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Marvel Zombies 2 by Robert Kirkman
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Robert Kirkman Illustrator: Sean Phillips Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2008-06-25 ISBN: 0785125450 Number of pages: 120 Publisher: Marvel
Book Reviews of Marvel Zombies 2Book Review: "...I can't believe we ate the whole thing." Summary: 3 Stars
Last time we saw these Marvel superhero zombies, they've gained cosmic powers (thanks to having munched on Galactus) and had left Earth, hungry and craving yet more living flesh. And, forty years later, the zombies have eaten all sentient life in the universe. After several "What now?" moments, zombie Giant Man comes up with the brainstorm of returning to Earth to activate Reed Richards' otherdimensional transporter, thus giving them access to more "food." But Earth, it turns out, isn't completely devoid of intelligent life. A tiny band of humanity, led by an aged Black Panther, still clings on, and these survivors aim to put up resistance...
So, I totally savored the original MARVEL ZOMBIES series, not to mention the Ultimate Fantastic Four related stories which preceded it. I thought Marvel Zombies HC (Iron Man Cover) was delightfully demented, refreshingly irreverent, and oozed with a ballsy attitude. I had a lot of fun reading it, passengering Kirkman's wildly careening ride of a series. Then this one comes along.
This trade, MARVEL ZOMBIES 2, collects issues #1-5 of the second mini-series. Sean Phillips is again solid with the interior artwork (although, this time, his stuff does seem more rushed), while Arthur Suydam's always awesome cover paintings continue to be an eyeballing treat (as well as tongue-in-cheek nods to famous comic book covers). Oh, man, but the story...
Maybe this Marvel Zombie mania can be mined for only so long. We've already had the MARVEL ZOMBIES: DEAD DAYS one-shot and Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness limited series, all good stuff. But MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 isn't quite as good. I think, for me, it's partly because I'm not that big a fan of the Wasp or the Black Panther, and they're central characters here. And the power play subplot involving T'Challa and Malcolm Cortez, son of Fabian Cortez, is just dreary. Plus, writer Robert Kirkman loses some originality points by having another character get the top of his skull sliced off, brain bits dutifully dribbling out (yes, this one is as violent and gory, good thing). Kirkman gets more earnest with the plotting and the character development, but, I dunno, the story comes off as dull; it just didn't draw me in. The ending, which is unsatisfying and fizzles out, does leave an opening for more Marvel Zombies stories. I guess I'm glad.
For me, a huge part of the fun was in seeing iconic superheroes get chomped on and then twisted into immoral, ravenous, undead versions of themselves. But, here, Kirkman switches it up and tries to revert some of these nasties into their former do-gooding selves. And, somewhere along the way, that sense of crazy fun evaporates. As a reader, the last thing I wanted to see was redemption for the zombies. One of the zombies who regains a conscience happens to be my all-time favorite superhero (Okay, it's Spidey), and I actually begrudged the fact that he was chosen to be again a good guy. It just seems to undermine that audacious, anarchic touch which MARVEL ZOMBIES had so gleefully pulled off.
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