Writer Frank Tieri and artist Oleg Okunev are teaming up for a new comic book at AfterShock Comics called Pestilence. The series will explore what it would be like if the Black Death plague was actually an undocumented zombie apocalypse.
There have been numerous zombie stories set in modern times and in the not-so-distant future, but AfterShock editor-in-chief/co-founder Mike Marts worked on giving the genre a twist with film/TV writers Eric Bromberg and Brandon Auman, then presented the idea to Tieri, who was intrigued to explore it in a comic.
“Hey, I get it. With The Walking Dead and the 8 million other zombie books out there, we realize we have to do something different with the genre otherwise why bother, right? And trust me, we definitely do,” Tieri told IGN in an email interview. “So yes, we have the 14th century setting. And we have access to all over Europe of that era, with the various historical cities and landmarks in play. And knights and secret groups and everything that comes with that. And of course there’s our zombies… which we’ll see turn out to be a little different as the book goes along. And we’ll just leave it as that.”
But readers can expect for there to be other threats aside from just zombies.
“The zombies are aplenty in this series but they’re just a part of what’s going on. Ultimately, the conspiracy within the Church may turn out to be the bigger danger. How Roderick and his men deal with what they uncover really eventually drives the story and where any potential sequels go from here,” Tieri explained.
Roderick Helms is the protagonist, an ex-Crusader who leads a medieval black-ops team of Knights called Fiat Lux (Latin for "Let there be light"). They are initially sent by the Church to deal with the zombies, but wind up having to deal with a conspiracy involving their holy superiors.
Tieri spoke about how Okunev's artistic style made him a good fit for this zombie story.
“There are A LOT of zombies in this. I mean, a real s*** ton. Groups and groups of zombies eating people. Hordes upon hordes of zombies infesting and overflowing various historical cities and landmarks. And army after army of zombies in these huge f***ing epic battle after battle with knights,” Tieri said. “So we needed somebody who could pull that off and do those scenes justice.”
Pestilence comes out in May.
Here’s the full solicitation information for the book and your first look at some interior pages.
PESTILENCE #1 / $3.99 / 32 pages / Color
writer: Frank Tieri | artist: Oleg Okunev
colors: Rob Schwager | letters: TBD
cover: Tim Bradstreet | incentive cover 1:10: Szymon Kudranski
NEW SERIES!
It’s the late 14th Century, and a Great Pestilence—the “Black Death”— is sweeping across Europe, killing over 100 million people. BUT, what if history as we know it was a lie? What if, in reality, this was no straightforward plague, but the FIRST non-recorded Zombie Infestation of man? Ex-Crusader Roderick Helms and his fellow “black ops” agents the Church, Fiat Lux, must seek out the cause of this undead outbreak and vanquish it before mankind ceases to exist!
Written by the master of violence, gore, and mayhem, Frank Tieri (Marvel vs Capcom, Wolverine, Deadpool), with spectacular art from Disney illustrator, Oleg Okunev, and covers by Eisner Award-nominated artist Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher, Hellblzer)!
Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
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