A supernatural plague has been unleashed on the world. The dead return to walk the earth...but this is no standard zombie story. The dead are just soldiers for those who have crossed the Gateway. The leader zombies are intelligent, sadistic, and in addition to having a hankering for flesh, enjoy the tortuous ordeals they put the surviving humans through.
Leader of the zombies is the intelligent, Harley riding, sarcastic being known as King Zombie. Killing humans is just a sideline to his cruel methods as he seeks to find a way to open the gates permanently and take over the earth.
Deadworld is a horror comic that attacks the zombie menace from a different perspective. In addition to having intelligent zombies with a goal and mission, Deadworld is also exploring the human interactions as mankind finds itself facing extinction. While some groups organize in the best interests of self-preservation, others use this as an opportunity to explore their own self deluded dreams.
Deadworld is not just a zombie story, it is a story of survival and human perseverance. As the characters we come across struggle to adjust to this new world...this Deadworld...they find the nature of humanity as well. And it isn't necessarily a pretty sight. But in a real world (even one that is set in a fictional setting such as this), it is expected that not all humans will have the same agenda...and not all humans will instantly bond with each against a common menace.
Deadworld is a story of horror...of survival...of hope and despair. It is an ongoing saga of modern man facing his darkest side...where science and technology are no longer his allies...where his power of reasoning is no longer his weapon alone. Deadworld is death, yet life.
Publishing history
Deadworld originated as a comic series that was originally published by Arrow Comics in the late 1980’s. The original scripter was Stuart Kerr and the artist was Vincent Locke. Caliber took over the title with issue ten and Locke stayed on for a few more issues but his contributions became sporadic as he began to work on such titles as Sandman, American Freaks, and others.
The original series ran 26 issues before it ended. There were some mini-series featuring Deadworld such as The Dead-Killer saga (To Kill a King) as a major new character was introduced. Plus, there was a mini-series that featured some of the Deadworld characters crossing over into Caliber’s main fantasy title, The Realm. That series was called, appropriately enough, The Realm of the Dead.
Caliber also ran some one shots that were set in Deadworld but didn’t feature any of the regular characters. These Deadworld Chronicles are not officially part of the Deadworld and do not fit into the storyline.
A second volume of Deadworld was released and this series ran for 15 issues. After that, a few other issues featuring Deadworld characters came out such as the Daemonstorm-Deadworld crossover, the Tattoo series, and the King Zombie mini-series.
Deadworld relaunched in 2006 with a six issue series from Image to be called Requiem for the World. The follow up series was Frozen Over and then Slaughterhouse, both which came out from Desperado.
IDW reprinted the Requiem, Frozen Over, and Slaughterhouse storylines in the Deadworld Omnibus and also released the first 16 issues of the original series in two volumes of Deadworld Classics. An original graphic novel, The Last Siesta, was also published by IDW.
In August of 2012, IDW released a five issue weekly series, War of the Dead, and this was the first time that Deadworld was published in color.
