My Rating
“Target Zero”
Deep inside the Führerbunker, Sgt. Rock goes mano a mano with the zombie Führer und Reichskanzler himself. Boosted by some kind of Nazi wunder-serum, Hitler yanks an American bayonet from his upper jaw and screams in rage. His necro-enhanced hands slash at the American soldier as Rock quickly realizes just how deep in the shit he has gotten himself. There is only one thing left to do. Rock yells for his men to retreat and call in another bombing run!
Outside, among the ruined buildings above the bunker, several fallen stormtroopers begin rising from the rubble and collecting their weapons. Things have just gotten much worse for the boys of Easy Company. Even with the advanced technology supplied by the U.S. Army’s special weapons research division, Rock and his men are running out of options. Their only hope may be getting that B-17 back into the fight and dropping enough American steel on Berlin to make sure the dead finally stay dead.
Will a steelworker from Pittsburgh be able to stop the world’s first immortal dictator? What exactly is the mysterious “Division of Anomalous Phenomena”? How many times do we have to kill this guy anyway? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
We have come to the conclusion of the series—or have we? Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead has certainly been an entertaining ride, and this final issue delivers the kind of ridiculous Nazi-zombie action promised by the title. Bruce Campbell proves himself a competent comic-book writer, and there is something undeniably fun about watching Sgt. Rock and Easy Company blast their way through undead stormtroopers before taking the fight directly to zombie Hitler. Sometimes you don’t need subtlety. Sometimes you just need Sgt. Rock, a bayonet, a B-17, and a Führerbunker full of walking corpses.
However, I still stand by what I said in my previous reviews. This entire series could probably have been published as two oversized jumbo issues without losing much of anything. The individual chapters move incredibly fast, and several issues feel more like pieces of a larger story than complete adventures. There are also plenty of familiar ideas here. The 2018 film Overlord immediately came to mind with its combination of World War II action, secret Nazi experiments, and undead super-soldiers—minus old Adolphy himself, of course. Campbell puts his own Sgt. Rock spin on the concept, but veteran horror fans will recognize much of the territory.
For that reason, I recommend picking up the trade paperback or collecting all five issues before sitting down to read them. I think the story will work much better as one continuous adventure rather than something stretched across individual monthly issues. Despite my complaints about the pacing, I had a lot of fun with this series. The ending also leaves just enough hanging in the air to make me wonder whether Easy Company has really seen the last of the supernatural. I certainly wouldn’t mind another mission involving the Division of Anomalous Phenomena. I’m giving Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead #5 4 out of 4 stars, and the series as a whole earns 4 out of 4 stars. Hopefully Bruce Campbell gets another crack at Sgt. Rock and the undead.