Victorian Undead
Encyclopedia
Victorian Undead is a six-issue American comic book
limited series
published by Wildstorm
. The series was written by Ian Edginton
, with art by Davide Fabbri. The story sets in Victorian England
and follows Sherlock Holmes
and Doctor Watson in the midst of a zombie outbreak.
enters over London, releasing little fragments in which one fragment penetrates into a street pump near Broad Street in Soho
. Five months later, Soho suffers what appears to be a cholera outbreak. Doctor John Snow
and Reverend Henry Whitehead investigate the outbreak. While Snow postulate the cause for the outbreak, Reverend Whitehead discuss of a recent confession from a tanner's apprentice about the dead coming back to life. Soon afterwards, one of Snow's deceased patients is resurrected as a zombie in front of a shocked Snow and Whitehead.
By 1898, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson investigate a charlatan who has been hypnotizing unsuspecting people into revealing their secrets. The charlatan turns out to be an advanced automaton
and is disabled during a struggle with Holmes and Watson. The two are perplex of this discovery, in which Holmes deduces that the machine was controlled by an unknown person, who personally knows Holmes. Meanwhile, two workmen at a underground railway construction yard come across a corpse. One of the workmen sees a gold ring on the corpse and greedily attempts to appropriate it, but the corpse comes to life and bits him. The zombie is decapitated by the other workman, but he is also attacked and bitten by his coworker, who turns into a zombie.
At Baker Street
, Holmes and Watson later study the automaton and are then urgently summoned to Scotland Yard
by Inspector Lestrade
over what appears to be a murder between the aforementioned workmen before they are brought to one of the zombified workmen and a functioning head of the discovered zombie. However, Holmes and Watson are forced to call off from their investigation by British Secret Service
agents.
dating back to ancient London. They then found a corpse pile and look into their contents to find that some of the corpses are barely a year old. Soon they are surrounded by a horde of zombies. Being driven to a corner while learning that shooting the zombies in the head would effectively dispatch them, Holmes and Watson are fortunately saved by the arrival of heavily armed and armored Royal Marines
led by the former's brother, Mycroft Holmes
. After saving Holmes and Watson, Mycroft escort them to the surface and proceed in providing them answers.
As Holmes and Watson are being escorted, Sebastian Moran
spies them from afar and travel to Whitechapel
, where he reports his news to his master - an undead Professor Moriarty
.
Meanwhile, Holmes' deductions are proven as the culprit Professor Moriarty has been creating an undead army in several secret locations throughout London, and release them in starting another, but much larger, outbreak. Holmes and Watson bear witness to the outbreak and fled to the safety of Baker Street. There Holmes ties the connection of the zombies in 1857 in concurrent to a comet, as the source of the outbreak for carrying an alien disease, after reading a book written by Moriarty; concluding that his arch-nemesis is behind this and noting that he was thought to be dead.
. Here Moriarty, severely wounded, is founded by Sebastian Moran and inoculated with a serum based on the disease which created the undead, transforming him into a zombie but retaining his intelligence. In the present, the undead has overrun London. From Whitechapel, Moriarty reveals to Moran that he never intends to use the outbreak to yield the government to him, but instead desire to spread the outbreak further and forge an undead empire. Moran is morally perturbed by his master's intentions and attempts to kill him, but is infected in the process before escaping with his life.
At Baker Street, Holmes, Watson and along with Mrs. Hudson have barricaded inside. However, they are saved by the military that was sent out by Myrcroft Holmes. As they are evacuating the premise, a dying Moran finds Holmes and Watson, informing them of Moriarty before expiring.
. Holmes and Watson have relocated to Windsor Castle
, being used as a command center by the British government. They are granted an audience with Lord Bellinger, the Prime Minister
, who informs Holmes that his government had anticipated another outbreak only because after previously discovering foreign agents were found attempting to steal the undead remains from the Soho outbreak for their respective nations in order to cultivate the undead virus as a biological weapon. As of now, Moriarty hold the ultimate and deadly weapon in the world. Holmes heavily advises Lord Bellinger that the only option to contain and neutralize the exponentially growing outbreak is to scorch London at the cost of losing the nation's capital.
Holme's advisement is soon put forward as the Royal Navy is set to bombard London after the undead had broken through Westminster Bridge
. However, Holmes is aghast to learn that the government intends to let Moriarty be burn along with London rather than having him dealt with directly. But thanks to Mycroft, Holmes and Watson are provided with a launch
into London to face Moriarty themselves. Before leaving, Holmes implores Mycroft of how Trelawney Hope, the current Secretary of State
, became tasked in tactical deployments in which his brother explains that Hope succeeded from his predecessors of the Home Secretary, who fell to the zombies, based on a contingency plan.
Holmes and Watson lands in Whitechapel after deducing Moriarty's location from the clay soil found on Moran's footwear. The two enter a slaughterhouse where they are confronted by an apparently very-much alive Moriarty.
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
published by Wildstorm
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
. The series was written by Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton
Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer.He is one of the few British comic talents to follow the reverse trajectory to the one usually taken: becoming successful in American comics before returning to work for 2000 AD.-Biography:...
, with art by Davide Fabbri. The story sets in Victorian England
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and follows Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and Doctor Watson in the midst of a zombie outbreak.
Issue 1: The Star of Ill-Omen
In 1854, a strange cometComet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
enters over London, releasing little fragments in which one fragment penetrates into a street pump near Broad Street in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. Five months later, Soho suffers what appears to be a cholera outbreak. Doctor John Snow
John Snow (physician)
John Snow was an English physician and a leader in the adoption of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered to be one of the fathers of epidemiology, because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, England, in 1854.-Early life and education:Snow was born 15 March...
and Reverend Henry Whitehead investigate the outbreak. While Snow postulate the cause for the outbreak, Reverend Whitehead discuss of a recent confession from a tanner's apprentice about the dead coming back to life. Soon afterwards, one of Snow's deceased patients is resurrected as a zombie in front of a shocked Snow and Whitehead.
By 1898, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson investigate a charlatan who has been hypnotizing unsuspecting people into revealing their secrets. The charlatan turns out to be an advanced automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
and is disabled during a struggle with Holmes and Watson. The two are perplex of this discovery, in which Holmes deduces that the machine was controlled by an unknown person, who personally knows Holmes. Meanwhile, two workmen at a underground railway construction yard come across a corpse. One of the workmen sees a gold ring on the corpse and greedily attempts to appropriate it, but the corpse comes to life and bits him. The zombie is decapitated by the other workman, but he is also attacked and bitten by his coworker, who turns into a zombie.
At Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
, Holmes and Watson later study the automaton and are then urgently summoned to Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
by Inspector Lestrade
Inspector Lestrade
Inspector G. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade....
over what appears to be a murder between the aforementioned workmen before they are brought to one of the zombified workmen and a functioning head of the discovered zombie. However, Holmes and Watson are forced to call off from their investigation by British Secret Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
agents.
Issue 2: The Skull Beneath The Skin
Despite being warned by British Intelligence, Holmes and Watson continue their investigation and search for where the zombie was discovered. The two dug into the earthwork and found themselves in an underground cityUnderground city
An Underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of these. The term may also refer to a network of tunnels that...
dating back to ancient London. They then found a corpse pile and look into their contents to find that some of the corpses are barely a year old. Soon they are surrounded by a horde of zombies. Being driven to a corner while learning that shooting the zombies in the head would effectively dispatch them, Holmes and Watson are fortunately saved by the arrival of heavily armed and armored Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
led by the former's brother, Mycroft Holmes
Mycroft Holmes
Mycroft Holmes is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He is the elder brother of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.- Profile :...
. After saving Holmes and Watson, Mycroft escort them to the surface and proceed in providing them answers.
As Holmes and Watson are being escorted, Sebastian Moran
Sebastian Moran
Colonel Sebastian Moran is a fictional character, an enemy of Sherlock Holmes and the villain of the Sherlock Holmes short story The Adventure of the Empty House...
spies them from afar and travel to Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...
, where he reports his news to his master - an undead Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
.
Issue 3: Written in Blood
At the Diogenes Club, Mycroft debrief Holmes and Watson of their government's knowledge about the undead. In 1854, the Broad Street cholera outbreak was in fact a zombie outbreak, in which more than a thousand people were killed and turned into zombies in the Soho district. Initially the government failed to understand what they were dealing with until the aid of Dr. John Snow, who had prior experience with the undead, strenuously contained and culled the outbreak. In the aftermath, the entire events were covered up as a cholera outbreak and Snow kept his silence after promises were made in improving public sanitation. The source of the outbreak, however, remains unknown and there hasn't been any undead incidents since the last forty years until now. Holmes analyze his brother's information and the recently discovered zombies, and believes that someone is creating and corralling the undead.Meanwhile, Holmes' deductions are proven as the culprit Professor Moriarty has been creating an undead army in several secret locations throughout London, and release them in starting another, but much larger, outbreak. Holmes and Watson bear witness to the outbreak and fled to the safety of Baker Street. There Holmes ties the connection of the zombies in 1857 in concurrent to a comet, as the source of the outbreak for carrying an alien disease, after reading a book written by Moriarty; concluding that his arch-nemesis is behind this and noting that he was thought to be dead.
Issue 4: And Death Shall Have No Dominion
In a flashback to 1891, Moriarty survived his confrontation with Holmes at Reichenbach FallsReichenbach Falls
The Reichenbach Falls are a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringen in Bern canton in central Switzerland. They have a total drop of 250 m . At 90 m , the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts in the Alps...
. Here Moriarty, severely wounded, is founded by Sebastian Moran and inoculated with a serum based on the disease which created the undead, transforming him into a zombie but retaining his intelligence. In the present, the undead has overrun London. From Whitechapel, Moriarty reveals to Moran that he never intends to use the outbreak to yield the government to him, but instead desire to spread the outbreak further and forge an undead empire. Moran is morally perturbed by his master's intentions and attempts to kill him, but is infected in the process before escaping with his life.
At Baker Street, Holmes, Watson and along with Mrs. Hudson have barricaded inside. However, they are saved by the military that was sent out by Myrcroft Holmes. As they are evacuating the premise, a dying Moran finds Holmes and Watson, informing them of Moriarty before expiring.
Issue 5: The Earth Shall Give Up Its Dead
The undead has taken London with Moriarty reigning from a captured Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. Holmes and Watson have relocated to Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
, being used as a command center by the British government. They are granted an audience with Lord Bellinger, the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, who informs Holmes that his government had anticipated another outbreak only because after previously discovering foreign agents were found attempting to steal the undead remains from the Soho outbreak for their respective nations in order to cultivate the undead virus as a biological weapon. As of now, Moriarty hold the ultimate and deadly weapon in the world. Holmes heavily advises Lord Bellinger that the only option to contain and neutralize the exponentially growing outbreak is to scorch London at the cost of losing the nation's capital.
Holme's advisement is soon put forward as the Royal Navy is set to bombard London after the undead had broken through Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge
Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster on the north side and Lambeth on the south side, in London, England....
. However, Holmes is aghast to learn that the government intends to let Moriarty be burn along with London rather than having him dealt with directly. But thanks to Mycroft, Holmes and Watson are provided with a launch
Launch (boat)
A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
into London to face Moriarty themselves. Before leaving, Holmes implores Mycroft of how Trelawney Hope, the current Secretary of State
Secretary of State (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, a Secretary of State is a Cabinet Minister in charge of a Government Department ....
, became tasked in tactical deployments in which his brother explains that Hope succeeded from his predecessors of the Home Secretary, who fell to the zombies, based on a contingency plan.
Holmes and Watson lands in Whitechapel after deducing Moriarty's location from the clay soil found on Moran's footwear. The two enter a slaughterhouse where they are confronted by an apparently very-much alive Moriarty.