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Defoe #1
Defoe: 1666
London, 1668. It is two years since the city was devastated by the Great Fire, the inferno caused by a comet passing over the capital. But from the ashes rose the undead, hungry for the flesh of the living. Protecting the populace are zombie hunters like Titus Defoe, ex-Leveller and now agent of the crown. As Titus battles the zombie horde he comes to realise that some sort of intelligence is controlling them. Along with his Brethren of The Night, he must look deep into the rotten heart of the undead capital, to discover the cause of this evil canker!
144 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2009
1 person is currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Pat Mills
848 books230 followersPat Mills, born in 1949 and nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since.
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 11, 2017
Steampunk and zombies are very popular now.
If you are fan of both, this alternative history action-packed graphic novel written with Pat Mills' usual british/bleak humour is going to be a blast of a read.
Zombie apocalypse! Great fire of London! An undead spawning comet in the sky! Zombie hunters armed with weapons and anti-infection "cordials" invented by Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton!
And Gallowgrass, one of Defoe's "dirty dozen" zombie killers, is an hilarious tribute to Marty Feldman's Igor in "Young Frankenstein". XD
Do you really need something else (but for a sequel, of course)?
A great first volume collecting "1666" and "Brethen of the night" storylines, ending with a cliffhanger and leaving you longing for more.
And Leigh Gallagher's artworks are just awesome!
July 22, 2019
I'm not much of a fan of either steampunk or zombies, on their own, but this mashup works. See, just as two good things put together don't always mean good, two bad things don't always make bad either. Funny how it goes sometimes.
Maybe it's because it was done by 2000AD. Not many things published there that I wouldn't like.
Maybe it's because it was done by 2000AD. Not many things published there that I wouldn't like.
August 17, 2014
I've been reading 2000AD on and off since I was in short trousers in the mid-80s, and in my thirties now I've often had a nagging worry that it's one big nostalgia engine, that after the anarchic glory of those first few post-punk years there's only been an endless downward spiral of diminishing returns. Pleased to report then that Defoe is as good as (or, whisper it, possibly even better than) anything from the classic era: all the butt-kicking action and playground-quotable battle-cries you'd expect from a 2000AD story are present and correct, but we also get a beautifully researched and rendered alternative steampunk 17th century, a cast of dozens engaged in all sorts of interesting political machinations, and a natural home for Pat Mills' radical politics and cynicism about human nature. Mills has an incredible knack for finding and cultivating great art talent and Leigh Gallagher does not buck this trend. The last Leveller turned Zombie Hunter general, battling the undead hordes of Oliver Cromwell (now a ranting head on a very long pole) with a gun that fires round bullets for Christians and square bullets for the godless? I'll take as much of that as you've got.
March 31, 2012
Pat Mills and Leigh Gallagher have created a steam-punk alternate-history zombie epic...and yet it doesn't really hew to the party line of any of those genres. What dominates is action, monstrous villains, and a gallows sense of humor (to put it lightly). It's a whole lot of fun--the alternate history stuff is actually quite educational for me; I knew nothing about the Levelers who fought with Cromwell (the titular hero Defoe's was a Leveler years before the story begins).
Artist Leigh Gallagher, it should be noted, is the real star here. Mills is good, make no mistake, but Gallagher puts out page after page of...ahem..."balls out perfect action comics." Sorry. There's not a single lazy panel in the whole book...or even 2 books! (The 2nd is amazingly better than the first.) He has like 60 characters and I could instantly recognize each one. The action is perfectly rendered and composed; and the weapons and character designs are memorable, and it's all done for black and white!!! This book is more real and alive in black and white than 99 percent of color comics out there.
Artist Leigh Gallagher, it should be noted, is the real star here. Mills is good, make no mistake, but Gallagher puts out page after page of...ahem..."balls out perfect action comics." Sorry. There's not a single lazy panel in the whole book...or even 2 books! (The 2nd is amazingly better than the first.) He has like 60 characters and I could instantly recognize each one. The action is perfectly rendered and composed; and the weapons and character designs are memorable, and it's all done for black and white!!! This book is more real and alive in black and white than 99 percent of color comics out there.
September 5, 2021
"Defoe: 1666" is an alternative horror-history, where a comet passes over England in 1666, setting London on fire and causing the dead to rise up as zombies. In steps Titus Defoe, the zombie hunter, who is to eliminate the zombies.
In the first story, Defoe unexpectedly meets his old friend, who is now a zombie but not any mindless zombie: he appears to be a zombie leader and taunts Defoe. As the story progresses, more hints are dropped that somebody is controlling the zombies. It would require the minds of Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke to equip Defoe with the weapons he would need to drive back the hordes of zombies.
In the second story, Defoe is now the Zombie Hunter General and leads a team of unusual people and misfits against the zombies. He investigates a case where boys have been kidnapped and made to become hosts to eggs that can develop into more powerful zombies, and strives to discover the intelligence that is driving forward the zombie hordes.
Despite the simple 'kill all zombies' storyline, there is some depth in the story: perhaps too much, as the story apparently expects the reader to be somewhat familiar with the history of England at the time. For example, Defoe is said to be a "Leveller" and to have a reason to dislike Oliver Cromwell, which others (like me) may not be familiar with.
Still, the story is an interesting one, for those into zombie horror graphic novels.
In the first story, Defoe unexpectedly meets his old friend, who is now a zombie but not any mindless zombie: he appears to be a zombie leader and taunts Defoe. As the story progresses, more hints are dropped that somebody is controlling the zombies. It would require the minds of Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke to equip Defoe with the weapons he would need to drive back the hordes of zombies.
In the second story, Defoe is now the Zombie Hunter General and leads a team of unusual people and misfits against the zombies. He investigates a case where boys have been kidnapped and made to become hosts to eggs that can develop into more powerful zombies, and strives to discover the intelligence that is driving forward the zombie hordes.
Despite the simple 'kill all zombies' storyline, there is some depth in the story: perhaps too much, as the story apparently expects the reader to be somewhat familiar with the history of England at the time. For example, Defoe is said to be a "Leveller" and to have a reason to dislike Oliver Cromwell, which others (like me) may not be familiar with.
Still, the story is an interesting one, for those into zombie horror graphic novels.
November 27, 2021
To get it out of the way the art is pretty great. The premise of our story is it's 1666 in England and zombies have popped up. This premise is ridiculous and thankfully it doesn't take itself too seriously.
This volume contains two arcs: 1666 and Brethren of the Night. BotN has a much stronger story. It keeps it light and whacky and doesn't try to do too much. 1666 is a bit of a mess. Several times it reads like someone has just ripped out a couple of pages of the book. And you're left scratching your head trying to figure what just happened. I find stuff like this inexcusable.
1666: 2.5 stars
BotN: 4 stars
This volume contains two arcs: 1666 and Brethren of the Night. BotN has a much stronger story. It keeps it light and whacky and doesn't try to do too much. 1666 is a bit of a mess. Several times it reads like someone has just ripped out a couple of pages of the book. And you're left scratching your head trying to figure what just happened. I find stuff like this inexcusable.
1666: 2.5 stars
BotN: 4 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2024
A zombie plague in 1668 has a regulator: Titus Defoe, a brute of a man able to do what needs to be done, armed with contraptions designed by Sir Isaac Newton, such as bellows belching fire, and a six-barrelled gun. He’s showcased over the opening chapter going about his business before Pat Mills skips back a decade to explain Defoe’s background and beliefs amid more mayhem. There are hints that Angels provided the means to fight back against zombies.
Mills is exaggerating the 17th century, but much of what he feeds into Defoe was revealed by research, and it’s fantastic stuff, unknown to most, sliding in smoothly alongside the era’s celebrities and genuine methods of employment to present a convincingly modified world. Before his zombie-slaughtering days, for instance, Defoe carried the wealthy and corpulent around in sedan chairs.
Leigh Gallagher brings the festering mayhem to stunning life, thrilling with the action, impressing with the designs, and packing the panels with detail above and beyond the call of duty. Any page shows the effort Gallagher puts into the horrors and their surroundings, and his people are personalities. Defoe himself is simply designed, almost as if a Steve Dillon character, but others are skin-crawling in their presentation, and Gallagher’s work on the technology ahead of its time is every bit as creative, with a stunning 17th century variation on the 1990s Batmobile a highlight.
Alongside the zombie-killing Mills sets up an interesting political background, with plenty feeling themselves able to speak for god, and knows well enough that the slaughter also requires some relief, so has Defoe accompanied by a reporter. At times Mills peppers the dialogue with too many period references, but importantly these may puzzle people momentarily, but don’t interrupt the action. Look some of them up for a glimpse into Britain’s appalling past. Some of it you couldn’t make up, Mills highlighting the powers accorded dung gatherers in his introduction. It’s gleefully presented, but Mills prioritizes the action, never tipping over into farce.
Defoe’s introduction occupies the first third of 1666, and is a phenomenal piece of world building. For the second outing Mills and Gallagher expand the zombie-hunting world, but there’s a greater connections with Mills’ other 2000AD features. The introduction of distinctive zombie-slaughtering colleagues for Defoe, results in a sort of Restoration Meknificent Seven. Among them is Mungo Gallowgrass, diarist and a form of disgusting Ukko to Defoe’s Slaine, and it wouldn’t be Mills without exploration of the twisted priorities of the entitled classes. The second story is interesting for having the action front-ended, preceding considerable political manoeuvring, all of it interesting, and setting up Queen of the Zombies.
If you’re looking for exceptionally drawn period-based mayhem with a solid political foundation shot through with humour, Defoe is it. There’s a lot going on, and it’s puzzling that only two collections have been issued of a feature that’s been serialized well beyond them.
Mills is exaggerating the 17th century, but much of what he feeds into Defoe was revealed by research, and it’s fantastic stuff, unknown to most, sliding in smoothly alongside the era’s celebrities and genuine methods of employment to present a convincingly modified world. Before his zombie-slaughtering days, for instance, Defoe carried the wealthy and corpulent around in sedan chairs.
Leigh Gallagher brings the festering mayhem to stunning life, thrilling with the action, impressing with the designs, and packing the panels with detail above and beyond the call of duty. Any page shows the effort Gallagher puts into the horrors and their surroundings, and his people are personalities. Defoe himself is simply designed, almost as if a Steve Dillon character, but others are skin-crawling in their presentation, and Gallagher’s work on the technology ahead of its time is every bit as creative, with a stunning 17th century variation on the 1990s Batmobile a highlight.
Alongside the zombie-killing Mills sets up an interesting political background, with plenty feeling themselves able to speak for god, and knows well enough that the slaughter also requires some relief, so has Defoe accompanied by a reporter. At times Mills peppers the dialogue with too many period references, but importantly these may puzzle people momentarily, but don’t interrupt the action. Look some of them up for a glimpse into Britain’s appalling past. Some of it you couldn’t make up, Mills highlighting the powers accorded dung gatherers in his introduction. It’s gleefully presented, but Mills prioritizes the action, never tipping over into farce.
Defoe’s introduction occupies the first third of 1666, and is a phenomenal piece of world building. For the second outing Mills and Gallagher expand the zombie-hunting world, but there’s a greater connections with Mills’ other 2000AD features. The introduction of distinctive zombie-slaughtering colleagues for Defoe, results in a sort of Restoration Meknificent Seven. Among them is Mungo Gallowgrass, diarist and a form of disgusting Ukko to Defoe’s Slaine, and it wouldn’t be Mills without exploration of the twisted priorities of the entitled classes. The second story is interesting for having the action front-ended, preceding considerable political manoeuvring, all of it interesting, and setting up Queen of the Zombies.
If you’re looking for exceptionally drawn period-based mayhem with a solid political foundation shot through with humour, Defoe is it. There’s a lot going on, and it’s puzzling that only two collections have been issued of a feature that’s been serialized well beyond them.
October 31, 2020
Zombies in 1666, it's all doom, gloom, rain and combat with Titus Defoe and his brethren. With the occasional scene in a tavern to chill in-between. This book has some of the typical problems of a 2000AD production that are probably not clear in the prog format. In the first part we only deal with Defoe and then, fwoosh, there's a whole "dyrtie dozenne" of them. It probably would be better to just start with that outright, since there was clearly no space to develop the "building the team" plot part. Same with the villains, they appear out of nowhere and will be dealt with only in the next volume. But it has some inventive machinery and great art by Leigh Gallagher.
May 7, 2022
A zombie apocalypse set in an alternate, steampunk 17th century England. Some interesting historical Easter eggs, and it’s not that it’s not interesting, but both zombies and steampunk became tired fare many years ago.
May 25, 2019
Ugh, what a load of nonsense. Sorry, not for me.
July 19, 2021
Really nice moody art, liked that a lot. And the premises is an interesting one. Alth0ugh the story drags a bit, so not the normal soup from Pat Mills.
August 27, 2022
I really enjoyed the depth of alternate history and world building in this one
April 2, 2010
As the synopsis suggests, we have a slight re-imagining of history going on here. The Great Fire was not started in Thomas Farriner's modest bakery in Pudding Lane, but instead was caused by a mighty comet. In the aftermath of the fire, the citizens of London were faced with a far more deadly threat - the corpses littering the burnt out streets started coming back to life. Yup..... zombie time! What a great concept. The book is named after its main character Titus Defoe, once a roundhead fighting in Cromwell's army, but now he leads the fight against the undead as the King's Zombie Hunter General of England. He is aided in this fight by a motley crew of 'soldiers', each with their own reasons for fighting, all equipped with various weapons created by none other than Isaac Newton, Robert Hooke and even Leonardo da Vinci. Forget your Victorian era - this is steampunk long befre Queen Victoria came to the throne! They even ride around in a steam-powered vehicle known as the Papin Steam Chariot - "'...self-loading cannons. Tripod puckle machine gun: round bullets for christians, square bullets for zombies. More armour than a da Vinci horseless or a verbiest, and greater acceleration. We call it 'The Reek Reckoner'". Brilliant!
Steampunk is pretty popular at the moment. Zombies too, and Pat Mills has managed to meld the two together prefectly just as Cherie Priest did in her wonderful Boneshaker. This is a non-stop action story written by a master of the craft who has clearly had a great deal of fun in creating this. He has obviously researched the era well, as there are many references to real-life people and the post-plague society they lived in, albeit with a steampunk and "we're waging a war against zombies" twist to it. I don't know how Pat Mills came to be teamed up with artist Leigh Gallagher for this strip but the comic gods were obviously looking kindly on someone that day and I feel that Defoe deserves to be added to the canon of 2000AD greats, up there with the likes of Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper and Slaine. The stunning images throughout this book are incredibly intricate and rich with detail - so much so that this story would be ruined in colour, it simply doesn't need it and I hope no-one ever decides that it does. I strongy recommend you head over to Leigh Gallagher's blog to find out more about his work -this man is a genius!
I believe this volume covers the first two Defoe stories that appeared in 2000AD (1666 and Brethren of the Night), and that there has since been another story printed in the comic called (deliciously) Queen of the Zombies and a fourth one is planned for the future. If the idea of a comic strip full of the undead being torn apart by steampunk weapons wielded by a ruthless band of zombie hunters appeals to you then you really must go out and buy this now. If on the other hand if you are a school librarian then maybe best to think twice before spending public money as unfortunately there may be a few parents (and traditionalist teachers) out there who might feel the need to log a complaint with the Chair of Governors.
Steampunk is pretty popular at the moment. Zombies too, and Pat Mills has managed to meld the two together prefectly just as Cherie Priest did in her wonderful Boneshaker. This is a non-stop action story written by a master of the craft who has clearly had a great deal of fun in creating this. He has obviously researched the era well, as there are many references to real-life people and the post-plague society they lived in, albeit with a steampunk and "we're waging a war against zombies" twist to it. I don't know how Pat Mills came to be teamed up with artist Leigh Gallagher for this strip but the comic gods were obviously looking kindly on someone that day and I feel that Defoe deserves to be added to the canon of 2000AD greats, up there with the likes of Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper and Slaine. The stunning images throughout this book are incredibly intricate and rich with detail - so much so that this story would be ruined in colour, it simply doesn't need it and I hope no-one ever decides that it does. I strongy recommend you head over to Leigh Gallagher's blog to find out more about his work -this man is a genius!
I believe this volume covers the first two Defoe stories that appeared in 2000AD (1666 and Brethren of the Night), and that there has since been another story printed in the comic called (deliciously) Queen of the Zombies and a fourth one is planned for the future. If the idea of a comic strip full of the undead being torn apart by steampunk weapons wielded by a ruthless band of zombie hunters appeals to you then you really must go out and buy this now. If on the other hand if you are a school librarian then maybe best to think twice before spending public money as unfortunately there may be a few parents (and traditionalist teachers) out there who might feel the need to log a complaint with the Chair of Governors.
July 3, 2014
Great quick read, fun with ancient-time zombies and marvellous contraptions. Trying to find the follow up collection now to finish off the story.
April 10, 2012
A steampunk tale of zombies set in 1666, London. What's not to enjoy?
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews