THE YEAR IS 2005. IPHONES HAVE YET TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD

YouTube videos have just started to go “viral”. A cannibalistic disease has infected the east coast.

Yes, you read that right. That is the setting for the upcoming frighteningly realistic post-apocalyptic comic book series Almost Dead written and created by Comic Con Radio founder and SPO!LER Magazine editor-in-chief Galaxy, along with skilled master artist Ryan Benjamin bringing Galaxy’s words to life; the comic world is about to be exposed to a brand new dark horror action story that will have you on the edge of your seat with every page!

After having an accident on her way home to visit her family, Sara Walker awakens to find that the world has changed. Now she must travel up the Eastern Seaboard, using suppressed survival skills she learned as a child, in the hope of reuniting with her loved ones during a viral pandemic that has turned humans into monsters. Sara unites with old acquaintances and new friends along the way, and her struggle to survive will be both an unexpectedly exciting journey and an absolute horror.

Relentlessly vicious, Almost Dead isn’t a typical apocalyptic story. It adeptly weaves conspiracy with historical flashbacks and shows how perhaps everything we’ve learned in textbooks has been altered over time.

What makes this story different from others in the genre? Writer and creator Galaxy speaks to that. Other than referring to this specific brand of mindless cannibal as “Zombies”, Galaxy’s goal was to create a more realistic, scientifically accurate “zombie”. Studying diseases and illness in order to add that realism to a heightened reality was a main focus in creating a tale built out of the real world. This isn’t the dead rising from the grave: bones moving with nothing more than plot devices holding them together. The story is focused on more than that: How do the organs stay alive? What keeps the muscles moving? How does the human body actually decay when faced with a debilitating disease?

Sara does a great job manning the helm of this story. She is able to hold her own in a myriad of stressful situations - she’s the perfect vessel to carry not only the audience, but the emotional weight of a story that requires perseverance and sacrifice. As she learns more about herself, and her loved ones, she’s left to make harder and harder choices as she comes up against terrifying and near-unstoppable “zombies” as well as other humans. Can she save everyone? Or will she only be able to save herself?

The love for the zombie-genre and horror is clear and apparent in this story. With a multitude of both emotional and physical gut-wrenching scenes of violence, survival, and sacrifice, Almost Dead brings forward a spotlight on resilience, the human spirit, and general badassery. A horror story of survival with hints of mystery and history, it’s sure to grab the attention of both new and storied “zombie” fans alike.

SPO!LER: What is Almost Dead?

GALAXY: Almost Dead, is a postapocalyptic story that I wrote about seven years ago. It’s set in 2005, the story follows Sara, our protagonist. She travels to Maryland to visit family, has an accident and the rest is history. It’s not just another apocalyptic “zombie” story. It’s so much more than that. You’re gonna see a lot of historical situations and you might believe in my version of history instead of the one that’s written in our textbooks. I don’t want to ruin the story for everyone, so pick up a copy at your local comic book store and join the journey.

SPO!LER: You keep putting quotes around the word “zombie” are these zombies or something else?

GALAXY: You can consider them “zombie” like. Our monsters are much more realistic, they’re not the dead rising, they’re Almost Dead. We have some cool and unique names for them, but you’ll find out once you start reading the comics. They’re not coming out from a grave or bones walking, like other stories. There is not any severed heads that can still see and bite and move etc. That’s more magical zombies to me. That’s the term I use for the traditional zombies. We just got so used to that narrative, and we had to accept that because almost every story writes them in that manner. How can a head that is separated from its body still have motion and be there for years ready to move? How is that possible? Where does the blood flow from, the nerves, etc. At the end of the day they are still humans or once was. Like I said we just got used to the story and we accept it. In Almost Dead, I am trying to make the monster more human, it’s a virus that makes the human part of them die, and brings out this monster that is within all of us. It just takes this virus to make that fierce animalistic side of us come out. Takes over the mind and the mind controls the body and makes them ruthless.

SPO!LER: For readers that are new to the world of Almost Dead, how would you explain it?

GALAXY: Relentlessly vicious!

SPO!LER: Give us a rundown of what “Almost Dead” means to you?

GALAXY: It means everything to me. It’s a story that I’ve been wanting to tell for many years. And I’ve said this before in this and other interviews, I want the narrative to change a bit, I want readers to know that zombies are humans and they can feel pain and they can hurt, and they will have the same diseases and problems as a regular human like me and you do, because they are human. Virus takes over and erases the humane side of them, but at the core they are still a human being. So I’ve always wanted to share this because I love zombies I love the zombie genre and monsters and all of that, but sometimes when I read comics or look at TV shows or movies, I’m like, that’s not possible and we just have to go along with it, I’ve been wanting to share this in a way so people can start thinking that oh it can’t be this way. Oh, we’re not just stuck with the same type of zombie. Oh OK, well they cannot live if they don’t have blood flowing through there system. Other than that, it’s a story of triumph, our wonderful protagonist Sara has to live in this crazy new world. I want to show how someone that’s been through hardship and adversity can grow to become an attorney and be very humane but also be very ruthless and feminine at the same time.

SPO!LER: Who’s your favorite character to write? Why?

GALAXY: They are all my favorite characters! Of course Sara is on top of that list, because she’s our protagonist, but all of the main set of characters that you’ll meet along the way as the story progresses. These are my favorite characters, even the monsters and the bystanders and everyone. I love them all. Every time I create a character in my story, I meet them in my mind I make them as real as possible and introduce myself to them. I picture how they are going to look and how their personality should be and if they were here would I be their friend? So, everyone is my favorite character. Each character in the story has something relatable to me and you and everyone out there in the world. I want the readers to connect with each character to have something that they can relate. Sheathed its personality or struggles, something. You know what I’m saying. It’s very relatable and I sometimes think these are real life people just cause I put so much effort and thought when I create the characters I think of everything, their family, background, type of food they like to eat, their clothing, where they might shop, personalities, so many things going through my mind, but that’s how I create characters, so they’re all my favorite.

SPO!LER: Are you a fan of the general zombie apocalypse genre? Horror?

GALAXY: Absolutely I am. I love the zombie apocalypse genre. I love all these stories. I love every story even the magical zombies, which 95% of the zombie stories are the magical zombies. Like I explained earlier the ones that still have motion with their heads cut off or are stuck somewhere for 10 years and then when they hear a noise, they start moving again without any nourishment, or any blood or brains that they have eaten for sustenance. They just get right up and move and can over power you. But, hey I still love all the stories they’re all fascinating in their own way and amazing in their own way. It gets me excited. It gets me thrilled. I love it.

SPO!LER: Why did you choose 2005 as the time setting for “Almost Dead”?

GALAXY: I chose 2005 because it’s the perfect time for this story. There’s technology, but not like it is today, we have access to things, but not like we do today. Smart phones are not out yet, almost half the country still uses dial-up Internet, sites like YouTube just launched that summer and started getting a bit of traction. It’s still a vulnerable time. It’s not like today where everyone is walking around with a computer in their back pocket, And a world of information at their fingertips. If an apocalypse happens right now, there’s so many advantages, from private satellites to special towers to all sorts of things that can be used and accessed right from your smart phone to battle a monster apocalypse, but in 2005 even though it’s 18 years ago, we still had this vulnerability because of Access. Yeah, we had technology but not like today. If phone lines went down back then your Internet would go down too, since most areas the phone lines powered your Internet access as well, unlike today with cable and fiber etc. I don’t know anyone that has a phone line in their house these days. They all use their mobile phone and they use cable Internet or satellite Internet or all sorts of other high-tech things. We take what we have today for granted sometimes, what we’re using right now is beyond belief, from our wildest imagination. and yes, we did have mobile phones back then, but no smart phones with apps unless you had a blackberry, but those were mostly owned by professionals and business people with very minimal apps just to do basic things like word etc. It could not figure out anything big. it was just different times. that’s why I chose 2005: it gives the story some juiciness, and I’ve included a lot of historical situations and actual dates and facts. we even dated the calendar to the actual days when things were happening so that’s how accurate we’re trying to be with the story, to just give you that extra push of hey is this real, is this what truly happened? I want to give you that extra edge, so your imagination goes wild.

SPO!LER: Do you think there are too many Zombie stories out there?

GALAXY: No way! There’s not enough out there. Everyone loves zombies and monsters and the apocalyptic situation of survival. There are video games based around it. there’s comics and TV shows, movies, there’s fan pages. Cosplay. There’s something about it that everyone loves. Almost Dead is a unique story, I’m not trying not reinvent the wheel, but change it a bit and give a different perspective to the beloved zombie story and genre. This is my story and it’s my take on zombies and monsters and I hope everyone enjoys it and loves it but to answer your question, there will never be enough of this genre, so if you know how to write and you have a story to tell go ahead and write about it, the more the merrier.

SPO!LER: why did you choose Sara as the main protagonist? She’s what this whole story is about.

GALAXY: I created Sara because I want to show people that you can’t judge a book by its cover and you can be feminine and you can be beautiful, but at the same time, like I said, before you can be a badass and you never know who you’re standing next to, you never know who can actually survive a monster or ‘whatever you call it’ apocalypse, because people can do the most amazing things when they are put into certain situations and like I said, it’s a story about resilience. It’s a story about triumph. Sara is amazing, and I hope one day her character comes to life on a TV show or a movie so we can see her on the screen and her in action, but for now, pick up the comics, read it and watch her journey and connect with Sara because she’s worth connecting with. All the characters are amazing. I can’t wait for you to enjoy Almost Dead

SPO!LER: if you could speak to all the readers and fans out there, what would you say?

GALAXY: I would say, stay true to yourself, always be kind to others, work hard, have fun and play harder, read your comic books, never quit, because the next person or publisher or company that you approach might be the one that gives you the opportunity, and most of all, have a good morning, good afternoon, and good evening! I love you all!