Kevin Grevioux, a comic book writer and creator who wrote the original screenplay for Underworld (2003) which became a lasting franchise, with Len Wiseman directing the first one and Danny McBride penning the screenplay. In addition, Kevin starred as the character Raze and return in a prequel entitled, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, but more important he’s an avid comic book fan and collector, with over 10,000 issues. He created a limited run of 6-issue zombie comic, ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, which starts itself on the date of July 30, 2008 for the publisher Red 5 Comics. One must note that this comic has absolutely no connection to the horror-comedy of the same title from 2009, and in fact, Grevioux’s comic currently in the early stages of becoming a horror film, as it was optioned by Howard McCain.
The story revolves around a government weapons program that drops photosensitive zombies into war zones at night to destroy the enemy population. This all response to avoid the pitfalls of a mandatory draft, and with the current troops deplete heavily, struggling against enemy forces in hot spots in the Middle East. An interesting aspect going back today reading this comic, noting a new device MOAB: Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb, or in the news’ cycle of now, Mother of All Bombs, however thanks to bio-tech weapons the zombies kill everyone at night, no one likely safe. By the morning in blazing sun, an elite group of troops enters and performs a clean of the zombie remains and other corpses, but not all seems well planned. The first issue sets an interesting story, and leaves a very nice cliffhanger, as Zombie Zero has not befallen the sunlight of disintegration, unlike the others, leading to a new nightmare for the public.
ZMD’s color and ink of the first issue clean and precise with nice graphic moments, beheadings from zombies, quickly pace and ease of panels, though the design of zombies a tad too simplistic, not enough detail. However, the close up of undead faces on very lifelike and showing fantastic bridge and dental work, why do all zombies have their teeth, if the bodies rot why not their mouths.
This comic presents a solid story with U.S. military as a backdrop, setting the stage to full on explosive war, with the final panel showing zombie footprints it sets the stage to pick up or find the second issue, and as this reviewer, I do have all this issues, and welcome others to enjoy the arc of the storyline. One can only hope that Kevin Grevioux obtains a green light for ZMD become a true horror movie.
This review published on Rogue Cinema in May 2017, with a view count 913. Since then I met Kevin at the New Jersey Horror Convention and Film Festival, in Atlantic City, NJ in September 2018, discussing this comic, hence the inclusion of the review now.
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