Epic crossover events are nothing new in the world of comic books, even those that tear at the veils between dimensions and realities. A major crossover between different properties entirely is something else, though. It's been a long time since the likes of Amalgam Comics has come and gone, but in 2011 IDW Publishing set out to run a thread through almost all of the various universes under their purview with Infestation. What began as an event spanning two of IDW's original titles quickly spilled over into four of the most classic franchises in pop culture, all with a slightly different twist on the same horror staple: zombies.
The crossover began in Infestation #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and David Messina. The titular series focused on the Covert Vampiric Operations team led by Cross. The CVO is comprised of vampires, humans, and the occasional zombie or demon, all tasked with keeping the world safe from supernatural threats. When one of their facilities is overrun by zombies during the first test of an interdimensional portal, the CVO team is called in to deal with the situation. Benny, the recently turned zombie of the group, believes the portal is made up of Artillica, or magically enhanced technology, which proves problematic when he's correct. Reaching out to him through the multiverse, the villainous Undermind influences Benny to bite fellow teammate Britt, though her status as a vampire makes her immune for the time being. Unfortunately, being both a vampire and infected by a zombie bite makes her the perfect candidate to act as a vessel of sorts for the Undermind itself. With the gateway open and Britt now possessed, the only thing left for her to do is to spread the infestation throughout the multiverse.
The infection first spread to another reality in Star Trek: Infestation #1 by Scott Tipton, David Tipton and Gary Erskine. Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy and Spock are on their way to a colony world for a ceremony to award the latter of the three for his work in curing a deadly virus in the same star system. When they arrive, the place is deserted. The three crew members and their escorts find nothing but a dead body in the street. Of course, the body rises and attacks, and the crew of the Enterprise soon find themselves surrounded by the undead. The three are able to hide out in the surrounding buildings and discover that an avatar of Britt herself was the cause of the outbreak. Britt influenced one of the world's scientists into unwittingly creating a version of the zombie virus, one which Doctor McCoy is able to find and distribute a cure for by raining it down on the populace.
In the world of Transformers, a space ship full of zombified humans and robots crashes violently in the Vegas strip. The hordes of undead are initially staved off by the Decepticons under Galvatron's rule, the leader of the evil robots knowing full well what an infection of this magnitude could mean for the universe as a whole. The Autobots don't get the picture upon their arrival, instead taking the opportunity to beat down their rivals while the zombies spread the infestation around them. Britt has appeared in this world as a sleek Transformer version of herself, one that shifts into another dimensional portal. Through the sacrifice of one of their own, the Autobots send this Britt to a dead universe where she will be unable to cause them further harm.
The Ghostbusters were next to face off against the infestation, this time Britt introducing herself as an ally to the heroes, convincing them that she is there to stop a greater malevolent entity from stealing the power of the Ghostbusters' most prominent enemy, Gozer the Gozarian. While zombies ravage the city, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shows up, only to be transformed into an even more monstrous version of himself. The Ghostbusters eventually separate the two behemoths, and although the heroes do save the day, Britt makes off with a portion of Gozer's essence. The infestation traveled next to the world of the G.I. Joes, attacking Cobra and taking control of their cybernetic Battle Android Troopers. Fortunately, the base that came under attack was itself deep underwater, somewhere capable of being flooded and destroyed before the infection could get out.
Infestation #2 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and David Messina saw the series come to a close with Cross fusing himself with a portion of Artillica, becoming a piece of living, breathing, magical technology. Finally able to walk through the portal and stand toe to toe with his former ally, Cross sacrifices himself to defeat the Undermind by conjuring magic more powerful than anything seen before and unmakes the Undermind. The various properties that the series brought together never got the chance to properly crossover with one another, but seeing a single thread be strung through so many longtime fan-favorite titles still makes it one of the most spectacular events of the past decade.
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