Broken Frontier

Vampires, zombies, madmen, and a hero with a shaky moral center—yes, folks, Bernie Wrightson and Steve Niles are crazy. Or at least, what they create is.

City of Others takes its readers to a strange place with strange characters doing strange things. Issue #1 threw you into the action and #2 only gives you more. As the bald, blue-eyed "hero" Stosh Bludowski, or "Blud" if brevity is your thing, learns the history of the vampires in America, an army of manmade zombies marches towards their castle. When an army of zombies approaches a secluded area housing only a few able-bodied fighters there is really just one ending possible, isn’t there? Well, when the able-bodied fighters are vampires . . . anything is possible.

Niles and Wrightson are two of the most highly respected horror creators in the comic book industry. When it was announced that they would be working together the possibilities of what might come were endless. Long time Wrightson fans were in a fervor over what he might do with Niles’ help. We were all excited. We were all anxious. When City of Others finally came out, we were all rewarded. A creepy anti-hero thrust into an environment of total horror and confusion! A new slant on an old legend! A battle between two races of undead beings, as well as a mad scientist ala everyone’s favorite Mary Shelley book! In other words, it is clear these two men know how to tell a tale of gruesome terror in comic book format.

Additionally, Bernie Wrightson has only grown as an artist in his long absence from the comic book scene. His crisp, well-defined work is seething with horror. From the cover, which captures Blud’s marksmanship graphically, to the double page spread of the amassed zombie army as seen through a pair of night vision binoculars, to the last few bloody pages of carnage, Wrightson does everything right. Isn’t that appropriate? And Jose Villarrubia’s stark, diminished colors serve to aid every scene of graphically represented human experimentation and battle with a subdued creepiness that is the cherry on this oh so frightening sundae.

Wrightson and Niles have created a masterpiece in horror comics. Any fan of either man or the genre that does not give this comic a glance is a fool. Either that, or he just isn’t as big a fan as he thinks he is.