Well, I have to admit that this series is not at all what I expected. Perhaps Resident Evils and other such vestiges of the survival horror genre have infected me, but I put things together a little differently. I thought zombie outbreak + team of military specialists = strange facilities, apposing forces, more bizarre monsters, and sinister villain. But the real story of Damn Nation is perhaps better, but definitely less campy. Instead we get a human drama amidst the turmoil and horror of surviving a multitude of zombies that hunt the living when the sun goes down. The purpose of the team is to rescue a couple doctors who have found a cure for the virus before they can be zombified. Yet instead of a sterile, underground research facility, the team finds the doctors holed up in an apartment building with a kid. Then, when they make it to the helicopters just in time, the British troops show their true colors by attempting to steal the cure, and the Americans show theirs by blowing the helicopters up, which were their only way to escape the zombie zone.

I am always glad to see some horror-based comics, as I feel they balance out the general super spandex feel that comics leave me with. But writer Andrew Cosby’s story is a lot more than I expected form a zombie comic, and with the way this issue ends, it leaves me clueless as to what happens next. Needless to say, I am excited about the next issue. There is a problem with the writing, however. As I read this issue, I can’t help but feel really rushed. There is no time to even get to know the characters, and I feel no attachment or commiseration with them because I can’t even tell them apart. Even the main character is vague and barely even two-dimensional. The only person that I have a feel for is the captain, and she’s a total bitch. With no way to relate to the characters, it is hard to feel afraid or nervous, and so this issue fails to supply the fear and tension that the first one inspired in me. Thus, it is almost tedious to read at some points. I hate to be so disparaging, but I truly believe that this series has the potential to be a truly great horror comic, if only it could recapture the confusion and terror of the first issue. So if I am hard on it, it is only because I have high hopes for it. The art, however, needs no hopes from me. J. Alexander has a true talent for the swirling, now vague, now sharp contrast the comics of this genre often sport. Switching from direct lines to shadowed contrast, the art is simply beautiful in all its horrific and disgusting splendor. My only humble piece of advise for Alexander is to help Cosby out by making the soldiers more distinct. I know it is dark and shadowed art, but try to give them features that can show through the turmoil because nothing is as distracting as confusion, except maybe naked girls. Ooo, throw in some of those too!

Anyway, this is another series that can be great or lame depending on where it goes from here. It is still early, so there is plenty of time to correct mistakes and tweak it into the spectacular comic that I know it can be. Or at least, throw in some nudes and sell it the old fashioned way.

 

-Fumanchu