This is a review of Marvel Zombies: Complete Collection, Vol. 1. Do you recall the good ole’ days when zombies ruled the Horror Universe? It wasn’t that long ago. The zombie strain was everywhere, even infecting mainstream comics! Marvel Zombies started out as a tongue-in-cheek storyline about super-powered zombies in an alternate universe, but gained enough traction to produce seven-plus miniseries. In a way, the heroes of the Marvel Universe are already zombies – they’re old, and most of them have died (some multiple times), but they are still walking around. Sure sounds like a zombie to me!
Okay, enough philosophical horseshit. This graphic novel isn’t for everyone. It’s strong stuff, especially the first miniseries, produced by the Zombie Lord himself, Robert Kirkman (creator of the Walking Dead). Will you like it? Depends. Do you think Giant Man biting off his wife’s head is funny? Do you want to see Peter Parker devour Mary Jane and Aunt May? As in many things in life: some will be disgusted, others will say sign me up.
What do I think? Well, I read the first miniseries years ago. There is a plot, but it honestly doesn’t matter, because you’re here to see the zombies eat people. The miniseries is funny in the same way car accidents are funny, if that car accident involved imaginary people. Wolverine’s adamantium claws and bones pop out of his rotting body. Bruce Banner awakens with a foot sticking out of his gut. Spider-Man is a zombie, but still as depressed as ever. To me, the funniest line is Galactus proclaiming that he’s going to eat the earth, after the Marvel Zombies have just eaten his herald.
I view this graphic novel as mindless entertainment. The violence is so stupid and over-the-top it didn’t bother me, and none of the heroes are actually dying (it’s an alternate dimension!). I didn’t find some of the jokes funny, but YMMV. I am sure many people will think this is awful, and in poor taste. I can’t argue the second point, but poor taste went out the window with the release of Pink Flamingos. Bottom line: if you don’t like gore, or seeing your childhood heroes turn into drooling cannibalistic monsters, then I’d skip this. But if you are a zombie lover, you will gobble it up.
Happy Halloween!
Abandoned Places 