With all this recent talk about Abe the Aborted Fetus, one would think I have completely forgotten about my little zombie adventure, "Contagion." That is a mistake however! I have not forgotten about it, but have instead been vigorously working on the next installments. Yes, plural. This is becoming a bit of a pet project for me as I have had a HUGE love for the walking dead for as long as I can remember.
You might be saying "The market is over saturated with zombie comics," and I will have to be inclined to agree with you. And not just in comics, but as well as movies and other books. Far be it for me to complain necessarily, however I must say that the majority of which refuse to step out from the very cookie-cutter structure they are made from. BUT NOT I! I refuse. I absolutely refuse, and not because I have anything against the 50 year redundancy of movies that seem to blur all together as one... But rather because if I was going to go about remaking the same product that has been remade to death (pun not intended), than I wouldn't bother wasting my time. However, I refuse to create another George A. Romero inspired cash cow based on the same principal that every other story is based on.
Now, before you get all in a tizzy, I am a HUGE Romero fan, and I have been in love with both Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead since as long as I can remember. Sure, I enjoyed his other films as well, but let's face it... They pale in comparison. And to that point, Tom Savini's 1991 remake of Night of the Living Dead, and Zach Snyder's 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead are also on my top list of favorite films. It's no secret that I have an obsessive compulsion with these creatures of the undead, especially since it's now become a huge hobby of mine to collect even the most obscure film. And to my benefit, not all have been as much of a disappointment as I would be lead to believe, looking at budget and synopsis. Among one of my all time favorite finds of the Indy Zombie films is a little movie called "Severed." Sure it involves loggers and tree hugging hippies and a genetically altered trees, and while that my sound absolutely ridiculous... It works, and so much so that it is definitely included into my top 10 zombie films of all time.
Another gem is the Italian made "City of the Dead" by Lucio Fulci. Sure, that's one of the movie's BILLION titles, but it's getting too late for me to rummage through my thoughts to recall the rest of them. Boyle's reinvention of the zombies in 28 Days Later is another top on my list, as the idea was fresh and horrifying. 28 Weeks Later had the potential, but much like Land of the Dead really never got there for me as any move that revolves an entire plot point on a single zombie in a world of billions loses much of its credibility.
But back to the main point, I am choosing to make my book unlike the majority of zombie stories ahead of me. I don't want to make another Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead" series (as much as his story has inspired me throughout the years). Instead, I want to tread down a different path, a path not often traveled. I can't say exactly, however I do intend to ad something both familiar, something new and also very real. The preview issue of Contagion that was released in November was a small taste of what I have in store, but doesn't even scratch the surface of my intentions of what I plan on doing to the world I'm creating. I will however work diligently on this project so that you will not be disappointed. However, I CAN say that Cliff Richards is still attached to the project, and it will not disappoint.
