Long Synopsis
The following is a rough outline of the Deadworld series. It is not presented in strict chronological order, and of course, omits a great deal. What we are primarily concerned with is the sequence of events and the occurrences that pushed the different characters and their specific actions and responses. We have tried to cover all of the primary characters and their movements, so everyone has a basic understanding of what has gone on.The story opened as the world found itself plunged into a supernatural holocaust of unknown origin. Isolated pockets of humanity struggled to survive with little communication among these groups. The fate of the rest of the world was unsure; they could only hope that whatever affected their area was only regional.
The dead had come back to life. Zombies walked the earth, but somehow these seemed different than one might imagined. These zombies almost seemed to have a purpose. When it was discovered early on that there were some intelligent zombies, the humans realized the menace was far greater than the late night movies had portrayed.
The opening cast of characters was placed in Louisiana. John, unofficially and with reservations from all, led a group of teens. Accompanying John were Mike, Dan, Mickey, Donna, Chris, and John’s little brother, Joey. Purposeless, the teens wandered almost aimlessly with no idea of where to go or what to do beyond the simple act of surviving. It was this group that ran into a trio of intelligent zombies. Only one of these zombies would survive the initial encounter, and he would later prove to be the most dangerous of all the enemies of the humans. He was pegged with a name early on which has stuck with him, and hence, we were introduced to King Zombie. Throughout the series, clues have dropped regarding King Zombie’s relationship with a pre-holocaust human by the name of Fiderman, but now answers have been forthcoming.
The youngsters had thought they had found sanctuary on a riverboat, as the water would provide a natural barrier from zombie attacks. Again, they underestimated the leadership of the zombies as King Zombie and his undead followers attacked. Two of the teens, Chris and Mickey, met their demise and Dan was thrown overboard into the zombie-infested waters. John, Joey, Donna (Dan’s girlfriend), and Mike managed to escape.
After their encounter with King Zombie, the teens ran across a degenerate fugitive. To their surprise, they discovered that the almost lunatical fugitive, Deake, had been involved in an arcane scheme to open portals to other dimensions. Deake had the innate capabilities of being a gate-opener, one that can release the restraints of the portal that would allow the evil that revived the dead into this world. However, the opening of the gate was aborted and only a partial amount of the undead energy entered. If the gates were ever fully opened, who knows what would happen. King Zombie’s quest was to find Deake and have him open the portals, once and for all. It seemed, however, that the teens kept interfering with the plans of King Zombie. Deake, more through luck than anything, managed to continually elude the clutches of the zombie leader.
The teens with Deake in tow, retreated to the remote homestead of a family living in the backwoods where they found a brief spot of normalcy.
King Zombie, thwarted thus far, received help from the other side as a sliver of the split between the two dimensions permitted limited access to specific demons. The Grakken were brought over to aid King Zombie in his quest. And their speed, strength, and ferocity were more than a match for any human. With the Grakken at his side, King Zombie found his prize at the homestead. He was even more pleased to find the troubling teens were companions of Deake. With most of the humans ready to be slaughtered, Dan, who had been thought dead, unexpectedly rescued the teens. It was discovered that Dan had developed almost a sixth sense regarding locating zombies and this is how he was able to track down his companions. King Zombie was bested again, but he gladly accepted this as he now had Deake in his custody. The gates were his to open.
Dan, one of the few humans who understood what the portals represented, managed to disrupt the gate opening, but was in peril as the zombies and Grakken were in hot pursuit. Unexpectedly, he was rescued by a para-military organization and King Zombie was helpless to stop the fleeing helicopter as it carried off all of the teens and Deake, as well.
For the first time since the dead began to walk the earth, the teens felt a sense of hope. The para-military organization seemed efficient, were fully armed, well equipped, and everything had a sense of order. It was a vestige of civilization they thought had disappeared. The leader of the organization, which also controlled a small city, was Moloch. His mistress, Reyna, seemed to operate with an agenda of her own. Bowker was a field leader who had such a demeanor that members of his own troops, such as Punk and Eddie, were more frightened of him than they were the zombies.
To the dismay of the teens, they discovered that they were nothing more than prisoners of this militaristic group. Mike was accidentally killed during questioning and Dan was forced to comply with Reyna’s sexual form of questioning after he was nearly beat to death by the gladiator-like savage warrior known only as Wolverine. The others were placed in the local YMCA to apparently wait for their deaths. Inside, they found that some members of the family they had holed up with were also captured. The strange character Percy who sometimes exhibited levels of incoherence also joined them. A possible imbecile, Percy attached himself to the group. During the imprisonment, a little girl had died in the arms of John who had been carrying her. When she joined the undead, John became her first and only victim as Joey learned the realities of the new way of life by killing the fiend that had ripped out his brother’s throat.
While Moloch tried to discover the importance of Deake, the city came under attack by the zombie horde. Dan broke away from the clutches of Reyna and searched the YMCA for his fellow companions. He found Joey, but assumed that Donna and Percy were dead. Dan and Joey managed to flee the city to safety. Donna and Percy had also escaped, however. Thinking they were deserted, the two unlikely companions escaped into the night during the melee.
As the battle progressed, the zombies began to overcome the remaining humans. Moloch was severely injured and Reyna, realizing that it was only her association with Moloch that gave her any power, managed to rescue him and also recaptured Deake. Bowker was left behind to fend for himself.
With the humans surrendering, King Zombie found himself in charge of a city. He was joined by another intelligent zombie who was referred to as "Vamp" because of the sexual games she played with humans. She took an immediate liking to the new prisoner Bowker, and therefore saved his life. Bowker formed an informal and uneasy truce with the Vamp. He would work with her until she retrieved Deake, as he never had discovered Deake’s true role. In return, she would help him retaliate against Moloch whom he felt had betrayed him.
Donna and Percy fled into the woods where a motorcycle gang, the Demon Wheels, found them. Donna was gang raped, but brought back to the camp where in a fight with the gang leader’s woman, established herself as the new top lady. Percy accompanied her and was tolerated in the camp.
Moloch and Reyna escaped to another para-military organization, which although larger, was not nearly as well organized. Reyna used her considerable sexual skills with the leader, Jaxson, to keep both of them alive, but even she knew that long range plans for Moloch and her were dim at best.
Dan and Joey, after an encounter with a voodoo cult, which thought it could control zombies, were captured by a small town known only as "the community". Dan and Joey eventually joined the community and, for the first time, led normal lives. Dan worked as a mechanic in the local garage and Joey was put back in school. The community had a long range plan to deal with the zombies and education and preparations were key factors. To the members of the community, including Dan and Joey now, life resumed a great deal of the normalcy that it held before. Dan and Joey both found girlfriends and contemplated settling down into a normal life with the community.
Dreams and a sense of dread, however, plagued Dan. He realized that the community wasn’t trying to deal with the new way of the world, but were just trying to ignore it. Joey was unable to face realistically the death of his brother and the others, and the community gave him the chance to forget the tragic past. However, when Dan decided to leave, Joey went along because Dan was the closest thing to family he had left. The two left for parts unknown.
Soon after their departure, the community only had a short time of bliss left as King Zombie and his horde came to town and wiped it out, including Marla and Jennifer, the girlfriends of Dan and Joey.
Elsewhere in the other regions of this "dead-world", a mysterious entity, referred to as Amy (a name she took from one of her victims), carried on her own brand of destruction as she inhabited body after body in an apparent search for something. Another figure was the mysterious hunter known only as the Dead-Killer took revenge against the zombies. Upon his discovery of the "talking freak", King Zombie, Dead-Killer decided to make the final death of King Zombie his own personal vendetta. Although he nearly succeeded in their first encounter, the Dead-Killer had underestimated the intelligence of King Zombie and suffered the loss of a hand in the struggle (See the Dead-Killer one-shot which reprints the back-up stories featured in Deadworld (19-21). Later, the Dead-Killer would have greater success against King Zombie at a carnival that served as the zombies’ temporary home base. Bowker and the Vamp were present also, and Dead-Killer apparently killed both the Vamp and King Zombie (See Deadworld: To Kill a King #1), and left Bowker to decide his own fate.
Another group of characters, residents from a small Michigan town, also tried to deal with the zombie-plagued world. The townspeople decided to make a trek up to the wilderness of the desolate Upper Peninsula figuring that once they crossed the bridge connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, they could blow it up isolating themselves from the zombies. They figured that being doing this and combined with the long cold winters, the zombie population would be kept to a minimum. The leader of this group was John, who was assisted by a young college student named Stacey. The townspeople were soon joined by Kirk, a youth from West Virginia who figured on searching the more populated areas for signs of civilization, who had also met up with Clarence, an escaped convict from a maximum security prison. Also joining the group of townspeople was Albert, a young writer who hoped to find his retired parents alive in a small resort town in Michigan who they had settled down. Even after realizing that his parents were likely dead, Albert stayed with the group.
In a climatic battle near the bridge, King Zombie, who had brought up zombies from the south via train, watched as the zombies were slaughtered in a trap set by John. King Zombie had received additional help in the form of an Oracle who had been sent to tune into the aura of any whom possessed the power to open the gates. Unfortunately for King Zombie, the aura picked up by the Oracle was the unborn baby that Stacey was carrying. After the slaughter, King Zombie headed back down south to search for Deake again and the townspeople retreated into the safety of northern Michigan and the cold weather.
A period of time has passed and John is traveling through a blizzard as he searches for his son. John realizes that he went out too far and zombies are all around him. He won’t survive. He strips down and allows himself to freeze, hoping that he freezes to death before the zombies find him. Albert had left a couple months ago and hasn’t been heard from since. Clarence tries to convince Kirk and Stacey to go down to the Caribbean as the weather is at least nice.
Bowker is on a rendezvous mission in a city when he is surprised by Reyna. She offers him a chance to come back but he isn’t sure he can trust her.
We find out that Albert has been captured by King Zombie and KZ wants Albert to be his chronicler…something to pass on to posterity. Albert does it…after all, he has to survive.
Another Oracle appears to King Zombie. It has found Deake. The Oracle also informs King Zombie that the Master has split into two forces because of the gates not being opened. One is the spiritual form that is inhabiting different forces and calls itself Amy. The other is in human form but that form does not even know it is part of the Master. The two forms must be re-united to reform the Master. Dan and Joey come into the camp and rejoin Donna.
Reyna begins her plan as she, Moloch, and Bowker claim the city. Bowker kills the Vamp and to stave off an attack by King Zombie, turns Deake over to the zombies. Bowker leads a mission to wipe out the Scavengers and kidnaps Katherine. When the Vamp, in yet another new body, discovers Bowker's feelings towards Katherine, Vamp kills Katherine. Dead-Killer kills Bowker, thinking he was the one that savagely murdered Katherine.
Dan is shot when he tries to get away from the motorcycle camp. He manages to survive but is plagued by visions and voices. When he follows "the Call", he is taken over by the Voodoo Queen. She wants to make Dan the father of a new race of humans, ones that can control the zombies. Dan refuses, however, the Voodoo Queen saves his life during an epic battle of the dead against King Zombie.
Joey and Donna go to live with the Lepers, led by Rand. They occupy a hidden city underground. The Lepers, victims of some bizarre experiments by doctors searching for an answer to the zombie menace, are trying to rebuild a new society.King Zombie goes against the Demon Lord as they wrestle for power. KZ manages to kill the Master Demon, only to have the supernatural energies consume him as well.