Empire of the Dead Act 3 – review

Author: George A Romero

Illustrator: Alex Maleev

First published: 2015

Contains spoilers

The Blurb: It's zombies versus vampires — with desperate citizens caught in the crossfire — as the legendary George Romero unleashes the final chapter in his undead epic! Who is kidnapping the children of New York City, where are they taking them, and why? Meanwhile, Dr. Penny Jones has a nasty surprise coming her way when she conducts a zombie autopsy on Xavier. As Election Day looms, will Chandrake retain his rule, or will Chilly Dobbs have his day? And will the election even matter as the warring factions of rebels break through into the city? As Jo tries to make a break from the remote vampire compound, Detective Perez makes a terrifying discovery. It's the moment everyone's been waiting for: all-out zombie versus vampire warfare! Who will rule the Empire of the Dead?

Review: After a fantastic Act 1 and perhaps a tad weaker Act 2 I have to admit the series conclusion was more whimper than bang and that is sad given the early strength.

The best was I can describe it is threadbare. We get an assault on New York that is lacklustre and the conclusion of the mayoral race was thin.

All isn’t bad however, we get a genuine zompire moment when we discover that swat officer turned zombie Xavier – who has been taken into surgery following a headshot (not an autopsy as suggested in thee blurb) is regenerating – indeed she is spontaneously healing. They realise that she had been bitten by a vampire before being turned into a zombie and she is a hybrid of the two types of dead. This does beg the question of why vampires who died previously didn’t become zompires, rather they turned.

Of course, there is an underlying social commentary to the story as a whole – it wouldn’t be Romero otherwise – but it feels a little shovelled on rather than subtly underlying. If I sound too negative, I apologise. It just was disappointing after the excellent start and, despite being not as good, it still is a quality volume (just not as quality). 6 out of 10.