"Marvel Zombies Return" #1-5 Mini-Series Talkback (Spoilers)

[Xurk]

They're baaaaaaaaack . . . a different character spotlight each week, for five weeks! Picking up where MZ2 left off!

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN: SPIDER-MAN #1

(Click to enlarge)

http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/200/JU/JUL090540D.jpg (http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/JU/JUL090540D.jpg)

WRITER: Fred Van Lente
COVER BY: Arthur Suydam
PENCILS: Nick Dragotta

THE STORY: What happened to Spider-Man, Colonel America, Power Man, Giant-Man and Wolverine at the end of MARVEL ZOMBIES 2? Where were they transported to... and more importantly, when?

A frightening five-part weekly event shambles to life here, penned by resident (evil) MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 and 4 scribe Fred Van Lente and three of today's hottest novelists of zombie fiction! In this first chapter, your friendly neighborhood undead arachnid arrived in the swingin' college days of his distant past, and when the Sinister Six threaten his loved ones, he siezes the opportunity to undo all the horror he's caused as a flesh-eating freak. But can a monster truly become a hero, no matter how guilt-ridden he is? Or will he learn the hard way that with great hunger also comes... great hunger?

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Adam Tyner]

GENIUS.

Seriously, this first issue with Spidey was brilliant, and the wide-eyed, optimistic, mostly-carefree '60s setting couldn't have been a better backdrop for a zombie comic. :) Just an inhuman amount of depraved fun.

[Xurk]

The spotlight moves on in the newest issue of this depraved mini-series!

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN: IRON MAN #2

(Click to enlarge)

http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/200/JU/JUL090542D.jpg (http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/JU/JUL090542D.jpg)

WRITER: David Wellington
COVER BY: Arthur Suydam
PENCILS: Andrea Mutti

THE STORY: Look out! The zombies are attacking Stark Industries! Can Tony Stark defeat the demon in the bottle and fight the monsters in the hallways? And how can James Rhodes protect his boss from an unstoppable wave of the flesh-eating undead?

Featuring the Marvel Comics debut of Monster Island zombie novelist David Wellington!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Xurk]

GENIUS.

Seriously, this first issue with Spidey was brilliant, and the wide-eyed, optimistic, mostly-carefree '60s setting couldn't have been a better backdrop for a zombie comic. :) Just an inhuman amount of depraved fun.
I have to whole-heartedly agree! Where I could definitely appreciate the different turn that "Marvel Zombies 3" took, this is a welcome return to the absurdly dark and fun humour from the original mini-series :)

Fred Van Lente really did ham it up to the max in the first issue , but it was just great put against the Silver Age setting! I mean, check out all of this classic stuff:

Spidey web-slinging from his... veins and arteries. What the...!?
the Tablet of Time!
Harry's moustache
Spidey losing it and FEEEEEEEDing on Kraven :p
"My Zombie-Senses are tingling! They detect the presence of meat!" - I actually laughed at that because it was so out-there!
Sandman losing it as the Silver Age rules were broken by Zombie Spider-Man
The non-zombified Spider-Man's death scene - an A+ for originality!
The monologue at the end of the Spidey-story, an obvious parody of a classic Spider-Man story :)

The issue also got noticeably more grotesque as it progressed, up to the point where near the end I almost thought it was getting to be [I]too much like a "Hellraiser" movie. But that is probably my only complaint and hey, it is a zombie story after all.

I wonder if that scene with Zombie Giant-Man and the Watcher will carry over into other one-shots in this mini-series?

[Adam Tyner]

My favorite part of the Spidey comic was the villains being caught completely off-guard, and Mysterio awkwardly trying to pass it off as his "tricks and torments" pushing Spider-Man over the edge. :)


I wonder if that scene with Zombie Giant-Man and the Watcher will carry over into other one-shots in this mini-series?It does. In fact, #2 isn't even an Iron Man issue in the same sense that #1 was a Spider-Man comic.

[Xurk]

I enjoyed the second issue as well :) Not as much as the Spider-Man one though - that one was just too full of awesomeness!

I never read any of the "Tony Stark is a drunk" stories so seeing him as this wasted, desolate character felt very strange. It didn't help that the artistic rendition of him looked nothing like the Tony Stark of recent years; was the artist going for an old look of his, or was it just off?
The zombie parts of the issue were on par though, good stuff :) I liked the potential cure for the zombie virus that Tony had figured out, I wonder if it will factor into the remaining issues or not?

One thing I am also wondering about is how the zombies seem more "killable" so far in this mini-series. Before now, it was almost impossible to stop one of them, even shooting at it repeatedly [taking out its brains for example] wouldn't stop one! But in both issues so far, I think we've seen a few cases where someone "killed" a zombie.

[Xurk]

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN: WOLVERINE #3

(Click to enlarge)

http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/200/ju/jul090543d.jpg (http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jul090543d.jpg)

WRITER: Jonathan Mayberry
COVER BY: Arthur Suydam
PENCILS: Jason Shawn Alexander

THE STORY: Snikt goes splat! When the walking dead reach the Land of the Rising Son, can Kitty Pryde and Wolverine escape the putrid plague? And when an underground fight club brings Iron Fist, the Sons of the Tiger, Shang-Chi, and Elektra into the martial arts mix, who will emerge as the best there is at what they do?

Featuring the writing talents of Patient Zero zombie novelist Jonathan Mayberry!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Xurk]

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN: HULK #4

(Cover image not available)

WRITER: Seth Grahame-Smith
COVER BY: Arthur Suydam
PENCILS: Richard Elson

THE STORY: Hulk smash people eaters! To get his pre-World War Hulk revenge on Black Bolt, the green goliath has arrived on the moon... but so have the undead! That's right, it's Hulk vs. Zombies... on the moon! Featuring the Marvel Comics debut of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies novelist Seth Grahame-Smith!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Xurk]

The final chapter of revisiting the original Marvel Zombies!

MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN: AVENGERS #5

(Click to enlarge)

http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/200/JU/JUL090545D.jpg (http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/JU/JUL090545D.jpg)

WRITER: Fred Van Lente
COVER BY: Arthur Suydam
PENCILS: Wellinton Alves

THE STORY: MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 and 4 scribe Fred Van Lente returns to deliver the apocalyptic climax to this latest tale of terror!

The cry goes out, from the four corners of the Earth, to every hero breaking ravenously into an orphanage, to every heroine desperately pursuing the last remaining survivors in a recently-uncovered bunker: 'Avengers Dismember!' Will the fearsome flesh-eaters gain access to dimension-hopping technology that will make the entire multiverse their all-you-can-eat buffet?

All taht stands between them and their slaughter on infinite earths is the resurrected team of Earth's moldiest heroes. Who are the Zombie Avengers? What united them to fight for humanity instead of feasting on it? Find out here - before they find you!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Adam Tyner]

After such a brilliant start, I've found myself liking each successive issue less and less, to the point where that Hulk issue was completely forgettable. With Van Lente back at the helm for the finale, hopefully it'll at least end alright.

[Xurk]

I liked how they tied the whole mini-series together with Zombie Spider-Man and his quest, but overall, this was slightly disappointing. I think the problem is that it just peaked too early, with the first issue being genius and classic. The second issue was okay, but didn't really pique my interest that much. The third issue was a little better, but still nothing really stellar and its best moments were once again, the Zombie Spider-Man parts. The fourth issue felt too much like a "What If... Hulk Was A Zombie During World War Hulk?" story and therefore lacked originality.

However, I did like the fact that Hulk infected the Sentry in that issue, which gave me a hunch of what they might be doing :) And sure enough, in the final issue they went all time-loopy on us! That was an original enough note to close on and might just be the best way to end this franchise once and for all :p Seeing as we are now back to where "Marvel Zombies Vol.1 #1" / "Marvel Zombies: Dead Days" kicked off, meaning new stories aren't really possible unless they're flashbacks to things we weren't shown the first time around in the loop.

I'm glad that Van Lente wrote the final issue as the dark humour felt right again, though it couldn't match the absurdness of the humour featured in issue #1 ;) The Zombies reminiscing back to there favourite kills [continually changing their minds] was fun, as was how the epic battles flashbacks all featured characters from earlier volumes, giving them a form of closure as well :)