It was also a little difficult to get a sense of the larger picture of the justification for changes such as the banning of all religions. Despite this the Janitors have adopted the ecstatic worship of Bacchus, a golden bull. Was this a curated religion to allow them to blow off a little steam? The golden bull did appear to reference Old Testament frolics rather than Roman bacchanalia. Multiple times throughout listening, I found myself astonished at how the band had managed to one-up themselves partway through a song with a new, even cooler riff" – Invisible Oranges Deadworld is an ongoing American comic book published by Desperado Publishing in association with IDW Publishing. The Earth’s limited resources are dwindling. The solution is The Sleep: periods of hibernation imposed on those who remain with only a Janitor to watch over the sleepers. On the downside, the narrative was very focused on the experiences of a few men, with little input from women. Yes, there was Rose, Ben’s wife. I felt for how Ben struggled with his waking time and the disease stealing his wife from him. We also have Kitty, Andreas’ sometimes girlfriend. This wasn’t so much a problem, just worth noting. There were plot revelations that changed my opinion about Ben. This demonstrated how well the characters were developed. How the author handled this development, especially evoking feelings both positive and negative towards Ben. It made me ask, what would I have done?

I think this may be a controversial book for some, then so were most of Ballards, he didn't do too bad as an author, did he? Janitors, taking care of the population and trading with other countries, watch over society in the meanwhile. Kings of a Dead World is definitely an incredible read. Jamie Mollart presents us with a future that is not beyond the realms of possibility. The Tyler/Narrator dynamic plays out in the relationship between fellow Janitors Peruzzi and Slattery: colleagues, quasi-friends, and partners in crime. While their decadent lifestyles spoil them with at-home gyms and Brave New World-inspired raves every three months, Slattery tempts Peruzzi into seeking out greater highs than pills and sex. Their explorations into the Sleeping world at first tap into a Fight Club-esque awakening of the blood, only to tip into Project Mayhem levels of voyeurism and violation in pursuit of confirmation that what they do actually matters. Maybe that is the best compliment I personally can pay the Kings of the Dead, if it had been written by J G Ballard, I would not have been the least bit surprised.This is the sound of a band reborn... groove after groove after full-soaked groove, they ultimately leave you wanting more. Dare I say that this is the best Battalions album yet?" - Diaries of Doom I’ve been a long running guest on Litopia, the web’s biggest writing podcast, interviewed by BBC Ulster, BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Nottingham, featured at The Isle of Man Book Festival, Lowdham Festival, Writing East Midlands’ Writing Conference and have taught novel writing for Writing School Leicester. Horror Comic Book News - Comic Monsters". Archived from the original on 2014-04-28 . Retrieved 2014-04-28. Mollart’s intriguing and timely premise is executed with verve – Kings of a Dead World is filmic in its scope’ - Alison Moore, Shortlisted for the Booker Prize

The conclusion off the man and his wife reminded me strongly of Amour (in general this feels like a masculine dominated book, with the women fitting neatly in wife/lover stereotypes and not really having much agency in any of the timelines).What I found most enviable about Kings of a Dead World from a writer’s perspective is how the Mollart flitted between differing perspectives and timelines to create a complete story arc that was both suspenseful and intriguing, and somehow manipulated each strand to feed into another seamlessly. Ben’s history wasn’t always easy reading though I felt that Jamie Mollart did well in depicting Ben’s radicalisation. Like frogs in water slowly brought to the boil, we all assumed we wouldn’t be the ones alive when it happened. No-one thinks they will live to see the end of the world. But someone has to, so why shouldn’t it have been us?’

What I loved about Kings of a Dead World was that it provided a complex solution to an equally complex problem. If human beings can’t be trusted to keep the world going, shouldn’t our liberty be taken away for our own good? But then again, can you ever be truly alive without freedom?

Kings of a Dead World

In 2012, Gary Reed teamed up again with Sami Makkonen to bring Deadworld into full color for the first time. The five-issue series, "War of the Dead" was released by IDW as a weekly comic series during the month of August and then collected in October ( ISBN 978-1613775080). It received a number of award nominations including the Shel Dorf for Best Mini-Series [7] and Comic Monsters.com for Best Mini-Series [8] and won the Ghastly Award for honoring excellence in horror comics as Best Mini-Series. [9]