When the world ends, the villains shall inherit it! Superstar writer Tom Taylor (Injustice: Gods Among Us) and brilliant artist Karl Mostert dive back into comics’ darkest timeline in DCeased: Unkillables. The Anti-Life virus has ravaged the Earth, turning its population—and most of its greatest heroes—into mindless, ravenous zombies. The Justice League has fallen. The survivors are clinging to life. And in these dark times, only the world’s most evil metahumans will survive! It’s the end of the DC Universe as we know it. I will admit that I was slow to come around to fantasy and horror in my reading journey. I’ve always been more drawn to what books can teach us about people, relationships, and human connection. But sometime in the past decade, I suddenly realized: monsters can teach us so much about humanity. They highlight what we’re deeply afraid of, what we most desire, and what makes us human. Werewolves show our fear of dark secrets and impulses we can’t control. Witches are often a metaphor for those with power we don’t understand, and particularly fear of powerful women. Vampires hide their true nature and perform dark deeds under the cover of night. (All vampires are gay. That’s canon.) So where do zombies come in? Well, zombies represent our base instincts and the hungers we can’t control. They also represent a mindless adherence to the status quo, even if that status quo means many people get hurt. And of course, zombie narratives often rely on a fear of contagion. During a pandemic like COVID-19, it’s easy to see the parallels between zombie stories and infectious disease. When a new virus is spreading quickly, it brings a sense of fear, confusion, misinformation, and anxiety. You can only do so much to protect yourself and your loved ones, and it feels like the virus keeps popping up in places you thought were safe. In fact, some people have gone so far as to compare COVID-19 response to how people would fare in the zombie apocalypse. If you’re denying the real impacts of the pandemic and going about your daily life, maybe you wouldn’t have done so well against the zombies after all.
Quiz: Which Pop Culture Zombie Are You?
We hope you enjoyed learning more about the pop culture zombie inside of you! You might also enjoy:
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