Infestation #1
Publisher: IDW
Writer(s): Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: David Messina
Cover: Gabriel Rodriguez
“Infestation pt 1”: When I first heard about Infestation and the story’s premise I was a bit confused as to how it would work. I mean, this story doesn’t just have zombies, but the threat spills over into other IDW titles like Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Ghostbusters. Four very popular franchises on their own that are being linked in quite a unique way. Still, it does raise quite a few questions and after reading Infestation #1, I’m happy to say that it sets things up for the tie ins very well.
At a top secret military installation a portal has been activated that leads to another dimension. The military hopes to exploit the world beyond for its own purposes once the “animated cadavers” have all been cleared away. Things don’t go as planned and the entrails hit the fan when the zombies break through the portal and overrun the base. Enter the CVO (Covert Vampiric Operations) team who are called in to save the high ranking officers and stop the invasion at its source. Too bad that a couple members of the team are compromised, which only makes matters worse, and it seems all of the zombies are being driven by something called the Undermind. I’m not going to go into too much detail, but by the end of the issue four alternate Earths are in danger, and it’s up to the CVO team to stop the Undermind.
Abnett and Lanning do a great job of setting things in motion in this first issue. If you haven’t read anything about the CVO team (like myself), this dynamic writing team gives you just enough info to get you acquainted and then it’s on to the story. Which is fun to read, and even though there are several zombie cliches in the pages, it’s also filled with great twists and surprises that don’t disappoint. From the dialog to the action sequences, I was impressed at just how much fun I had reading the issue and my interest has been piqued enough to see how this thing plays out. Oh, and for anyone doubting how the Transformers would be in danger during all of this, you’ll get that explanation in this issue.
David Messina assists with the story here by providing the visual goodness from page to page. The zombies were gross, the action was great, and he kept my eyes entertained. I liked the fact that there wasn’t a visual focus on the zombies killing and eating people, but on the main characters to help keep the story moving. He also kept it dark and creepy, maintaining the mood that no one is safe and could possibly end up a zombie meal.
Infestation is going to continue in the Transformers, Star Trek, G.I. Joe, and Ghostbusters titles over the next few months, and then finally wrap up in April with Infestation #2. We are also given a preview of those titles after the main story here, and it looks like things aren’t gonna go well for the four alternate realities. So far I’m having fun and the idea of bringing these four franchises together like this has started off a lot better than expected, so I’d definitely suggest picking this up and getting in on the ground floor!
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Seems like ever other review this week has been for an Abnett and Lanning title. Just how many books are they writing right now, anyway?
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I was laughing to myself about that very same thing while writing this one up Kris! They’re all over the place like Wolverine and Deadpool!
@Speech- Great review man!
@Kristin- Well, this title, Heroes for Hire, Iron Man/ Thor, Annihilators….that might be it as far as comics are concerned right now. Soon they are taking over Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero too though. 😀
They’re also going to do the Transformers: Infestation book as well Billy.
@Speech- maybe they have Skrull dopplegangers?
Well since you may have discovered their secret…it’s been nice knowin’ you buddy! I’ll make sure Andy get’s the super hero pjs you got for xmas! 🙂
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@Speech- lol, hey, I just read that DnA are going to be starting on a DC book soon as well. 😀
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