Broken Frontier

In 2005, writer Bryan Johnson and artist Walter Flanagan went from discussing comics in Kevin Smith movies to creating them, in the form of the twisted four-part comic book miniseries Karney. In that tale, they introduced a horrific, cannibalistic (and yet, loving) clan of circus freaks to the world. Now, in 2007, they’re looking to top that blackly comic venture. How? By going to war. World War II, in fact.

In January 2007, Johnson and Flanagan begin the War of the Undead, a three-part tale that imagines one of the Nazis’ most depraved plans yet.

The year is 1945. The place is East Germany. Hitler has succumbed to suicide and the war to end all wars is all but finished. A secret cabal of Nazis has concocted an insane plan—a plan to resurrect Hitler’s soul from Hell and place it within an earthly vessel. In order to achieve their gruesome goal, the Nazis must first gather the world’s most fearsome monsters—Dracula, the werewolf, and Frankenstein’s monster. The old adage that “War is Hell” has never been truer.

A seven-page War of the Undead prelude from Johnson and Flanagan appears in IDW’s Zombies: Eclipse of the Undead (an unrelated tale of other undead, these the zombie kind) #1. This exclusive story, featuring the Nazis’ disastrous efforts to convert the meek Dr. Jekyll to their cause, leads directly into the debut issue in January.

“If you loved Karney, you'll want to marry and adopt a child from Zimbabwe with War of the Undead,” said writer Bryan Johnson, a screenwriter whose movie Vulgar has forever changed the way people look at party clowns. He added, “A comic featuring Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and The Werewolf? It's the scariest menage a trois of the year, next to me, Walt, and Ryall, that is.”

War of the Undead #1 (Diamond Code NOV06 3665), a 32-page full-color comic book, is the first issue of a three-part miniseries debuting in January 2007.