9
S U G G E S T E D F O R M AT U R E R E A D E R S
Reed • • Makkonen
“An intriguing story line and twist on the standard zombie apocalypse.” – Mighty Ink Comic Reviews -
Gary Reed ART BY Sami Makkonen LETTERS BY Nate Pride SERIES EDITS BY Tom Waltz COVER BY Sami Makkonen COLLECTION EDITS BY Justin Eisinger AND Alonzo Simon COLLECTION DESIGN BY neil uyetake WRITTEN BY
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ISBN: 978-1-61377-974-3
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DEADWORLD: RESTORATION. JUNE 2014. FIRST PRINTING. Deadworld is © 2014 by Gary Reed. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 5080 Santa Fe St., San Diego, CA 92109. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in Korea. IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork. Originally published as DEADWORLD: RESTORATION issues #1–5.
foreword Another chapter in the Deadworld saga. As I continue to do these story arcs, primarily as mini-series, and then collected like this trade paperback, one might think that I’m taking a break between the arcs but actually I’m not. Something like Deadworld, which I accept is a big part of my writing career, is not something that stops and then starts when it’s time to launch another mini. It’s always in front of me. Deadworld is an integral part of my writing “world.” Sure, I have other “worlds” such as my teaching and my personal life and other projects that I’m working on, but Deadworld sometimes even intrudes in those areas. When I do my lectures on cellular respiration in my General Biology class and touch on the cessation of respiration leading into death and rigor mortis, I give a brief side excursion into the viability of zombies. Of course, the majority of students have no idea that after class I’m immersed in the zombie world, but occasionally a student stumbles across the connection. One time I had a student actually reading one of my graphic novels during a break in class and they never put it together that the Gary Reed they were reading was the same one gently nodding them to sleep during the endocrine lecture. Now that Restoration is over (well, for me... not for you as I assume you’re just starting off on this book), it seems that a deliberate plan has formed on how Deadworld is unfolding. Of course, I can’t state that it is all some master plan, because it’s not. I have a germ of an idea but as I’m writing the stories, they constantly shift into directions I didn’t expect. When I first took over Deadworld, decades ago (yes, decades), I felt obligated to keep the integrity of the series. Sure, I modified things and moved the story ahead but it wasn’t until after I did the re-launch with Image Comics (Requiem for the World), that I really felt Deadworld was truly mine. By that, I mean, it had my voice. I could let go of the legacy of the past and even though I felt I should maintain the world, I was in a position to mold it more to my liking. The last three story arcs could be seen as one larger one, although for each, I tried to give new readers an opportunity to come in and not feel lost. I don’t know how successful that was but at the same time, I didn’t want to sacrifice story for the “old” readers who have been here since the beginning. Slaughterhouse, War of the Dead, and Restoration can be viewed as one long story line. They tie in with each other and build up to the climax at the end of this volume. Of course, that climax is just a step towards the ultimate end, which to be honest, I don’t exactly have worked out although I have a good idea now. But that’s likely to change... again. Gary Reed
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