I’d been waiting for Everything Dead & Dying since its announcement, and now that I’ve finished the series, I can finally answer the question I’d been sitting with all along: was it worth the wait? (spoiler alert: YES!!!!).

Everything Dead & Dying
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Tate Brombal
Artist: Jacob Phillips
Colorist: Pip Martin
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Release dates: September 2025 – January 2026

The series is written by Tate Brombal, a writer we really connect with, and that connection made us especially curious to dive into this story. After Christopher Chaos or House of Slaughter, he has proven how strong he is at writing characters and emotional tension, and that skill is on full display here. The art by Jacob Phillips fits the mood perfectly – and you can already see it from the covers he illustrated.

Set in a rural farming community during a zombie outbreak, Everything Dead & Dying follows Jack Chandler, a man who appears to be immune in a world where everyone else has turned. Rather than destroying the undead, Jack continues living alongside them, including his husband and adopted daughter, going through the motions of daily life as if nothing has truly changed. The dead wake up, go to work, knock on doors, and gather for meals, driven by muscle memory rather than hunger. Jack maintains the farm, feeds his family, and holds onto routines that keep him grounded. That fragile balance is shattered when outsiders discover the town and react with violence, forcing Jack to confront the reality of a world that refuses to understand what he has built or why he refuses to let go.

This series hit me hard from the very first issue. The way it mixes present day horror with quiet flashbacks is incredibly effective, and it immediately made me care about Jack and his family. Seeing him sit down for breakfast with his husband and daughter, knowing exactly what they are now, is both heartbreaking and strangely comforting. The idea that muscle memory keeps the world moving, even after death, is one of the strongest elements of the book. Jack feels content in this broken version of life, and you can tell that holding onto routine is the only thing keeping him sane.

As the story progresses, the emotional weight only gets heavier. The flashbacks to Jack’s relationship, his flaws, his past struggles, and even moments of homophobia and forbidden love add so much depth to what could have been a straightforward survival story. What really broke me is how Jack still sees the dead as who they were, not what they have become, and how violently the outsiders reject that idea. The final issue is bloody, painful, and incredibly moving all at once. By the end, it was clear to me that this is not really a zombie story at all. It is a love story, a family story, and a very human one.

Everything Dead & Dying is a truly special comic book that proves horror can be just as powerful when it whispers as when it screams. The trade paperback will be out in May 2026 – and we can’t say it loud enough: go and buy it.