Comics Review: "G.I. Zombie" #1

- by Señor Editor, 25 July 2014

Even though I think we’re all sick of zombies by now, I picked up DC’s “G.I. Zombie” this week (or “Star Spangled War Stories, featuring the premiere of G.I. Zombie” if you want to be anal and use the whole title). Despite the title, though, it’s not really a war story, nor is it much of a zombie story.

Click to enlarge.

This first issue was written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and features art by Scott Hampton. Like I mentioned, the book’s title doesn’t really give you a good idea of what the story is about. Neither does the cover. And that actually might be a good thing, because this is a little more original than just having a zombie soldier.

The book is about a federal agent (and ex-soldier) named Jared, who happens to be undead. He’s not your regular zombie, though. After his death (which apparently happened a long while ago) he regained his personality, his motor skills and he’s not really decomposing. He’s pale, sure, and he covers that up with makeup, but it seems he has some kind of healing factor and he’s pretty damn strong. He’s also apparently the only “zombie” in this universe and even though we see him feeding on a person, that doesn’t result in making another zombie out of his meal.

The story opens in a shady bar, where Carmen King introduces herself as a straight-out-of-prison new girl in town, wanting to make friends with the biker types. Just as she’s talking with the boss of the gang, his cronies come in with a fed they caught snooping around (that would be Jared). They want Carmen out of the bar so they can deal with him, but she convinces them to let her stay, talking about how she hates cops. She tries to get some info out of Jared and when it doesn’t work, she cuts off his hands and then shoots him in the head. The bikers are really impressed with her now, and she offers to get rid of the body. 

Carmen "interrogates" Jared.

We soon find out though, that Jared is still “alive” (or whatever you wanna call it) and the two are actually working together trying to infiltrate the gang. In Carmen’s house, she re-attaches Jared’s hands and we get some backstory on the agent and his abilities.

Some other stuff happens in this issue, too, but these are the bare basics you need to know about the plot. The surprising thing is that this premise actually works decently, and while it’s not a revolutionary comicbook or anything, I’m interested in reading more of this series.

Zombie powers activate.

Palmiotti is really hit or miss as far as I’m concerned, but together with Gray they manage to make this a smooth and entertaining read. It’s hard to do anything remotely fresh in the zombie genre, but they manage to tell a story unlike your usual moaning, brain-eating zombie stuff. There are a few hints dropped about how far Jared’s ability to control his “condition” stretches, and this can potentially result in some interesting plots further down the line.

The artist and colorist, Scott Hampton, has quite an interesting style. His art is realistic, but it’s rendered in a pretty original way, with some unique shading and colors. It suits the story well, and makes this a good looking #1.

Stronger than your average zombie.

Say what you will about DC’s New 52, but the fact remains that they occasionally really do give brand new original series a try. I don’t think anybody expected them to publish a book like “G.I. Zombie”, but it’s here and it’s surprisingly entertaining. I will be checking out #2, and you should, too, if you want DC to keep making something other than the usual superhero fare. Give it a try, you might like it.


Have you read “G.I. Zombie”? What were your thoughts? What could be a better title for this comic? Let us know in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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