Marvel Zombies Hardcover Review

Marvel Zombies

Marvel Comics
Oversized Hardcover
136 pages
$19.99 (2006)
$15.99 (2008) TPB
ISBN 9780785122777

Contributors: Robert Kirkman, Sean Phillips, June Chung, Randy Gentile, and Arthur Suydam

Reprints: Marvel Zombies #1-5 (of 5)

Synopsis: It began with a flash in the sky and an unsatiable hunger took hold.  Our beloved heroes were the first victims and quickly spread the hunger throughout the globe.  Soon all of humanity had been eaten by the superpowered zombies once known as the Avengers.  Now the small pockets of uninfected must rally to survive this super plague.  How can the former heroes continue to go on after devouring their loved ones - and how can they possibly stop the coming of Galactus!

Pros: Good writing/art, lots of extras including the many cool covers by Suydam, sketchbook, foreword by Kirkman, nice oversized hardcover w/dustjacket

Cons: Completely off-the-wall story with far-fetched conclusion, a lot of hype, many reprintings with some less than spectacular covers

Mike Tells It Straight: This story was a massive hit and spun out of Mark Millar's run on Ultimate Fantastic Four when Ultimate Reed Richards came into contact with an alternate dimension overrun by a super zombie plague.  The team managed to stop more zombies from crossing dimensions, but the infected Fantastic Four remained becoming the Ultimate Frightful Four. 

Kirkman knows zombies (he writes The Walking Dead) and does an excellent job here, even having the heroes stop (after gorging themselves) to consider their grotesque plight.  They stay in character throughout as the scientists like Banner and Pym try to analyze the physiological changes of their new condition.  Having the Marvel heroes become zombies and eat people is a wild concept - Kirkman takes it even farther by adding a cosmic bent to the whole deal.  The ending is totally nuts and one thing is for certain, this is the best possible Marvel-heroes-as-zombies book you will find!

TO BUY and Recommendations: