'68 #1

Written by Mark Kidwell
Art by Nat Jones

I remember picking up the '68 one-shot a number of years ago, and enjoying it's marrying of zombie films with the Vietnam War, but I'd somehow missed the fact that the title was returning as (possibly) an on-going.  Now, I like zombie comics (at least, I love the Walking Dead and got a kick out of books like The Last Resort and XXXombies), but I love reading about the Vietnam War, so this combination is a good idea.

In this first issue, there are two stories.  The main one introduces us to a Chinese-American soldier named Yam, and a few of the various people living at Firebase Aries.  Yam's patrol encounters a group of zombie-fied Viet Cong, and it seems that Yam is the only survivor, at least for now.  The second story takes place in Saigon, and looks to be included only for the purpose of establishing the extent to which the zombie problem has spread.

This comic makes good use of tension (the scenes in the tunnel are excellent), although it does rely pretty heavily on the standard tropes of Vietnam War books, movies, and comics.  Nat Jones's art reminds me of a roughed up Steve Dillon, and is pretty effective here.  I'm definitely going to give this title a chance (although I hope subsequent issues don't cost $3.99).