Fiends of the Eastern Front

Fiends of the Eastern Front was a story published in the British comics anthology 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra. The series mixed vampires into the general horror of the Eastern front.

Fiends of the Eastern Front
Cover of Fiends of the Eastern Front  (2005), hardcover collected edition, art by Carlos Ezquerra
Created by	Gerry Finley-Day Carlos Ezquerra
Publication information
Publisher	IPC Rebellion Developments
Schedule	Weekly Monthly
Title(s)	2000 AD #152-161 Judge Dredd Megazine #245-252
Formats	Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) 2000 AD and Judge Dredd Megazine.
Genre	War Vampire
Publication date	February–April 1980 May–December 2006
Creative team
Writer(s)	Gerry Finley-Day David Bishop
Artist(s)	Carlos Ezquerra Colin MacNeil
Letterer(s)	Jack Potter Colin MacNeil Ellie de Ville
Editor(s)	Steve MacManus Matt Smith
Reprints
Collected editions
Fiends of the Eastern Front	ISBN 1-904265-64-2

Plot

A diary found with an unearthed skeleton casts new light on a lost piece of history from World War II. It belongs to a young German soldier who was stationed on the Eastern Front alongside a group of Romanian soldiers who always fought at night. Their true nature is soon revealed and when they change sides all Hell breaks loose.

Characters

German

• Hans Schmitt - The main protagonist
• Karl Mueller - Hans' friend
• Inspector Brandt - A police officer in 1980 Germany

Russian

• The Rabbi - An unnamed rabbi who performs the ritual
• The Golem - Created by the Rabbi to destroy Costanza and his Vampyr
• Jesf Charnosov - A member of SMERT KROFPEET

The Vampyr (Blood Pack)

• Hauptmann Costanza - Vampire leader
  • Colonel Grant - An alias of Costanza's
• Corporal Gorgo - Costanza's chief lieutenant
• Corporal Cringu - Costanza's loyal thrall
• Fourteen other unnamed Vampyr followers

Bibliography

They have appeared in their own series (the original run being released as a single volume by Rebellion Developments in June 2006 and a new series starting to coincide with this) as well as cropping up elsewhere and now feature in a series of novels.

Comics

• Fiends of the Eastern Front:
  • "Fiends of the Eastern Front", written by Gerry Finley-Day, art by Carlos Ezquerra, in 2000 AD #152-161, February–April 1980 (collected in hardcover, October 2005, ISBN 1-904265-64-2)
  • "Stalingrad", written by David Bishop, art by Colin MacNeil, in Judge Dredd Megazine #245-252, May–December 2006
  • "1812", written by Ian Edginton, art by Dave Taylor, in 2000 AD #2100–2105, September 2018
  • "Fiends of the Western Front", written by Ian Edginton, art by Tiernen Trevallion, in 2000 AD #2111–2115, December 2018 - January 2019
  • "Costanta", written by Ian Edginton, art by Tiernen Trevallion, in 2000 AD #2201-2211, September-December 2020
  • "1963" written by Ian Edginton, art by Tiernen Trevallion, in 2000 AD #2273-2285, March-June 2022
  • "Fiends of West Berlin", written by Karl Stock, art by Warren Pleese, in 2000 AD Sci-Fi Special 2022
  • "Fiends of the Western Front: Wilde West", written by Ian Edginton, art by Warren Pleese in 2000 AD #2310, November 2022

Cameo appearances in other series

• Judge Dredd: "Helter Skelter" (with Garth Ennis; Carlos Ezquerra (1-7, 10-12) and Henry Flint (8-9), in 2000 AD #1250-1261, 2001)
• The Scarlet Apocrypha: "Red Menace" (with Dan Abnett and Carlos Ezquerra, in Judge Dredd Megazine #4.17, 2002)
• Fodder (with Hannah Berry and Dani K, in 2000AD Free Comic Book Day 2016)

Novels

Black Flame released a series of novels based on the series, all written by David Bishop:

• Fiends of the Eastern Front:
  • Operation Vampyr (December 2005 ISBN 1-84416-274-5)
  • The Blood Red Army (April 2006, ISBN 1-84416-325-3)
  • Twilight of the Dead (August 2006, ISBN 1-84416-384-9)
  • Fiends of the Rising Sun (July 2007, ISBN 1-84416-494-2)

The first three books were collected in one volume, Fiends of the Eastern Front (672 pages, February 2007, ISBN 1-84416-455-1)

The novel Fiends of the Rising Sun deals with the same premise but with vampire samurai in the Pacific War.

See also

• Fiends of the Eastern Front: 1812 prequel story in 2000 AD
• Fiends of the Western Front upcoming sequel
• American Gothic, another 2000 AD story which features vampires

Other items that mix horror with the World Wars and/or feature undead Nazis include:

• The Keep
• The Bloody Red Baron
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• The Wolf's Hour
• Shock Waves
• Oasis of the Zombies
• Zombie Lake
• Deathwatch
• Hellsing
• The Bunker
• 30 Days of Night: Red Snow
• Dead Snow

References

• Fiends of the Eastern Front at Barney
• Fiends of the Eastern Front at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)

External links

• Review of the trade paperback, 2000 AD Review