Plague of the Living Dead Special

Written by Joe Russo
February 2007

In this special issue of Plague of the Living Dead running up until the series begins in Issue #1, we learn (sorta) what is happening in the quiet little town of Stone Mountain, Virginia in August of 1971. We start at the Stone Mountain bridge where teenage lovers Katie and Robbie talk about their futures; her going to college and he heading to Vietnam. As she begins to fellatio him, his brother Greg shows up to interupt them, telling them about the peace rally going-ons at the Price residence before leaving again. Katie and Robbie go to Katie's fathers store to get condoms. At the Price home, we meet the other youngsters getting posters and such ready for the peace rally. It turns out three of the women have fiances/husbands in Vietnam their are trying to get returned home. Mr. Price, a veteran of the Korean War, comes downstairs due to the noise, but doesn't mind since he agrees with the young adults to a degree. Elsewhere, the reader is shown those men from Vietnam just discussed: Privates Terry Ellis and Steve Green and Corporal Todd Clark.

These men are under military psychiatric evaluation due to problems in Vietnam. They told a story about how they were shadowing a troop and burning these troops' tracks. When they accidentally catch up to them, they witness the carnage the troops reek on a Vietnamese village. They are zombies unleashed by the American Army. Now, their superiors tell them there is completely no record of any of this. Back with Katie and Robbie, they have arrived at her father store, they are ambushed by zombies, and are killed. Back at the Price household, Sandy finds out Greg is having sex with Kelly, her brothers wife. As she runs out of the house, she is attacked by zombies, as is Greg and Kelly. The zombie then begin to siege the home while the other panic. Back with the Terry, Steve, and Todd, they find out to their surprise that they are actually at the base in Stone Mountain.

I first began to read the initial issue of Plague of the Living Dead and felt I was missing something. Reading some stuff on the internet, I find out that this special issue came out first. Having now read this and the first one to completion, I am glad I got to read this because it gave almost all of the background information. It introduced all of the major characters and what happened when the plague hit Stone Mountain. Overall, I think this zombie story is pretty interesting, especially the army side of things with these three men actually being in the town when it goes to shit. The art is great and really fills the comic with dread for the living people.

Score: 4 / 5