Cold War: Futuro muerto

by Christopher Sebela, Hayden Sherman, Víctor Manuel García de Isusi (Translator)

Panacea Cryonics offered its customers life after death by keeping their heads frozen until the day technology could rebuild them, free of disease and death. However, as these everyday people from the past are revived, they’re not handed the keys to a new life, but a gun, body armor and an ultimatum. They must fight in a war against unknown opponents for unknown reasons, to secure their place in a brave new world that doesn’t want them around.

From Christopher Sebela, writer of Blue Beetle, Kiss/Vampirella and Evolution, and Hayden Sherman, artist of The Few and John Carter The End, comes the story that HAD to be told at AfterShock!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

136 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 2018

Reviews

[Alan]

One of the best things about this young publisher, Aftershock, is that while it doesn't do long
ongoing series, the short series it is doing picks up the science fiction (or in one case Lost City Explorers) science fiction pulp, arm of American comic book story telling (DC's rebooted Vertigo is taking care of the fantasy end of this).

Cold War is arguably influenced by The Forever War. People who were dead, or near dead, are placed in cold storage and thawed out to fight a war against an unknown enemy.

Each issue pretty much goes into the backstory of an individual character as the war story moves around the main group the reader is introduced in issue 1. The final two issues try to wrap up too many plot threads at one time, including the reveal of who the true enemy is. (which in hindsight was pretty obvious).

A little depressing, and most likely for fans of YA dystopian fiction such as The Hunger Games and Divergent.

[Alex]

Picked this up after reading Hayden Sherman’s Batman: Dark Patterns series. I really like their art style, but it is clear that this is some early work where they were still figuring it out. Sherman has drastically improved at drawing faces since this book, I often had trouble differentiating the characters here. Sebela’s writing is a little short on context, and frankly the entire premise of this book is short on context. It’s reminds me alot of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi and Forever War by Joe Haldeman. I will say that both of those books are far better versions of this same concept, particularly Forever War. If you like Sherman’s art maybe stick to recent stuff, they’re firing on all cylinders at DC right now between Dark Patterns and Absolute Wonder Woman.

[Nikki Stafford]

Great idea, but the execution would have been better with a different writer, different artist, and different editor. The second star comes for the twist near the end with the added character, someone I wish had been introduced MUCH earlier.

[Dean]

Sherman has come a long way from here. Non distinct looking characters.
Stories started generically but end of issue 1 kicks off the series well.
Not quite sure of the last few pages of issue 5.
Worth a read.

[Earl Shaffer]

My word I could not get through this. The artwork is too confusing, everyone looks basically the same, it’s not cohesive. Plus it was nothing but people whining and complaining. Hard pass.

[Bus]

Madre mía qué castaña ..