The New Deadwardians (Vertigo)

Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: I.N.J Culbard

A Page 45 Comic Book of the Month

“Chief Superintendent Carstairs: What the did, they did with the most principled intentions.

Chief Inspector George Suttle: They ruined the world, Carstairs.”

In the week that Margaret Thatcher died, it is hard to think about Dan Abnett and I.N.J Culbard's “The New Deadwardians” without reading a condemnation of the former Prime Minister's policies into the narrative. For some she was a figure to be admired, somebody who got Britain respected in the world community again. The Daily Mail newspaper had the headline, “The Woman Who Saved Britain” on the morning following her death. For others it was a cause for unprecedented celebration. Whatever one's political stance, the one thing that can be said for certain is that, in light of the diametrically opposed reactions to her passing, she was a divisive figure who left a divided country.

The theme of a divided Britain, along lines of class and class privilege, runs right through this book. Some sort of disease has run through the working class, turning them into mindless zombies, greedy for human flesh. To combat this the ruling classes took what they called the “Cure” which turned them into vampires. The poor were kept in zones away from the ruling classes who were now immortal, or at least unable to die as they were already dead. There are demonstrations and riots by the common folk who have not succumbed to the curse. This all seems very symbolic of Britain in the Eighties.

Chief Inspector George Suttle is the last homicide detective left in the Metropolitan Police. His department has all but been dissolved as there are no murders, at least among the vampiric ruling classes; until one of them turns up dead with none of the three known ways they can die (impalement of the heart, decapitation and incineration). The subsequent investigation leads him right up to the very highest power in the land.

Our protagonist comes across as a decent sort of man. He looks after his elderly and infirm mother, he dislikes the derogatory term “brights”, which is used to refer to the common folk who are not zombies, He takes his maid for the cure after she is bitten by a zombie, and speaks respectfully to all he comes across. He is haunted by memories of the war fought against the zombies in 1861, and the acts he had to commit for Queen and Country. It is through Suttle's musings that we come to the second main theme of the book, that of the nature of life. In giving up their lives to become undead, they lose all their old desires, dreams and motivations. They lose all that made life worth living and so for them they are merely existing. Some are able to fool themselves, but like Antoine Roquentin in Satre's Nausea, Suttle is tormented by the existentialist dilemma. In living forever they have lost their life. They are no longer living, merely existing.

There is much to like about this book. I.N.J. Culbard produces some attractive art. Detailed backgrounds are used where they are required to communicate some crucial part of the story (e.g. the Houses of Parliament where the murder victim is found, and for all establishing shots). However for large parts of the book the backgrounds are blank. This helps focus the eye on the characters, emphasising where the importance lies – this is a book about people and how they are treated. There is also a symbolic element to this, as the walls remain empty of décor and detail in the same way that the lives of the vampires are empty.

Dan Abnett's script is tight. He manages to tie everything up in eight issues where some would have tried to string it out as long as possible. His dialogue is realistic and there are some nice, humorous touches, as in the following exchange between Suttle and his driver Bowes:

“George Suttle: I'm not familiar with the area myself. I live in Zone-A, Marylebone.

Bowes (muttering): You don't live nowhere at all, mate.”

Unfortunately there are some areas where this strip lets itself down, not least in it's treatment of women. There are only really four women characters in it. Suttle's mother serves to comment on George himself. George's maid is there to be a victim of a zombie attack so we can see how wonderful Suttle is. Sapphire, the whore who falls for George incredibly quickly and for no discernible reason other than it served the plot as she later becomes a kidnap victim. The murder victim's mother is there to mourn her husband, and her daughter is a stereotypical firebrand feminist who is defined by her stance against men. It is perhaps a little unfair to pick up on this here as The New Deadwardians is far from alone in this depiction of women, and I don't think it was a deliberate decision to have all the females defined by the relationship to men, but it stands out in a book which appears to want to point out the problems with social inequality due to class.

These gender issues are a shame as this is otherwise a wonderful book, with memorable scenes and with a desire to say something, to reflect something about our society. I'd still recommend purchasing this as it is well written, but the problems with gender are to the detriment of the work as a whole.