A five man US fire team out of firebase Aries, Vietnam, deploys deep into the jungles near the Cambodian border to investigate the sudden silence of a deep listening post.A Chinese American infantry grunt follows his squad and the questionable leadership of a battle-worn Sergeant who sees him as one of the enemy into a dark, seeping tunnel system crawling with Viet Cong guerillas and the interred bodies of their dead.
A deep cover CIA agent, posing as a newsman, accompanies a jaded starlet on her propaganda junket to Cambodia, only to turn his attentions to his true mission as assassin in Vietnam. An untried Captain assumes leadership of a beleaguered firebase on the edge of “Indian Country” during one of the most explosive periods of the entire Vietnam conflict. Side by side with the camp’s alcoholic surgeon, he will hold the line and defend his tiny island of resistance against threats anticipated and unbelievable. All these disparate stories and the people who lived them will converge on February 13, 1968…the day when hell gave up its hungry dead and a whole new war began. ’68…history stops here. Zombies in Vietnam…what a concept! No –brainer, right? Wrong. In 1968, George Romero, John Russo and Co. created their seminal horror masterpiece, “Night of the Living Dead”. The film, shot on grainy documentary stock on a shoestring budget and boasting not only a central female lead but also a black male lead, pushed every boundary of the times. Armed with its thinly veiled social commentary, horrific concept and an army of flesh eating ghouls, the little film tore its way onto theatre and drive-in screens across America, giving birth to a new (and seemingly) eternal sub-genre. Almost overnight, the shambling, mindless Haitian stooges of previous zombie films and legends were gone. The drooling, clawing, insatiable cannibalistic dead were here to stay. Fast forward to 2004… Comic writer and artist Mark Kidwell, fresh off of a three-issue mini-series based on the classic zombie film and already steeped in horror fanaticism, kept asking himself a question. The same question, over and over and over. “If the hungry dead first rose in Pennsylvania in 1968, what was happening in the rest of the world?” Lots of things. But the one thing…the biggest thing…the thing the world was reeling from and still dissects in minute detail to this very day…was Vietnam. Small-press publisher Chazz DeMoss, who had published the mini-series Mark had just completed helped pull together and introduce Mark to the creative team of Nat Jones and Jay Fotos, and ’68 was born. Fast forward to 2006… where ’68 finally found its way into the hands of horror and comic fans everywhere. Published by Image Comics, ‘68 received rave reviews and quickly became a cult favorite by fans and critics alike. Fast forward to 2010… Since the one-shot’s initial release, ’68 has been a top seller. Fans nation and worldwide have come to every member of the team to have copies signed, zombie sketches drawn and questions answered. The number one question from ’68 fans? “When are you going to do more?” For four long years, as each of the creators handled dozens of other non-related projects and books, the answer was a mere shrug of the shoulders. The shrugging is over… |
“The first ’68 book was a bit of horror magic, born from the absolute strongest efforts of everyone involved. To see the same team come together again to expand the story with the same level of commitment and passion is like catching lightning in a bottle. A big, zombie filled bottle.”
“At it’s core ’68 is an extension of our love for horror and a prime example of why we do what we do. I hope everyone out there enjoys the ride, I know we will.”
In 2006, Fotos and fellow collaborator and friend Nat Jones founded Frazetta Comics, and along with writer Joshua Ortega, created the #1 selling Image Comics title for 2007, Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer, also holding a record for the fastest sellout for issue #1 in 6 hours! With the success of the Death Dealer series, and by keeping true to the Frazetta name and legacy, helped launch a new variety of Frazetta inspired comic titles and hard cover books like Swamp Demon, Dark Kingdom, Neanderthal, Moon Maid, Freedom, Creatures, Dracula Meets the Wolfman, Sorcerer, Frazetta’s Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan Collected Slip-cased Edition and The Fantastic Worlds of Frazetta Volumes One & Two. “The concept of ’68 is so strong, combined with great talent and our love for the craft it’s one of the highlights to my career” |