Call of Duty: Zombies Comic Run Promises Easter Eggs, Deeper Look Into Zombies Universe

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I’ve never really jumped on the Call of Duty hate bandwagon. I get the general distaste for yearly releases with bloated DLC price tags, but the ubiquitous disdain for the quickscoping 12 year olds screaming racial slurs into their microphones never really made sense to me. As much as I am annoyed when some child tells me for the 15th time about how my mother pleasured him sexually, I have to remember that 15 years ago, that was me in Counter-Strike. There’s always going to be a game that appeals to more casual gamers and the “hardcore” alike, and Call of Duty just happens to fill that niche.

The funny thing is, for such a commonly criticized franchise, it’s not a bad deal. Gripe about the short campaign all you want, but that would be missing the other 80% of the game. The reality of Call of Duty is that it is a multiplayer shooter first and a single player experience second. More so, it offers a variety of multiplayer options that other similar titles wouldn’t. Which brings me to the entire reason why I cover the game anyways, the “Zombies” mode.

Since its introduction in Call of Duty: World at War, the bonus “Zombies” mode has become an integral part of the package. Starting as an easter egg arcade mode, it’s evolved, expanded, and become an experience in itself that justifies the entire purchase for some. It’s a familiar experience every time as you fight off waves of zombies, but each iteration has proved unique, ranging from cold war leaders to moon bases. With the newest reveal for Infinite Warfare’s “Zombie in Spaceland” mode, we once again see a shift in tone away from “Shadows of Evil” to a more comical, retro vibe. Groovy.

Fans will attest that “Zombies” is far more than the arcade survival mode that it presents itself as. What has always made it stand out is the numerous easter eggs, secrets, and story clues hidden in every map. Every player will get some hints as to what’s going on through dialogue quips or visual cues, but only the most dedicated will suss out every secret hidden in the robust mode. It’s a challenge that feels distinctly interactive, requiring community effort to figure everything out.

It’s why when the people over at Activision reached out and asked if I to talk about the upcoming Call of Duty: Zombies comic book, I was intrigued. For a story always told minimally, I was curious how they would manage to translate that into a fully fledged comic book. I’m sure people are interested in what is happening to the characters, but how will they maintain the integrity of storytelling?

To answer my questions, I talked to Jason Blundell and Craig Houston, Executive Creative Director and Lead Writer at Treyarch respectively. Hey, if you want some straight answers, why not go right to the top? Together, they told me about their vision for the Call of Duty: Zombies comic, and their design philosophy for the beloved game mode.

The first thing we talked about was what exactly was in store for the comic run. The first issue will take place immediately following the continuing exploits of the TranZit crew from Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Summoned by the infamous Dr. Edward Richtofen, they have to work together to find an object known as the Kronorium. As for his motivations, true goal, or reason behind his reappearance, I was told that this would be a central theme in the six issue series.

Bus Driver

I’d pay good money for a spin-off series starring this guy.

 

With the comic run, they wanted to take a transmedia approach to engaging with their fans during what is typically “DLC season.” Since the main installments generally only come out once a year, this is an opportunity to give their fans zombie content outside of that set release schedule. They assured me that the comic story was 100% canon, and would give readers more intimate time with the characters they generally only see amidst waves of wanton slaughter.

To execute this task, they enlisted the aid Dark Horse Comics and writer Justin Jordan. While many know Jordan for his work on various DC comics and some of their “New 52” runs, I’m a fan of his creatively violent work The Strange Talent of Luther Strode. Working in collaboration, they told me their goal was to make an authentic “Zombies” experience, but to let Jordan’s expertise shine through and enhance the final product. With their powers combined, they hope to deliver a comic that will exceed fan expectation.

So all of that is cool and all, but they hadn’t yet answered my most fundamental question. How the heck do you translate a story told almost entirely in soundbites and secrets into a six issue series? Their main answer was that while the objectives were different, key design philosophy was the same. This isn’t meant to be an arcade mode played in repeatable chunks. This is a closer, more intimate look at the characters. At the same time, numerous messages, clues, and easter eggs are hidden throughout the pages. They told me specifically to pay attention to the covers, alluding to something hidden when all six are added together.

Call of Duty: Zombies

Go ahead and start picking through now if you want.

At the same time, they understand that a vast majority of players have not found every single “Zombies” secret. One of the benefits of this is that they are free to introduce the characters in a state of relative tabula rasa. They are pre-established characters, but readers don’t have to worry about missing too much backstory when jumping in at issue 1. The story will be relevant for players that have followed every single plot twist and reveal, but won’t be incomprehensible to new readers. For the hardcore fans, they recommend doing exactly what they do with the game: hunt for clues, root out the secrets, and find the hidden stories.

Lastly, I couldn’t rightly have a conversation with Jason Blundell and Craig Houston and not ask them for a little bit more information on the “Zombies” game mode. First off, standalone zombies game? Their answer was measured, as the Activision rep also in the call cleared his throat audibly. Their official stance is that while they always love hearing fan reaction, a standalone “Zombies” game is not in the works. Their reasoning was that it would pull focus from making the best Call of Duty package. Many gamers only buy a handful of titles a year, and they want to work their hardest on making Call of Duty a robust and diverse package well worth the $60. When speaking for the Treyarch games, I’ll support this notion. The Black Ops run has been a cut above the Infinity Ward titles, with the first Black Ops completely changing the expectations of what a “Call of Duty” title was. Still, I’d really like to just buy a $20 zombies mode over a $60 package.

The final thing they told me about was a fun bit of “Zombies” trivia that fans will love. I asked if they knew when making it that it would become a major part of the package, and they told me absolutely not. According to them, the mode was pieced together by passionate workers during spare moments and lunch breaks. A hodgepodge of assets, a member of the art department would take a few extra hours one day to make the zombie skins and someone in the level design department would use his lunch break to make a room a few days later. It all came from the most inauspicious of origins: the flamethrower death animation. World at War had introduced a flame thrower, and they realized that if you took out the flames, its death animation looked a lot like zombies walking around. So from there, bits and pieces came together until “Zombies” was born. It just goes to show that sometimes, you strike gold in the most unexpected places.

Call of Duty Zombies

Of course, the goal is to then put the zombies back on fire.

I don’t think I need to sell this comic to hardcore “Zombies” fans. If you’re the kind of guy that will buy the season pass and spend hundreds of hours picking apart every detail, then you’ll be buying this comic book. What I think is most interesting is what this means for the more casual audiences. For a mode whose story has largely been locked away behind layers of secrets, a more accessible narrative is welcome. It’s going to provide a good, concrete foothold for new players to experience the universe. It’s unreasonable at this point to buy every title and find the secrets in every map just to unfurl the story, so having a conduit into the universe that is more accessible is crucial at this point.

You’ll be able to see for yourself how it all pans out when the first issue drops on October 19th. Real talk, what gives me the biggest hard-on for this project is Justin Jordan. He’s not quite a Brian K Vaughan or Kirkman level name, but his work is really solid. I love when a great name has a chance to do something unique with an established title, like Ennis’s Punisher run or Morrison’s Doom Patrol. Check back in after I get my hands on it, and I’ll let you know what I think.

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