{"id":28726,"date":"2023-10-11T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28726"},"modified":"2023-10-10T12:54:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T12:54:34","slug":"g-i-zombie-a-star-spangled-war-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/10\/11\/g-i-zombie-a-star-spangled-war-story\/","title":{"rendered":"G.I. Zombie – A Star-Spangled War Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Justin Grey, Jimmy Palmiotti<\/strong>, Scott Hampton<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-5487-2 (TPB)<\/p>\n

When DC rebooted their entire continuity with the New 52 <\/strong>in 2011, most reader and critical attention was focussed on big-name costumed stars. However, the move also allowed creators to revisit older genre titles from those eras when superheroes were not the only fruit.<\/p>\n

A number of venerable war titles and stars were revisited and re-imagined (even iconic and presumed-sacrosanct Sgt. Rock<\/strong>) and many novel ideas and treatments were created – although largely ignored by the audiences they were intended to attract.<\/p>\n

One of the most appealing, fashionably intriguing and well-realised appeared in a revitalised Star Spangled War Stories<\/strong>, outrageously blending the global war on terror, then-current socio-political disaffection and Earth\u2019s ongoing fascination with the walking dead to spawn a spectacular, tongue-in-cheek blockbuster romp tailor-made for TV or movies.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that was the point all along\u2026<\/p>\n

Written by Justin Grey & Jimmy Palmiotti and illustrated by Scott Hampton, the serialised saga from SSWS<\/strong> volume 2 #1-8 spanned cover-dates September 2014 to May 2015 and was collected into one riotous read, albeit augmented by a smart little epilogue culled from Star Spangled War Stories: Future\u2019s End<\/strong> #1 (September 2014).<\/p>\n

The premise is deliciously simple and sublimely subversive. Soldier Jared Kabe<\/em> has been the Republic\u2019s most secret weapon for decades: an unkillable agent infallibly serving the nation in secret through most of its wars and so many of its unpublicised black-ops counter-strikes against America\u2019s implacable enemies.<\/p>\n

And just so we\u2019re on the same page here, he\u2019s unkillable because he\u2019s already dead\u2026<\/p>\n

When not battling on numerous officially sanctioned war fronts, this perfect operative has tackled pervasive social ills such as drug cartels and human traffickers, and it\u2019s just this kind of simple mission which leads to an unlife-changing moment as his commanding officer\/ handler Codename: Gravedigger<\/em> pairs him with maverick – but still breathing – agent Carmen King<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They were only supposed to infiltrate a biker gang militia, but the case takes on a life of its own when the smelly redneck nut-jobs buy medium-range missiles and a deadly bio-agent to use on Washington DC.<\/p>\n

After an astounding amount of cathartic bloodshed, Carmen is soon deep undercover, playing house with a slick madman running a clandestine organisation of would-be world conquerors. Jared meantime strives to prevent the strike on the government. He succeeds by bringing the missile down in unlucky Sutterville, Tennessee, only to discover to his horror that he has a personal connection to the payload and must face a horrific \u2018Small Town Welcome\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

As Jared and Special Forces units struggle to contain a spreading contagion, Carmen is deep underground in a sybaritic paradise housing an enclave of wealthy fanatics in Utah. Everyone is eager to remake the world to their specifications, but even whilst playing along with the head loon, she has one eye on the citadel\u2019s labs and armoury and the other on her \u2018Exit Strategy\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Southern crisis contained, Kabe rushes to rendezvous with King, selecting a uniquely undead methodology to enter the subterranean fortress: one offering \u2018Door-to-Door Delivery\u2019<\/em>, but the head paranoid panics and chooses to abandon his base and acolytes in the \u2018The Living Desert\u2019<\/em>. Taking Carmen and a few select, trusted individuals, he flees to San Francisco after first employing his private nuclear option\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018Two the Hard Way\u2019<\/em> sees Jared survive the detonation – and another bio-bomb outbreak – before heading for the coast where Carmen\u2019s cover has been blown and she is attempting to blast her way out.<\/p>\n

With the disclosure of Kabe\u2019s past connections to the madmen-in-charge, \u2018The Final Countdown\u2019<\/em> begins with the G.I. Zombie, Carmen and a dedicated cadre of special agents invading a locked-down fortress determined to prevent the \u201cCity by the Bay\u201d becoming another glowing toxic crater\u2026<\/p>\n

The main event magnificently completed, there\u2019s a little extra treat for readers: \u2018United States of the Dead\u2019<\/em> appeared in Star Spangled War Stories: Future\u2019s End<\/strong> #1, part of a company-wide publishing event set \u201cfive years from now\u201d. It reveals how a zombie bio-agent has been used to infect Gotham City <\/em>with Kabe and Co. in play to stop the rot to save the world\u2026<\/p>\n

With cover and variants by Dave Johnson, Howard Porter and the late, great and much-missed Darwyn Cooke, this is a fabulous high-velocity action adventure: fast paced, devastatingly action packed and simply dripping with sharply mordant black comedy moments. G.I. Zombie<\/b> is the kind of graphic extravaganza you use to convert folks who hate comics. Are you ready to be turned?
\n\u00a9 2014, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Justin Grey, Jimmy Palmiotti, Scott Hampton & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-5487-2 (TPB) When DC rebooted their entire continuity with the New 52 in 2011, most reader and critical attention was focussed on big-name costumed stars. However, the move also allowed creators to revisit older genre titles from those eras when superheroes were not … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “G.I. Zombie – A Star-Spangled War Story”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[305,107,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc-horror","category-science-fiction","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7tk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28729,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28726\/revisions\/28729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}