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PESTILENCE: THE COMPLETE SERIES
The Complete Series in One Hardcover Volume!
It’s the late 14th Century, and a Great Pestilence―the “Black Death”― is sweeping across Europe, killing over 100 million people. BUT, what if history as we know it was a lie? What if, in reality, this was no straightforward plague, but the FIRST non-recorded Zombie Infestation of man? Ex-Crusader Roderick Helms and his fellow “black ops” agents the Church, Fiat Lux, must seek out the cause of this undead outbreak and vanquish it before mankind ceases to exist!
Written by the master of violence, gore, and mayhem, Frank Tieri (Harley Quinn, Marvel vs Capcom, Wolverine, Deadpool), with spectacular art from Disney illustrator Oleg Okunev, and covers by Eisner Award-nominated artist Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher, Hellblazer)!
“Pestilence is a refreshing new take on the zombie genre. It really drives home the claustrophobic onslaught of the undead.” -James Ferguson of horrortalk.com
It’s the late 14th Century, and a Great Pestilence―the “Black Death”― is sweeping across Europe, killing over 100 million people. BUT, what if history as we know it was a lie? What if, in reality, this was no straightforward plague, but the FIRST non-recorded Zombie Infestation of man? Ex-Crusader Roderick Helms and his fellow “black ops” agents the Church, Fiat Lux, must seek out the cause of this undead outbreak and vanquish it before mankind ceases to exist!
Written by the master of violence, gore, and mayhem, Frank Tieri (Harley Quinn, Marvel vs Capcom, Wolverine, Deadpool), with spectacular art from Disney illustrator Oleg Okunev, and covers by Eisner Award-nominated artist Tim Bradstreet (The Punisher, Hellblazer)!
“Pestilence is a refreshing new take on the zombie genre. It really drives home the claustrophobic onslaught of the undead.” -James Ferguson of horrortalk.com
- GenresGraphic NovelsHorror
240 pages, Hardcover
Published February 25, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 21, 2024
Killer idea: The Black Death that eradicated half of Europe in the 14th century was actually a zombie apocalypse. In Pestilence we view it through the eyes of a heroic team of Vatican assassins.
But the writing is just crap. Leaden, juvenile crap.
The final act plays on rapid fastforward: Pretty sure the publisher pulled the plug and gave the team a single issue to wrap everything up, the result being making something janky even jankier.
But the writing is just crap. Leaden, juvenile crap.
"Look behind you, monster...and you'll see you're not the only one with REINFORCEMENTS!"
"Jesus multiplied bread and fish, but I think this Satan fucker has him BEAT with EATERS!"
"Maybe you talking monkeys should give me a little more credit. I am THE LORD OF HELL, after all...so maybe I DO have an idea of what the fuck I'm doing here!"
"What parts of the devil are you two? A FINGER? His ASSHOLE, perhaps?" [bangs their heads together] "How about we put you two together and FINGER the devil's asshole! Doesn't that sound like FUN?"
The final act plays on rapid fastforward: Pretty sure the publisher pulled the plug and gave the team a single issue to wrap everything up, the result being making something janky even jankier.
February 16, 2021
Excellent drawing and interesting plot though repetitive sometimes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2020
Maybe reading a gory alternative history about the Black Death during a real life pandemic influenced my reading experience but I had more than enough issues with this collection to warrant a simple "It was OK" star rating.
First, there are two story arcs. But the plot is largely the same. The main cast of characters fights their way through zombie hordes to reach the same church. That happens in both stories, to the point they literally repeat the steps to access the same hidden chamber. So the second story felt like a retread, especially with the return of various characters we thought died in the first story or are identical siblings to a dead character.
Second, the ending of the first story is literally a "dios" ex machina (not "deus" since it's a holy object not a ghost, and yes I know I'm mixing Spanish with Latin). I actually preferred the more character driven climax of the second story rather than the first's "and then everything was OK" style of ending.
Third, as good as the artwork was there were still flaws. The floating heads to provide dialogue over many of the pages was very odd and feels like they tried to stuff too much dialogue and exposition into the space. There were two opposing characters that looked very similar, which confused me greatly until I managed to sort them out based on context. They also both reminded of Mason Savoy from Chew, which threw me off tonally.
Fourth, the second story's first two issues were a bit too far in the shock for shock alone camp. Satan shows up (not a spoiler given the arc is called "A Story of Satan") and does some truly nasty body horror stuff that doesn't do much besides show how evil Satan is, which of course everyone should already know. Maybe I've just grown more squeamish in my middle age, but a lot of these first two issues could have been excised to get into the action with Roderick and company much faster, which was far more enjoyable.
There are some good bits to this series. I did enjoy the interplay between the members of Roderick's crew. I liked the snippets of backstory we got in the first story arc, particularly the reveal at the beginning of issue #4 that flips one character's identity. The dialogue might try a little too hard to be edgy and anachronistic but it's fun enough and nicely offsets the horror elements.
The alternative history aspect, that the Black Death was actually a zombie plague from Satan, provides a good playground for all the action. It felt a bit like a low rent Assassin's Creed at time, especially the plot at the end of the second story arc, but that's fine.
Maybe if I had this without the real life coronavirus pandemic hanging over my head I would have enjoyed it more, but I think my zeal for this type of horror has waned.
First, there are two story arcs. But the plot is largely the same. The main cast of characters fights their way through zombie hordes to reach the same church. That happens in both stories, to the point they literally repeat the steps to access the same hidden chamber. So the second story felt like a retread, especially with the return of various characters we thought died in the first story or are identical siblings to a dead character.
Second, the ending of the first story is literally a "dios" ex machina (not "deus" since it's a holy object not a ghost, and yes I know I'm mixing Spanish with Latin). I actually preferred the more character driven climax of the second story rather than the first's "and then everything was OK" style of ending.
Third, as good as the artwork was there were still flaws. The floating heads to provide dialogue over many of the pages was very odd and feels like they tried to stuff too much dialogue and exposition into the space. There were two opposing characters that looked very similar, which confused me greatly until I managed to sort them out based on context. They also both reminded of Mason Savoy from Chew, which threw me off tonally.
Fourth, the second story's first two issues were a bit too far in the shock for shock alone camp. Satan shows up (not a spoiler given the arc is called "A Story of Satan") and does some truly nasty body horror stuff that doesn't do much besides show how evil Satan is, which of course everyone should already know. Maybe I've just grown more squeamish in my middle age, but a lot of these first two issues could have been excised to get into the action with Roderick and company much faster, which was far more enjoyable.
There are some good bits to this series. I did enjoy the interplay between the members of Roderick's crew. I liked the snippets of backstory we got in the first story arc, particularly the reveal at the beginning of issue #4 that flips one character's identity. The dialogue might try a little too hard to be edgy and anachronistic but it's fun enough and nicely offsets the horror elements.
The alternative history aspect, that the Black Death was actually a zombie plague from Satan, provides a good playground for all the action. It felt a bit like a low rent Assassin's Creed at time, especially the plot at the end of the second story arc, but that's fine.
Maybe if I had this without the real life coronavirus pandemic hanging over my head I would have enjoyed it more, but I think my zeal for this type of horror has waned.
July 28, 2023
(Zero spoiler review) 1.75/5
Second Frank Tieri book I've read, second god-awful piece of garbage. Twice bitten, thrice shy. I sure as hell won't be bothering with anything else from this puerile, talentless hack. I've never liked the term edge lord, finding it often unfairly used as generic insult, more than any apt description of a creator or customer. That said, I would call Frank Tieri an edge lord, although that would be being far too unkind to edge lords, whatever or whoever they are.
This story, or should I say, incoherent, aimless series of poorly plotted and scripted events was one of the least pleasant experiences I've ever had with a comic book. I couldn't remember a single character's name, although to call these individuals characters would be to give them a level of identity far greater than the 0.00372648% of a character that Tieri endowed them with. And then we come to the dialogue, which makes your average CW program look like high literary fiction. You see, this is for mature readers, mainly because Tieri thinks that putting cunt and fuck in every other sentence is somehow intelligent or appealing. This sub-pubescent level of ability is not only shockingly infantile, but just goes to show the non-existent level of the man's talent. The last thing I am is a prude, but if you're going to swear in a story, either once or 489 times, at least make it fit and flow within the narrative. If only the writing matched the art, then this would have been halfway decent. But hey, it had boobs, so it gets more than the 1 star it deserves. Told you I wasn't a prude. Never buy or read this. 1.75/5
OmniBen.
Second Frank Tieri book I've read, second god-awful piece of garbage. Twice bitten, thrice shy. I sure as hell won't be bothering with anything else from this puerile, talentless hack. I've never liked the term edge lord, finding it often unfairly used as generic insult, more than any apt description of a creator or customer. That said, I would call Frank Tieri an edge lord, although that would be being far too unkind to edge lords, whatever or whoever they are.
This story, or should I say, incoherent, aimless series of poorly plotted and scripted events was one of the least pleasant experiences I've ever had with a comic book. I couldn't remember a single character's name, although to call these individuals characters would be to give them a level of identity far greater than the 0.00372648% of a character that Tieri endowed them with. And then we come to the dialogue, which makes your average CW program look like high literary fiction. You see, this is for mature readers, mainly because Tieri thinks that putting cunt and fuck in every other sentence is somehow intelligent or appealing. This sub-pubescent level of ability is not only shockingly infantile, but just goes to show the non-existent level of the man's talent. The last thing I am is a prude, but if you're going to swear in a story, either once or 489 times, at least make it fit and flow within the narrative. If only the writing matched the art, then this would have been halfway decent. But hey, it had boobs, so it gets more than the 1 star it deserves. Told you I wasn't a prude. Never buy or read this. 1.75/5
OmniBen.
February 25, 2020
This is what happens when you're a reviewer – you hate a book and it gets a squillion sequels, or you like a book that's novel, inventive and a freshly entertaining take on the zombie story, only for Book Two to never turn up. Either that, or, in the lesser of two evils, the Reviewing Gods leave you in complete ignorance that there actually was a follow-on. And so it comes to pass that only this – which claims to be the Complete Pestilence – has so-far managed to give me knowledge of the rest of the profanity and beheading and Crusader-knights-versus-the-undead fun. Of course, I went back over the first six issues, and still found the same minor flaws as before with the wacky disembodied heads used to attribute dialogue, even for the most obvious of speech bubbles. I think the second batch of five episodes crammed in the unlikely a bit too much, but since when was anything about this title at all subtle? Both halves make for a most satisfying whole, unless of course you dislike language and some of the sexual and violent imagery that predominates. I clearly didn't dislike it – I rate this as a wonderful romp, and well worth four stars, if not fractions more.
December 26, 2022
Some awesome ideas (knights vs zombies…hell yeah!) but rides the line between being extremely gross (pope gets raped) and humorous (like a page later one knight says vagina and they joke it down because of a kid being near). Cover art is awesome for the series. Not horrible but felt flat compared to what it could have been.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2020
The story is good and the art is great. They almost make up for the bad dialogue. It would've been a 4 or maybe 5 star from me, but the dialogue tries so hard to be edgy that it's more cringe than anything.
March 31, 2020
Review submitted to Diamond Bookshelf for potential professional publication.
August 8, 2024
Rape scenes missing, more violence needed and more thic babes.
Long live satan
Long live satan
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews