4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"...I can't believe we ate the whole thing.", June 27, 2008
This review is from: Marvel Zombies 2 (Hardcover)
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The undead return!, September 26, 2011
Marvel Zombies 2 starts right where the original series left off. The zombie team has been roaming the universe for forty years eating literally every living thing in sight. Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Power Man, Wolverine, Phoenix, The Hulk, Thanos, Gladiator, and Firelord have now ran out of food and return to Earth to find the inter-dimensional portal Reed Richards designed. Once on Earth, they discover the hidden city of New Wakanda, and the leader of the city, the Black Panther. With Ms. Wasp apparently cured of her "hunger," they find the head of Hawkeye and try to give him an artificial body and train him to fight the hunger just as Wasp did. However, once the zombie team discovers the city, Forge, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Wasp, and others must stop the hungry monsters from eating the inhabitants of the city. After putting up a force-field, Forge reveals that the device is not still in Reeds' lab and actually resides in New Wakanda. Eventually, Wasp gets through to the remaining zombies and tells them they can beat the hunger if they wait it out long enough. At this point, everyone is working together to rebuild the human population and get Earth going again. However, all it takes is one back-stabber, by the name of Cortez to ruin everything!
So, this second story ends with a pretty big cliffhanger but it was a good read. It's more than just zombies infecting superheroes and watching them fly around eating people. There's a pretty juicy story to be had here with the zombies out of food and a way for them to beat the hunger. There's lots of dialogue and personal insight to how the zombies feel to eating the entire universe and the struggles they go through to maintain a small amount of their humanity. The art, like the first, is gruesome and detailed and really well done. The writing is well done and seeing all these superheroes in one 5-issue series is pretty neat. You even get to see the return of the original Iron Man suit! So, overall, this is fantastic second part to the series and I look forward to reading the third! Also, there is a cover gallery at the end with the five issue covers and the original covers that they were designed from.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Start, But....., July 3, 2008
This review is from: Marvel Zombies 2 (Hardcover)
I had to write a review on this....I felt that the first MZ book was hysterically funny, and should have been left with just those stories. Dead Days was actually very good as well, with the Army Of Darkness spin-off rounding off an already tired storyline.
This story should have been much more solid, but I can only deduce that Mr. Suydam's artwork is what kept this series going....because Mr. Kirkman seemed to have run out of ideas. I gave this three stars because although the beginning is interesting, the end is atrocious; horribly cliched dialogue and an overall feeling of disappointment. I recommend all the volumes for collectors, but really, this series needs to end with this; even if there is a possibility of dragging out another story, enough is enough.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
