Mark Kidwell, Nat Jones and Jay Fotos, creators of the cult hit one-shot comic '68, announce the continuation of their horrific Vietnam/Zombie epic!

We caught up with creator, Mark Kidwell, to talk about '68!

Horror News Network: For those that never read the one-shot can you provide us a catch up of what happened in that issue?

Mark Kidwell: The first '68 story is smaller, more claustrophobic and self-contained. It deals primarily with a five man fire team sent from a small firebase near the Cambodian border into "Indian Country", deep in the jungle to investigate the sudden silence of a US listening post. The squad is led by Lieutenant Tommy Blake, a clean cut American soldier counting the days until he can get back to "the world", back to his blonde bombshell girlfriend in Pittsburgh. Tommy is "short", his combat tour winding down. As a lucky charm, he carves the number of days he has left in the war into a bullet each evening and fires it off blindly into the bush. As the story opens, Tommy has 68 days left in Vietnam.

The fire team heads toward its objective, nervous due to the unsettling silence that seems to have fallen over the jungle. They soon realize that all is not as it should be when they encounter a ragged Viet Cong guerilla pinned to a clump of Punji stakes in a pit trap. The Cong doesn't look right. The squad's "tank", Bronto Jefferson attempts to kill the enemy soldier with a bowie knife to the chest. The thing falls to the ground, but rises again, impossibly. The fire team opens up with M-16's, stitching the Cong with lead. It rises again. It's not until strange new recruit, Eddie "Dixie Dawg" Mann steps up to apply an "Alabama Headshot" to the creature snared in the stakes, that the thing dies. Upon closer inspection, the team's medic discovers that "Charlie has been dead for a while".

Faced now with not only the horrors of war, but the rise of shambling legions of the walking dead, the fire team continues on its course, discovering not only the fate of the silent listening post, but their own fates in this new world ruled by a new, darker, rotted enemy. Readers will get to see for themselves how well a lucky bullet stands up to a nearly unstoppable horde of cannibalistic ghouls.

Horror News Network: Who are the main characters that we will see in thsi mini-series?

Mark Kidwell: The new '68 storyline is much broader than the original one-shot and filled with all new, all different characters. To spotlight just a few, you'll meet Kuen Yam, an American born Chinese soldier, fighting for the US army and stationed at Firebase Aries (The firebase from the original one-shot and the central hub for most of the series action). Yam is a tunnel rat, due to his small stature, and he's tasked with entering Viet Cong labyrinths with only a flashlight and a .45. While the underground warrens he's used to are horrific enough, the rise of the dead in Vietnam turns them into living graves filled with hungry monsters. Also, you'll meet a deep cover CIA agent, posing as a newsman as he accompanies a popular young actress on her anti-war propaganda junket across Vietnam and Cambodia. His name is Declan Rule and he has a deeper agenda in-country. Then you have characters stateside, spanning the spectrum from hippie war protestors to riot cops.

It's a big cast and with the intent of showing the effects of the undead apocalypse on the entire world in 1968, you'll see glimpses of everything.

Horror News Network: What makes Vietnam such a good setting for zombies?

Mark Kidwell: Vietnam was a dark period in our history. It was the first time that the people of America were trreated to armchair views of the sheer devastation of war in all its reality and horror. Body counts on tickers across the bottom of TV screens, riots in the streets from pro and anit-war activists, politicians struggling to justify things that couldn't be swept under the rug...all these things became part of our everyday lives and cast a shadow over the American understanding of right and wrong. The mood of the decade is perfect, steeped in unrest, gloom and the shadowy ideal of an unsure future. In addition, the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam were littered with the unburied dead. As a result of bombing runs, "Zippo" raids, patrols and full scale battles, casualties were constant and burial was a luxury. With that kind of grist lying around, an initial army of the hungry dead would have risen and stalked almost instantly.

Using Vietnam as a backdrop is like the recipe for dynamite. All you do is take the raw materials already there in real history, add a generous portion of zombies and light the fuse. Boom!

Horror News Network: Of course horror fans LOVE zombies but have you had any feedback on the series from actual Vietnam Veterans?

Mark Kidwell: So far, we haven't heard from any veterans that have read the initial one-shot. I think we'd all love to though. It has been our priority to keep the historical facts in the series as close to reality as possible. We've done a lot of research to make sure that the non-zombie portions of the story adhere closely to available recorded fact. Also, we've tried to maintain a positive feel for the troops we depict, showing that most of those guys were good, straight-forward soldiers caught in a meat grinder of someone else's creation. They had a duty to perform and despite the horrors of the war, they stepped up and did what they had to do, standing next to their brothers in arms and striving to come back home. When the dead show up, everything changes. It becomes an even more brutal fight for survival.

That's the real human aspect of '68. We show the characters, US and Vietnamese, good and bad, just like you'd find in real life, but we try to show true respect for our military people in harm's way. War is hell and nobody gets out unscathed, but when strong people are faced with unimaginable events, true human nature and drama comes out.

Horror News Network: Can you tell us what Tim Vigil's backup story is about?

Mark Kidwell: Tim is working on four separate shorts that will back up the main, ongoing storyline in '68. The intent behind the shorts is to show the effects of the zombie plague on more than just our central cast of characters. Settings will also change over the course of the four vignettes. You'll see what's going on in Saigon, the madness that takes root in the mind of a soldier faced with the death and grisly rebirth of a loved one and hippies trying to separate fantasy from reality as dead things shamble from their self-inflicted purple haze. Tim is helping us broaden the scope of '68, giving readers a peek at different events transpiring simultaneously around the new, darker world.

And he's doing it Vigil style.

Horror News Network: Can you talk a bit about the covers for the series?

Mark Kidwell: Yeah! There will be two covers to each issue, shipped 50/50 so no one image will be any rarer than others. Each issue will have a cover that closely pertains to the content of the book itself, while the alternate covers will attempt to depict period specific "Snap-shots" of the 1960's in association with the undead. We've unveiled the famous "Saigon Headshot" piece and the "Dead Jimi" shot as well as a grisly depiction of a severed hippie hand frozen in an eternal peace sign. The other covers will have the same impact, thrusting the idea of the 1960's frozen in time, ruled by the hellish appearance of the hungry, risen dead into the spotlight.

And judging from the unveiled covers Nat and Jay have produced so far...you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Horror News Network: Will we see more of 68 after this four issue mini-wraps?

Mark Kidwell: '68 is planned as an ongoing series, told in story arcs of varying lengths. We have the current four-issue series in production as well as a follow-up one-shot that will release immediatley following the fourth book. This will continue as the story unfolds in two, three or four issue minis or additional one-shots. We have an endless supply of ideas and as long as the reader interest is there, we'll keep exploring the world of '68.

By the way, the follow-up one-shot is top secret right now, but I can tell you that it is hard core and features one of the hardest core horror artists to ever grace the comic's page.

Horror News Network: The team working on this book has dedicated a lot of their career to the horror genre. What is it like when you all team up on this one title?

Mark Kidwell: It's like kids in a candy shop... or Dracula in a blood bank, depending on how you look at it. There's a constant flurry of ideas, sketches and phone calls that start with "Man...how cool would it be to...?". Everybody involved in '68 has had a hand in its creation and its story. We're all horror junkies and having done a lot of genre work in comics, we all have the experience and creative energy to make sure our best work comes out in the series. Comic creation is hard work and sometimes you feel your drive start to ebb when you're working on something alone. With '68, every new E mail and every new sketch or phone call is like a vitamin shot. It wakes you up and gets you excited all over again.

Horror News Network: Where can our readers find out more about the upcoming 68 comic?

Mark Kidwell: They can go to Facebook currently and friend '68 zombie comic. Soon, we'll have a major website up and running, showcasing any and all news and information about '68, Those, in addition to interviews all over the web, art and teasers at Image Comics.com and comic sites everywhere, should keep everybody in the loop. Jay is our chief spokesman and he's really amazing at getting news out there, so keep an eye peeled, there's lots more to come!

Horror News Network: In closing, what would you like to say about the 68 comic?

Mark Kidwell: '68 is one of those true "labors of love" and all of us involved are striving to share our horrific vision with zombie fans and fans of horror in general. This series and this concept excites all of us equally and has risen to the forefront of what we want to do. We've had amazingly positive fan response to the original one-shot and are responding to requests for more. It's great to be able to work on something that you love and know that readers are excited right along with you.

In that vein, let me thank everyone who read the original and came back to me, Nat or Jay at shows or via the internet to tell us how much they love '68 and how much they want to see more. More is coming and we're doing our best to live up to the standard set by the first story.

There are zombies in the razorwire and they're hungry...so watch your ass.

Thanx guys,

Mark

Horror News Network: Thank you for your time Mark. Comment on this interview here or on our forum.