Are The Marvel Zombies Comics Any Good....?

Discussion in 'Comic Books and Graphic Novels' started by soundblastc44, May 21, 2007.

  1. soundblastc44

    soundblastc44 CAPS MASTER...OH YEAH

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    I recantly got into marvel comics [thanks to civil war] and my friend told me to check out the marvel zombies comics...are they any good ?:inquisiti 
     
  2. Scantron

    Scantron Well-Known Member

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    There are a few Marvel Zombies arcs. All responses IMO, of course:

    - Ultimate Fantastic Four, "Crossover" - Introductory arc to the Marvel Zombies idea. The writing is weak in places, but it's a good set-up for the concept and the Zombie FF make neat villains. Not a lot of explanation or backstory; just enough to allow the plot to run smoothly. Art...really going to depend on your opinion of Greg Land. I think there are some nice panels here and there with the zombies, but the incorrect facial expressions are very distracting. This arc isn't entirely necessary to understanding the mini-series, but it helps a little.

    - Marvel Zombies, original mini-series - The first chance the Marvel Zombies had to really shine in their own book. The writing is excellent, with a great mixture of humor, dark atmosphere, horror and characterization. The artwork is rough, but it works very well for the tone of the miniseries, and provides a perfect balance between showing disturbing scenes and leaving stuff off-panel to allow a reader's imagination to run wild. So far, this mini-series is the best MZ title to be released and I'd recommend starting here, if it's something you're looking to check out.

    - Ultimate Fantastic Four, "Frightful" - The Zombie FF show up as villains in what amounts to a slightly inflated subplot and it ties up their dangling story thread from the "Crossover" arc. Most of the arc is focused on Ultimate Doom and Reed, although there are some neat moments with the zombies. Writing was worse than "Crossover" and my comments about the art stand. You could easily skip this one and not miss much.

    - Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness, mini-series - I'm in the minority, IIRC, but I think this mini-series is terrible. The art is pretty good but the writing is awful. The story is dragged out, space is wasted on cameos simply for the sake of having cameos and I personally find Ash to be a very annoying character. A fan of the AoD stuff might appreciate this one more than I, but I'd suggest skipping it or waiting for the trade.

    - Marvel Zombies: Dead Days, one-shot - There should be a thread on this somewhere in the first few pages of the forum. It's by the same creators who did the original MZ mini-series, but a significant drop-off in quality. The art goes from fittingly rough to sloppy in a number of places. In terms of writing, there is at least one retcon that I remember, possible minor continuity errors, the characterization of Reed Richards doesn't seem to fit the UFF stuff, some of the "survivors" do some really stupid things and a few scenes mentioned in the first mini (that were effective imagining them off-panel) are shown on-panel. Worth picking up if you're interested in seeing some of the gaps filled in, but not very good on it's own.
     
  3. soundblastc44

    soundblastc44 CAPS MASTER...OH YEAH

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    Thanks...:) 
     
  4. 03Mach1

    03Mach1 Logic has been replaced with blind ignorance.

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    It's a fun series. Sure the art is not the best, but there's something satisfying about seeing your favorite Marvel superhero chewing on the leg of another superhero. And the Arthur Suydam homages to old Marvel covers are worth the price of admission for me.
     
  5. Chrono Grimlock

    Chrono Grimlock Buttstuff Werewolf

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    They're great.
     
  6. Gryph

    Gryph Action Master

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    Don't forget Black Widow eating a poodle.
     
  7. geerave

    geerave Well-Known Member

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    i loved it at first but im kinda sick of them now. i also cant stand that they have about 100 marvel zombie shirts at hot topic, and maybe 2 normal ones
     
  8. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

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    You need one main prerequisite to fully appreciate the Marvel Zombie series IMO, a decent knowledge of Marvel backstory.

    A lot of appreciation comes from the in character zombie warping and the events contained in the story. It WOULD be Spider-man that whines the most. It would be the Black Panther, that well, (without giving away any spoilers) stands out.

    A lot of things happen in this book that are direct Zombie takes on established Marvel canon, and thats where a lot of the enjoyment comes from IMO.
     
  9. Boggs6ft7

    Boggs6ft7 TFW2005 Supporter

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    I thought it was an ok Ult FF story, but now its overdone.

    Marvel saw a opening to make a buck and lunged. Like geerave said, you see a bunch of these marvel zombies shirts at hottopic because of Marvel catering to a specific group of people.

    If I asked most of the people I saw wearing those shirts what it was about, they would have no clue. I tend to call my students out on stuff like this and bands. I caught a ninth grader wearing a Black Flag t-shirt, I asked him who was the lead singer for Black Flag was, his response: "I don't know, this is my mom's shirt." The moment was surreal.
     
  10. jourdo

    jourdo TFW2005 Supporter

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    I liked the Ultimate FF stories, but really couldn't get over the art style in the Marvel Zombies series. Haven't read the newer stuff.
     
  11. Chrono Grimlock

    Chrono Grimlock Buttstuff Werewolf

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    I don't understand why a good idea has to be used once. Thank god Amazing Spider-Man didn't end at Amazing Fantasy 15.

    People are always complaining we never see anything new in comics and now we have our favorite heroes as blood thirsty monsters, and until Black Panther 27 it was all in it's own self contained world.

    As for the Black Flag shirt, what does matter if he knows anything about black flag; maybe he just liked the look of the shirt. jesus
     
  12. geerave

    geerave Well-Known Member

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    im not complaining! i love the new ideas, but i think marvel zombies kind of started as a joke, and when it became a hit and brought in alot of non-comic fans (and i could not be more happy about that!) marvel decided to just run with it. now it has become more popular then the regular marvel books in some areas of pop-culture, and i think thats a shame.