The premise is this: shortly after the zombie apocalypse a band of former pets get together in order to survive. There's Rex, our titular character, who is a hyper-intelligent golden retriever. He's joined by Buttercup, a corgi who is the heart of the group, Brutus, a tough American bull terrier, and Snowball, a cat who...welll...is a cat; i.e., she's only concerned with having her needs met.
Oh, and there's Kenji. The 800 lb gorilla in the room.
No, seriously, he's an 800 lb gorilla in the room.
But, unlike what you would expect, Kenji isn't the angry, violent and dangerous animal you. Instead, he's docile as well as intelligent, having been raised and taught sign language by Dr. Jones.
When we first meet Kenji, he's forced to kill Dr. Jones when, after being zombified, she attacks him after he's released by the others. And he continues to reluctantly end the undead's existence as the team keeps on the move in order to avoid become infected.
In this world, the animals as well as the people can become infected by the zombie virus. Then they come back as "rotters", as the main characters refer to them. In the zero issue we're first told about Rascal, who bit one of the rotters and then become one themselves.
The animals are more capable as well. And in issue #1 we're introduced to how special Rex is. And it's that, coupled with Kenji's ability to communicate via sign language, that are going to be some of the keys to their survival. Because they have to get out of the city and find Rex's care taker. His human.
This story is a fresh and very interesting take on the zombie genre. We're getting to see things from a perspective completely separate from the human experience. All the while we're watching a team with similar human foibles and contensions trying to survive. Weaknesses they share with the humans of whom they're not exactly fond.
And it's for those fresh takes on the genre that I happily recommend this title.
