Doomsday Warrior #02 - Red America

The second Doomsday Warrior installment, Red America, was published in 1984 by Zebra Books. The series began with both Jan Stacy (The Last Ranger) and Ryder Syvertsen (C.A.D.S.) collaborating on the concept and writing the first four novels. Syvertsen solely took over writing duties for the remaining 15 installments. 

As I summarized in my review of the debut (HERE), the series is set in 2089. The nuked-out United States is now controlled by the Soviet Union, and most of the larger cities are ruled under a red iron fist. However, pockets of resistance still thrive across the country, partially led by a rebellion group called the American Free Cities. One of these liberated areas, Century City, is home to the Doomsday Warrior himself, the Ultimate American, Ted Rockson. 

As the novel begins, Rockson is leading this team of commandos on a mission to test a new laser rifle designed by Century City's premier scientist. Rockson's team is introduced like an episode of a G.I. Joe cartoon:

Detroit – African-American fighting man, second in command to Rockson
McCaughlin – Scotsman, the big brawler
Chen – Chinese-American ninja
Lang – The Kid, like a younger version of Rockson

The new rifle pays huge dividends as the team decimates over 100 Soviet vehicles and countless enemy soldiers and agents. But, through intel, Rockson learns that a secret red headquarters in Pavlov City is conducting a biological weapons campaign to turn Americans into fighting zombies. Yep. Fighting zombies.

After some graphic sex with girl Rhona, Rockson takes on a mission of locating and infiltrating Pavlov City. It is this early portion of the book that portrays Rockson like a lone cowboy, riding a hybrid beast creature across the wasteland, only to be captured by the bad guys. He gets a dose of unique torture – a powerful aphrodisiac that makes him extremely horny. He's then placed in a jail cell right next door to a beautiful naked virgin, a gymnast named Kim. She's begging for it, Rockson is juiced up. But, there are the steel bars and everything. The ultimate cockblock.

Eventually, Rockson upends the headquarters, frees the slave zombies, and gets some backup from his team. However, just like the debut, this is just the first mission of two. These books tend to place two adventures in each novel, so we aren't done with just the zombie stuff. 

In the book's second half, Rockson meets up with some wild beatnik Native American bikers (high concept) that pit Rockson and his team against a mutant dragon-thingy. The bikers are obnoxious, and remind me of the same setup of motorheads and Cheyenne warriors that Stacy used on War Weapons, the fifth installment in his post-apocalyptic The Last Ranger series (which is better than Doomsday Warrior). 

Red America is seriously like an episode of G.I. Joe. If that's your thing, then jump all over this book. You can also listen to the “movie in your mind” with the Graphic Audio edition. 

Get the book HERE.