@’s by THE NEW DEADWARDIANS’ Writer Dan Abnett !!!
Abnett Fights Off Vampires and Zombies
In Vertigo's THE NEW DEADWARDIANS!
By Ryan “Irish Rican” McLelland 
With the launch of Vertigo's THE NEW DEADWARDIANS the world is about to read yet another comic book on vampires and zombies. Luckily, under the pen of English writer Dan Abnett comic readers are treated to a book that brings an entirely new feel to a genre well read in today's market."It's one of those ideas that sprang fully formed into my head," Abnett said. "Even though I liked the idea, a lot of it worried me because does the world really need another book about vampires and zombies? I convinced myself that it probably could stand it because this has a rather different feel."
That's because THE DEADWARDIANS has less in common with “Twilight” and more of “Downton Abbey” sliced with some horror. "It is an Edwardian type of police procedural with a strange element of horror in it", Abnett notes. "It's also a sort-of conspiracy theory because it is about the way society works. It's about the truths and hidden meanings. So what starts out as a curious but seemingly ordinary case gets deeper, darker, and murkier."The case is murder and it falls into the hands of Chief Inspector George Suttle. The only problem is that in this world of 1910 London a murder hasn't occurred in a very long time. It's because most of London has turned to vampirism in order to combat a very real zombie menace."
"The book doesn't mention the z-word or the v-word anywhere," Abnett is quick to point out. His vampires also don't behave like your average vampire. "They go and they have monthly (blood) transfusions, file their teeth down, and that sort of thing. It's certainly a rather different take."He continues, "I like the idea of using zombies and vampires in ways that are unconventional. Vampires particularly are used in a way that is unusual because they've embraced vampirism as a way to avoid being killed by zombies. It's a last resort in order to preserve the British Empire and to be invisible to the other form of the undead.”
What really makes THE DEADWARDIANS stand out from the rest of the pack is the police procedural element, which really takes form with Suttle and his interesting case. "One of the things I enjoyed about writing the story and one of the things I found most fascinating is that fact Suttle is only a vampire because he felt he was doing it for Queen and Country. He tries to live his life the way he used to. He looks like he's in his thirties but must be in his sixties or seventies by now.""He's the last homicide detective in Scotland Yard because we don't need them anymore. He sits at a desk in a room that has no officers in it anymore. He, like most of his kind, suppresses his vampiric appetites, but he has no appetite for anything anymore. He eats because it’s a social convention, he can't sleep, he can't dream, and then one day this case arrives on his desk. There's been a murder and he's required to investigate it."
Of course, having a murder in a world full of undead creatures certainly is a unique situation. "The first thing he does is to work out that the victim is a vampire but has not been killed by any of the traditional means of killing a vampire," Abnett says. "Therein lies the mystery of how did this happen, why did this happen, and we throw Suttle into Deadwardian London. In doing so we learn how this world works and, more importantly, why it works the way it works."Vertigo/DC Comics THE NEW DEADWARDIANS #1 is currently available in comic shops everywhere. Issue #2 is in stores this week!
Ryan 'Irish Rican' McLelland has worked in movies and comics journalism for the past several years before joining the @$$holes here at AICN. Ryan’s comic work has already graced comic shelves with GRUNTS: WAR STORIES, Arcana’s PHILLY, and THE SENTINELS ANTHOLOGY. He rarely updates his blog but when he does it can be read at www.eyewannabe.com. CLICK HERE to help make ThanksKilling 2 a reality!.
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
