My love of all Taylor-written DCeased things continues, with an unexpectedly different take on DC’s alternate universe zombie apocalypse. I hadn’t given any thought really to the villains’ various resiliences to threats like the Anti-Life Equation and it’s quite cute in a way to see Vandal Savage treating it as just another extinction level event, having lived through so many. Drawn by Karl Mostert it’s a lot of fun – he has a very Frank Quitely tone to his art, which isn’t at all unwelcome, even if his faces get a little overly two dimensional sometimes. His depiction of the Bat family survivors has really joyful moments, which resonates with the current Dead Planet book, and reminds us just how uplifting the pantheon of DC heroes can be.

The Unkillables moniker is well deserved – it’s not just Vandal Savage who throws their weight around post-apocalypse, and it’ll be interesting to see who Deathstroke ultimately feels most aligned to. Jason Todd and Cassandra Cain outliving Bruce and Dick is a nice touch, and I’m struggling to remember what film theirs, Gordon’s and Ace’s arc reminds me of – Logan? 28 Days Later? Kill Bill? The compete shift in tone from drama and tragedy in the original mini to the more action movie vibe here is really welcome, and it shows just how flexible DC’s zombie universe can be as a setting.

Rex Lokus’ vibrant colours amplify the cinematic tone of the story and neatly let the art do the talking. Given the art jam on inks I’m surprised how stable the overall package is – Trevor Scott, Neil Edwards and John Livesay do a commendably consistent job. It doesn’t feel as unmissable a read as Tom Taylor’s currently running Dead Planet, but it’s worth it for some old fashioned post apocalypse fun, again with DC characters written to perfection. I can’t imagine there’ll be many happy endings, but Taylor here has given me more than enough to care about what happens to all the ‘unkillable’ leads at least.

writing	★★★★½
art	★★★★½
colouring	★★★★½
overall	★★★★½