With zombies from around the UK planning to stagger into the capital to celebrate World Zombie Day (which will be kicking off in style at SCI-FI-LONDON's Oktoberfest Meat 'N' Greet pre-event party on Friday 11th October), the launch of the Dead Roots Comic Anthology Kickstarter this month is staggeringly perfect in its timing.
Originally published in quarterly instalments, and released through the Apple App Store over the past twelve months, the Kickstarter campaign celebrates the completion of the fourth and final digital issue of Dead Roots by bringing all editions plus extra content together in a bound, 180-page, printed edition.
“We wanted to do something special to tie up the anthology” Dead Roots Editor-in-Chief Mike Garley told us as we chatted about the project. “The Kickstarter will not only offer backers a luxury hardback edition, but maybe even the chance to appear in one of the extra Dead Roots stories. The campaign ends on Halloween, the anniversary of issue one, so we hope we'll be in for a big celebration!”
Dead Roots already has much to celebrate indeed and looks set to smash through its £6000 goal with ease as over £1000 was added to the pot within the first 24 hours.
The appeal of Dead Roots is that as a collection, it manages to avoid the humdrum clichés found within many zombie outbreak comics, and instead focuses on the emotional state and experiences of everyday people as they search to find their loved ones whilst the catastrophic undead cause chaos, confusion, panic, and heartbreak.
Revealed through multiple view points across thirty-eight unique stories, Dead Roots features work from a diverse range of incredibly talented writers, artists, letterers, and colourists from iconic TV shows, comics, games, and films, including Andrew Ellard, the writer of SCI-FI-LONDON's 48 Hour Film Challenge winning short from 2012 Future.Inc.
Other creators include Eric Canete (Iron Man, Luke Cage, Superboy) James Moran (Doctor Who, Severance, Cockneys VS Zombies), Jason Arnopp (Doctor Who, Friday The 13th, Stormhouse) and Gordon Rennie (Judge Dredd, White Trash, Necronauts).
With invites to the Dead Roots party on offer to anyone who pledges £30 or more, this is one zombie apocalypse you don't want to miss.