Written by Steve Tanner and illustrated by John Erasmus, Dick Turpin and the Restless Dead combines the historical figure with the horror/zombie genre. That sentence sounds ridiculous? Well, it is — and the story is. But it’s also a lot of fun.
There are other volumes of Dick Turpin in the Time Bomb catalogue, but thankfully you don’t need to have read any of them to enjoy this.
We follow Dick Turpin (who, in my head, sounded like a cross between Pirates character Jack Sparrow and WWE wrestler Razor Ramon — not sure what’s wrong with my brain) and gentleman thief Tom King. The latter seems to be there mostly to give Turpin someone to talk aloud to… which, let’s face it, is the reason for most comic‑book sidekicks.
The term most applicable here, I think, is antiheroes.
I won’t spoil too much of the plot. They come across a small hamlet with a zombie‑sized secret. It’s here that the artwork really stood out for me — the ghostly village in the centre of the forest is wonderfully atmospheric.
The horror and violence are present, but exaggerated for effect. This one’s a fun romp, an adventure‑type book. Comparable, I think, to those historical adventure episodes of British sci‑fi show Doctor Who.