The true story of zombies in the Civil War can be told!
Rebel Dead Revenge is a Historical Fantasy graphic novel written and illustrated by Gary Kwapisz. It was published in 2018 by Castalia House under the Dark Legion imprint, over three volumes. A complete edition was released the following year. A weekly digital version
is hosted on Arktoons.
It is 1863, the height of The American Civil War. Jim Lewis, devoted freeman servant of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, is grieving his employer's death from friendly fire. Jezebeau, an aspiring voodoo practitioner, boasts to Jim that she can bring Stonewall back to life. Little do either realise that another party is interested in reviving the general: the Devil himself.
With a re-animated monkey corpse as his physical host, and Jezebeau as his unfortunate minion, Satan sets about creating a zombie Confederate army with Stonewall as its leader. One snag: Jackson's amputated arm is missing. Jim therefore must keep the arm from the Devil's clutches, and himself from becoming the undead's prey or worse.
Yet Satan and his servants aren't the only demons Jim has to battle.
Not to be confused with Red Dead Redemption.
This work provides examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: Satan needs Stonewall's amputated arm restored, otherwise it could cause a power drain from the reanimated body and alert the devil's enemies to his schemes.
- Asshole Victim: Two Confederate deserters mistake Jim for a runaway slave. They kidnap him and take his gold coins. The latter act leads two undead scouts straight to them.
- Based on a Great Big Lie: "The real story of the Battle of Gettysburg can finally be told, and this time it has zombies!" You can draw your own conclusions.
- Deal with the Devil: Satan transforms ugly pariah Jezebeau into a beautiful woman. In return, she becomes his slave.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Jezebeau gets rather sassy with the devil-monkey when she realises he can't hurt her. Then she accepts his bargain and oh, yes he can.
- Dramatic Irony: Jim boasts to himself that, unlike Jezebeau, he's too smart to fall for Satan's tricks. Then he joyfully recovers "his" gold coins, which will give him "power" and "leverage" over the devil—not realising the coins are part of a Tracking Spell that got two men torn to pieces in front of him seconds earlier. Neither does it occur to him that his craving for the gold is just as exploitable a weakness as Jezebeau's desire for physical beauty.
- Flies Equals Evil: The devil-monkey and his undead forces are continually surrounded by swarms of flies.
- Flowery Insults: The devil-monkey. "Toad-sucking strumpet", "sheep-humping jolthead" and so on.
- Funetik Aksent: Nobody in the story is named "Jess"; it's merely how various characters pronounce "just".
- Gilligan Cut: Jim dismisses Jezebeau's plan to resurrect Stonewall using a dead monkey as the Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard. Next panel, Jim comes to Jezebeau that night, and he has a monkey carcass.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The devil in all his guises, as well as his servants.
- Gorn: There are some brutal scenes of dismemberment and disemboweling.
- Hellish Horse: Satan revives fallen steeds for his undead soldiers. The beasts are as ravenous for human flesh as their riders.
- Historical Domain Character: Stonewall Jackson, along with his wife Anna and daughter Julia.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: The devil-monkey offers to turn Jezebeau into a beautiful, beloved lady. She disregards all else and accepts without even realising it.
- Insistent Terminology: As a freeman, Jim denies Stonewall was his "master".
- Magical Barefooter: Jezebeau, the wannabe voodoo queen.
- Man on Fire: The devil establishes his mastery over Jezebeau by engulfing her whole body in flames. She doesn't sustain any lasting physical damage, not even to her clothing, but the pain is unbearable, and she quickly submits.
- Maniac Monkeys: Satan uses a reanimated monkey as his Meat Puppet, making for an exceptionally vicious example.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: One of the undead scouts gives a skeletal rictus when he realises he forgot one of the devil-monkey's orders.
- One-Steve Limit: The slave who helps Jim recover Stonewall's arm is called James.
- People Puppets: The devil-monkey can't interact directly with living humans, so he uses Jezebeau as a go-between.Jezebeau: But I'm...I'm human,
Devil-monkey: Not anymore, you're not! - Prayer Is a Last Resort: Jim is not a devout man but he prays for the dying General Jackson to survive. Later he considers Stonewall and countless other Confederate soldiers whose prayers did not keep them from their graves, and rejects the practice in favour of more mundane protections. When two undead scouts show up, he tries spirituals instead.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once the devil makes her beautiful, Jezebeau thinks she can flounce off without doing his bidding. She doesn't get far.
- Speech Bubbles: The devil and the undead have speech balloons with ragged, irregular outlines. They are red on black when Satan's influence is strongest.
- Tracking Spell: Jezebeau, under Satan's control, slips Jim a handful of gold coins. Satan uses them to track him.
- You Have Failed Me: The devil's scouts return with the wrong arm and leave their victims' corpses to attract attention. He destroys the scouts with fire.
