Cold Dead War #4

Cold Dead War #4

Heavy Metal Comics 2021

Written by George C. Romero

Pencilled by German Ponce

Inked by Gabriel Rearte

Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse

It's the last stand of The Cold Dead - America's covert zombie pilot squad - as a mission to infiltrate a Nazi stronghold goes sideways, and nothing less than worldwide freedom and liberty are at stake. Live forever! Never say die!

I like the idea that the Third Reich left, escaped and ran off to South America and have turned many countries into a Fourth Reich version. There really is something to all this that appeals to me because it mixes with what we know and pushes the envelope in ways that are exciting and fresh. It is alternate history at its finest as it takes all the right elements and hits all the right notes and overall this just takes his father’s franchise and brings a completely different aspect to it. I do like that this is a complete arc and this mission objective has been completed and that we are still leaving room for this to be revisited. The way this is being told is an incredibly unique take on the genre and that we’ve never seen anything like this before is something.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter helps bring these amazing personalities to the forefront. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more insanely absurd and fun the book becomes.

I like how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. What I like is how the layers open up avenues to be explored now some avenues will be explored and others won’t be but they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. From the game of cards to the party what we see really gives the characters something extra. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is really nice to see.

The interiors here are really nicely rendered. German’s linework is always so incredibly tight, clean, crisp and strong and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create all this amazing detail within the work is great to see. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. Also I have to mention that the pencils and inks being done by separate folks can be either sublime or look extremely thick and I’ve only seen that in this issue. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a beautiful eye for how colour works.

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A Romero and zombies, there are few things that fit together more perfectly. The fact that this sets a new precedent for a new take on the genre is something that I wasn’t expecting but now find myself with something I can’t live without. I’d really like to see some more straight up horror with this, the army and fighting aspects are great but some real thrills and chills is something I can’t sink my teeth into. This has some incredibly unique writing and interesting characterisation that goes so well with the interiors here and creates a true original reading experience.