Marvel Zombies Return (comics)

Writers: Fred Van Lente, David Wellington, Johnathan Maberry, Seth Grahme-Smith
Artists: Nick Dragotta, Andrea Mutti, Jason Shawn Alexander, Richard Elson, Wellington Alves
Collects: Marvel Zombies Return #1-5

I guess somebody at Marvel finally remembered the original Marvel Zombies - absent for three miniseries and a Christmas carol - were still surfing dimensions after the end of 2 and figured that was a loose end that could use some tying up, because the original Marvel Zombies are back. I didn't miss them. After the third miniseries kicked the franchise into gear, I found myself unable to really care if we ever saw 2's cliffhanger resolved; it doesn't help that Marvel Zombies 2 happened to be eight shades of mediocre.

Fred Van Lente's still around for this one, but unfortunately he only has the first and last issue. The other three are assigned to whatever names were drawn out of a hat that day and are pretty inconsequential. They're essentially one-offs that don't connect much to the overall plot; they carry some elements that factor into the conclusion, but at times they drift to the background. The Wolverine issue is probably the best of the Van Lente-less issues. Why Van Lente wasn't tapped to do the whole thing, I haven't the foggiest.

As usual, Van Lente manages some pretty gross humor, which is one of the lynchpins of the whole thing*. Zombie Spider-Man ends up using his cappilaries and veins like webbing, for example; it's funny in a completely sick way. The backdrop - Silver Age Spidey - and the lookalike art only amplify it. Though it goes both ways; there's something pretty eerie about seeing everyone from that more innocent time slaughtered wholesale and awash in blood.

But then Van Lente parodies a classic Spidey splash - where Parker throws the suit in the trash and walks away - and all is forgiven. He even manages to convincingly wrap the saga of the original zombies. Whether it was necessary is the next question.

Five different artists were tapped for this, one per issue. As you can guess, the styles vary wildly. One issue channels silver age artwork, another is dark and gritty, another is cleaner with the linework and colors, so on. Most of them do fine work, but I think this book could have done with more consistency in the art style. I guess that's getting to be a common complaint from me on these zombie miniseries, but to be fair at least this was planned and not someone pinch hitting for a slow but superior artist like what happened with 5.

The Score: 6.5 out of 10

Easily skipped unless you just gotta know how the original zombies check out.

* It's too bad the others aren't as good at it as him, if they even try.

Marvel Zombies 4 (comics)

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Kev Walker

Collects: Marvel Zombies 4 #1-4

One of these days, the last bit of potential is going to be wrung out of the Marvel Zombies concept. It's going to happen. This cannot possibly sustain itself forever. But today is not that day; and given that 5 has the same writer, tomorrow does not look good either.

Having generally fended off the attack by the Marvel Zombies universe last time, Morbius and ARMOR decide it's time to go on the offensive. There are, after all, a couple rogue zombies that made it past the dragnet in the chaos of last volumes climax, so time is running short. His response is to get together an all star ghoul squad of Marvels more prominent monsters to throw down.

This includes Man-Thing and boy oh boy, do I love me some Man-Thing (though I admit I love his DC counterpart, Swamp Thing, more).

What follows is a darkly humorous story with some heart to it. Our heroic monsters naturally have some personal issues to work out. It ain't easy having fangs and/or fur. There's also a possible death sentence hanging over them; the good doctor Morbius has made a vaccine, but it carries an inherent danger. Like all vaccines, there's a chance of contracting the disease and this isn't your garden variety flu. Under normal circumstances, you contract this, you're done. Each team member thusly puts out a "last will and testament", of sorts, each of which help frame the events.

Hell, even Zombie Deadpool - or Headpool as Marvel dubbed him - has a few moments where you feel sorry for him.

The jump to bringing the virus into the 616 universe seems to have revitilized this franchise. There are real stakes now; despite the fact that we know the heroes will win the day - because if they didn't, there wouldn't be a regular Marvel universe anymore - there are still consequences that could come about. ARMOR is literally ready to nuke the island at one point just to stop the virus. These miniseries are genuinely enjoyable, to the point where I can't really imagine going back to the barren, essentially dead universe we started out in.

Kev Walker again illustrates our zombie tomfoolery and Marvel really ought to just make a horror ongoing and put him on it. That's about as good a praise as I can really give for this. But I can't think of any horror ongoings he could be put on. Well, unless he wants to jump over to DC to partake in the DCnU.

The Score: 8 out of 10

I don't know how long this franchise can last, but as long as Van Lente is on it, I'll read it. I mean, the dude basically uses the water cycle to mix the zombie virus into a sentient cloud that kills or turns everything it rains on. Who else could come up with that?

Marvel Zombies 3 (comics)

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Kevin Walker
Collects: Marvel Zombies 3 #1-4

So did you hear the one about those wacky Marvel Zombies?

Here's the problem with Marvel Zombies; in some ways it's essentially a joke in comic form. It's popularity was borderline ridiculous for a while there and they've since turned it into a franchise. The original appeal, however, rested largely on the novelty and giggles gained from seeing a bunch of zombified heroes eat things.

But the reality of comedy is that if you keep telling the same joke over and over, eventually it's just not funny anymore. How many jokes do you know with sequels? Even the second volume seemed almost cognizant of this; the dark humor was dialed down and while it was generally more of a real story, it also seemed to make it quite clear this concept couldn't sustain itself forever without an overhaul.

So overhaul it they did. This time, the regular Marvel 616 Universe is involved*. The result leaves me thinking that just maybe there's a little life left in this quickly rotting husk.

The last volume pretty much picked up where the first left off and it ended on a cliffhanger, presumably for this volume to pick up on. It doesn't. Actually, this volumes story doesn't even take place after the events of volume 2**. The 616 universe we all know and love is clearly set in present continuity while the time period of the Zombieverse they encounter is actually the time between the cosmic seven leaving and returning. This takes a bit of retconning, really***, but whatever, I can roll with it.

The story opens with a mission gone horribly wrong. Floridas Initiative team, the Command, combs the swamps of Citrusville after a distress call, quickly finding themselves confronted with a grisly scene. Before they can realize what's happened, they're wiped out; only one survives, while another goes into hibernation for an uncertain amount of time to try and purge the virus. One of the zombies from that troublesome universe managed to make it over using the Nexus of All Realities; no one knows how many infected are roaming the swamp, which is, of course, a problem, especially if they make it out of the swamp. Before you know it, the "fleshy" hating Machine Man is sent into the zombie universe to get a sample to help come up with some manner of vaccine.

You can probably guess how smoothly that mission goes.

The new approach actually does wonders for extending the life of the flagging franchise. For the first time, we've got a pretty distinct set of characters for our main cast. It feels more like they're trying to tell an actual story - with, of course, the dark humor - instead of constantly trying to outgross themselves. The zombies are now an element, not the sole driving force of the series, and it makes a bigger difference than you'd think.

Van Lente's style is a fair amount of why this works. He brings back the comedy elements that had been toned down last time, but it's no longer about the joke or hearing about Daredevils blood bloated ankles needing to be punctured. The chief character, Machine Man, actually shows character growth over the course of the volume.

Starting as the distinct NEXTWAVE version Warren Ellis introduced us to, he changes a bit as the volume goes on, especially when confronted about his dickery by an old robot flame. By the end, he's even accepting of a name he long denied. That's a pretty big jump in actual storytelling for a series that mostly subsided on things like Hulk eating a human and then having the bones explode through his stomach when he reverts to zombie Banner.

We even get a pretty decent addition to the Marvel universe out of ARMOR, an organization dedicated to handling inter-dimensional threats. In a way, it completes the circle in some way. It's not just the acronyms - you know, armor goes with sword goes with shield - but the fact that it makes sense that the Marvel world would have an organization each dedicated to different threats. With SHIELD handling most Earth based problems, SWORD dealing with space and ARMOR handling threats from other dimensions, they're pretty much covered.

I hope this is the last of these though. If I see HELMET or BOOTS, I'll be unable to keep from laughing uncontrollably. As it is, we still have HAMMER lingering around as a villain organization when it really should have dissolved entirely at the end of Osborns time at the top.

This time, we have Kevin Walker on art. His work is a bit cleaner, but when it comes time to illustrate the yuck, he doesn't shy away. Check out the image of the zombie Kingpin, champagne glass full of blood and eyeballs, bloody human bones on the table behind him. It's ridiculous, but a fun ridiculous. I wonder how much of the little touches were Walkers idea and how much was actually in the script. Either way, a good job all around.

One last thing to note. This volume does come complete with a cover gallery, one that goes the whole nine and collects all the zombie variants that were on books while this series ran. I'm always happy to see a full cover gallery in volumes, but good grief these zombie variants. Can we nix these whenever a Marvel Zombies miniseries shambles around? I'm tired of them. The joke - you know, taking iconic covers and zombifying them to disgusting effect - is just not funny anymore. See above about telling the same joke too many times.

The Score: 8 out of 10

I actually really enjoyed this one. Moreso than both of the preceding volumes. Van Lente and Walker revitilize a concept that was withering on the vine. Worth checking out; hell, despite the number three on the cover, you don't need to read the previous ones. Skip 'em, if you're so inclined. Originally I thought this would be the last volume for me, but I'm going to stick around, especially considering the next one is going to have Man-Thing and the Midnight Sons.

I am always down for teams of ridiculous super movie monsters.

---

* Interestingly, this is probably the first time there's been any kind of actual link between the Main universe and the Ultimate universe. Both have come into conflict with the Zombieverse by now, which is the closest the two ever came to crossing over. Whether Marvel will stick to their guns on the determination not to let the two directly meet remains to be seen.

** I don't believe the story and characters of the first two Marvel Zombies are wrapped up within the numbered line. MZ4 is apparently a direct sequel to the events of this volume. I'm pretty sure they got around to tying the original plots off in one of the numerous offshoots.

*** The end of the first volume had the remaining members of the main zombie crew we followed assert dominance over the right to eat Galactus. They were, quite simply, the alpha zombies. I recall it being pretty clearly implied they wiped out the rest of the zombies who tried to get in the way of their cosmic meal. The events of volume 2 - where aside from the docile Hawkeye, Wasp and Colonel America there isn't a zombie to be found on Earth - backed it up. As you can probably guess, this volume shows us that there's still a pretty damn big contingent of zombies floating around after the cosmic zombies left. Doesn't make much sense, but the first two miniseries were riddled with odd contradictory moments, so it's not worth thinking on too much.

Marvel Zombies 2 (comics)

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Sean Phillips
Collects: Marvel Zombies 2 #1-5

As with all things uber popular, Marvel Zombies eventually found itself with a sequel by the originals creative team. They teased it being kind of a "Marvel Zombies Civil War", to which I responded "oh really now? This I gotta see!" Because, you know, how do you really do that, much less follow up with a sequel? There weren't even enough zombies left by the end - somewhere around seven, I recall - for much more than a minor skirmish, much less a war.

Besides which, for all its goofy stupidity, the first series had a relatively solid conclusion; the remaining zombies took the place of Galactus in the galaxy while the remaining humans arrived back on Earth to take back their planet.

Turns out you do it by twisting things a bit. The zombies didn't really take the place of Galactus. They end up being worse than Galactus, literally devouring the universe within the space of forty years. Once they run out of food, they remember, hey, Reed Richards had a dimensional portal, so lets use that and go to a universe with fresh meat. Back on Earth, the survivors have etched out a respectable living for themselves, but of course, political strife is evident. These two things colliding spells trouble for the surviving humans.

This go around, the dark humor is toned down. The sequel isn't as darkly comic as the original was, which I'm unsure is a good thing. It's played a bit more straight this time, with even a hint of redemption for the zombies afoot. All this means that there's more of a real story here this time, but there aren't as many "moments" that stick in your mind like the first go around had.

I mentioned in my review of the first volume that I lamented the lack of different perspective on the overall zombie infection of the heroes. Kirkman wisely avoids the pitfalls this time, as we find ourselves with focus split between the survivors and the former heroes. It actually made for a better story, I think, because the last time the humans weren't much more than meat. There was no way to get attached to the two or three left barring Magneto, which was a bit of a problem.

Everything isn't a bed of roses here, though. Kirkman even tries to make the zombies a bit more likable this go around - a real problem last time - but whether he succeeds or not is debateable. He elaborates on the concept he introduced at the end of the first volume; mainly, the zombies lose their hunger the longer they go without eating. Spider-Man has noticed this too and starts to relate it to Luke Cage. Seems simple enough, right?

Here's the problem. With the hunger gone, their heads are clearer, but it was established last time that their thoughts were clear right after they ate as well. Spider-Man was the only one who felt any real remorse. So they've turned into these gigantic pricks thanks to the zombie virus, but once the hunger is gone, hey, please forgive us, right? A bit hard for me to buy; even in their most lucid moments prior they still didn't have much problem with hunting down survivors for their next meal.

Also, how would this only just happen in such a short span of time after forty years of hunting the galaxy. It seems like it's only a couple weeks at best before they get to Earth again. They even stop to snack on Ego the Living Planet along the way. But in the forty years they spent in space, they didn't realize this until just now? Even with the time spent between worlds, traveling the stars?

So, as you can tell, there are still logic problems here. Like the first miniseries, you can't think about this one too much, otherwise too many unanswered questions and plotholes crop up. This is, again, stupid fun comics. Just with a bit more of a real story this time around. I'd say it holds up around the same as the first series, maybe just a bit weaker.

I won't spoil the ending, but there is a cliffhanger at the end. One that may not even be resolved. Kirkman didn't return for a third round - there's an entirely different creative team for three on - so what he had planned for the rather obvious second sequel is a mystery. There's overall resolution to the volumes events, but if he wasn't sure he'd be coming back, Kirkman probably shouldn't have had a cliffhanger epilogue.

As for the art, Sean Phillips is back and everything I said last time applies here too. His work is still good and he does well with providing a squick factor to the dark proceedings. There isn't as much dark comedy for him to work with as in the original miniseries, but he makes due regardless. I hope to see more or his art outside of this context, though, as it's hard to judge how he'd do on a more traditional story.

The Score: 7 out of 10

I still don't get why this was such a phenomenon, but at least they turned out to be solid comics so far. How long it can hold up as legitimate stories, I'm not so sure. Even Kirkman seems to realize the joke has a shelf life, because he mixed more of the same in with something new. I guess I'll have to find out, won't I? Worth it if you just really like Marvel Zombies, even if the novelty's started wearing off.

Marvel Zombies (comics)

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Sean Phillips
Collects: Marvel Zombies #1-5

Ahh, Marvel Zombies. To say it's popularity was surprising would be an understatement. I'm not sure anyone suspected the pairing of zombies and superheroes to strike a chord with folks. Still, despite it being pretty much everywhere - from t shirts to folders - I've only just now gotten around to reading it, about as late to the party as a guy can get.

Having finished it, I've got to say that I'm not sure what the big deal was. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for zombie stuff. I'm also an easy mark for superheroes, as is probably obvious. But something about this just didn't resonate with me the way it seemed to others.

In a lot of respects, this book is stupid fun. There is some small thrill to be had out of seeing recognizable and well loved Marvel superheroes as flesh eaters, which is probably a good part of what was so popular about the concept. Also, Robert Kirkman doesn't really hold back with his gross ideas; this is not Walking Dead caliber of disturbing, thankfully, but there are some darkly humerous moments to be found in the book. This is probably it's strength; if you want a cool, breezy read that you won't mind picking up, this is a book to check out. But on the same token, it doesn't ever actually try to do anything interesting beyond the fun of it's surface concept and it does have flaws.

I think the main flaw of Marvel Zombies is the story, or really, the fact that there isn't one. We start out where Ultimate Fantastic Four's arc "Crossover" - the arc that introduced the concept - left us, with the dimensional portal closed and Magneto alone. For maybe eight or nine pages we follow him as he attempts to stay alive in the midst of the zombie heroes, but it ends abruptly. From that point on, we follow the zombie heroes as look for more food, fight the Silver Surfer and Galactus and half-heartedly try to figure out their zombie condition a bit too long after the fact. Sure, we later get a couple pages of the Black Panther and the last couple surviving humans and mutants, but it's a pittance late in the book. The story never really goes anywhere or does anything beyond "zombies kill everything and try to eat everything"; which is fun, but makes the book on the whole largely forgettable.

In this vein, Marvel Zombies greatest strength is also it's biggest weakness. On the one hand, it's rather unique in your average monster or zombie project to have the focus be on the monsters. In fact, it's what some fans absolutely demand out of some franchises. But here it leaves the story to remain one note. I thought for a while that perhaps it was just because of a lower investment in the characters - while I like Marvel a good deal, I'm more of a DC guy - but realized that wasn't really the problem. In truth, this series really could have used more of the human perspective to really make it shine. Going back and forth between the zombies and the human perspective would still have left the story as unique, as it isn't often you get into the heads of the opposing creature, but on top of that it would have added an extra layer to the proceedings. There would be plenty to mine from uninfected humans, especially considering it was their heroes who protected them whom were now out to devour them, and it would have made a nice counterpoint to the zombie perspective. In this way, Mark Millars original idea for the zombieverse - with The Punisher as the last man alive trying to fend off the undead - might well have worked better for the overall concept.

Worse still, the zombies aren't even very likable. Despite the fact that they supposedly retain their general personalities, it doesn't truly feel like they do. Even when thinking straight - which comes only after they feed - the only one who truly seems to feel remorse and emotion over what they've done is Spider-Man, whom the other zombies find annoying for it, and Giant-Man. The others just excuse their behavior and seem to be alright with what they've done without much internal strife, despite the fact that they now devour the people they were supposed to protect.

Add on to this some logic problems - see Hulk and the Silver Surfer midway through the book - and this isn't a story you can think too hard about. Thankfully, it is indeed some stupid fun. That can't really be undersold. But it's not the kind that's going to stick out in your head beyond a few of the larger set pieces in the story. Still, in some ways, that's enough, but I can't lie and say I didn't want more out of the tale. If Kirkman hadn't managed to make the book the kind of breezy fun he did, I could see this book collapsing under it's own weight.

The artwork, however, is nicely done. Sean Phillips does a nice job illustrating the book, giving it a feel reminiscent of a Marvel comic, merely with the heroes as flesh eaters. In some ways, this style choice helps keep the comic from ever getting too disturbing, for good or bad; on the one hand, the comic basically relies on shock value and a smidge of dark humor, but on the other, a realistic style for Marvel heroes devouring guts and eyeballs could have been a bit much. As it is, the book doesn't have a lot going for it behind the curtain; anything more realistic than what we got would have removed the fun of the book, which is really all it has going for it.

The Score: 7.5 out of 10

This book was stupid fun in every respect. Luckily, that worked for it. I don't quite get why it caught on as it did - truth be told, this isn't exactly a high point in comics - but it is worth a read. I'm not sure what to expect out of the sequels though. This book managed to close out before the concept had worn thin enough to snap. I can't see three or four sequels holding up without the joke growing old. Still, this is good for a breezy, goofy read; just don't go expecting anything of substance, because if you want any of that this isn't the book you should be reading.