Marvel Zombie #1 - Featured Reviews 

“Marvel Zombies” #1

By | October 19th, 2018
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

The longevity of the “Marvel Zombies” is something to behold. Returning again and again like the monsters contained within, never satisfied with where it last left off. This time, however, the title seems to be taking a different approach, focusing not on the plural but on the singular. This might just be the only way this resurrection could work. Beware, dear readers, for spoilers lurk ahead.

Cover by Juan Ferreyra

Written by W. Maxwell Prince
Illustrated by Steffano Raffaele
Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham

NEW FROM THE HOUSE OF IDEAS! MARVEL ZOMBIES IS BACK…WITH A TWIST!

Years after an incurable zombie virus ravaged the world, a small colony of survivors is protected by the Marvel U’s few remaining heroes, including Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Falcon. But when their last chance at salvation arrives, will they be willing to sacrifice their own humanity in the process? From the twisted minds of ICE CREAM MAN writer W. Maxwell Prince and Stefano Raffaele (Generations: Hawkeye) comes the next macabre obsession for fans of The Walking Dead and The Road!

What can be done with the zombie genre that hasn’t been done to death, resurrected, and killed again before? What can be said about zombie media that isn’t like beating an undead horse? Not much, I’m afraid. Thankfully, “Marvel Zombie” #1 isn’t trying too hard to reinvent the wheel, instead using the zombie genre to set up and tell an engaging story. This isn’t about survival. This isn’t about how the zombies came or why. It’s about a boy, with an amulet, and his new friend Simon Garth. This choice, to center the narrative on Garth, the titular Marvel zombie, allows the comic room to breathe and to prove that this is a comic worth telling.

Out of all the Legacy experiments, the one-shots resurrecting old titles with what would have been the current numbering was one of the best. While the results of the comics were mixed, it allowed new creators a chance to reintroduce long forgotten characters back into the Marvel mainstay and to tell a small story with them. The stakes were low and the risks minimal. The same ethos is at play here. No tie-in to a larger, current event. No multi-issue arc for a story that cannot sustain it. Just a good-ol one-shot and all the fun that goes along with it. And that’s what “Marvel Zombie” #1 is: fun.

Right from page one, there is a dark playfulness imbued into the comic. Simon Garth’s internal narration, because he can’t have an external one, guides us through the world and establishes both the tone and just enough backstory to get us situated. What really makes this work though is the pairing between Prince’s writing and the art by Raffaele and Rosenberg. Raffaele’s art is gross in all the ways a zombie story should be without going too far. There’s a roughness to the inking that allows the grittiness of the world to feel distant instead of like a hyper-realistic drawn version of our own. The coloring too keeps the realism alive with a liberal use of browns and pale, sickly greens and grays but also manages to keep enough varied colors within the remaining live humans and keeps everything bright enough.

However, the artwork doesn’t always work when our living friends are in the panels, especially with the kid. His face is kept in shadow a lot and it never seems necessary based on the lighting of the page. Perhaps the most noticeable problem with him was on the page where Black Widow is about to shoot him for protecting Simon. His face looks like it was twisted past where it was supposed to be and began to melt a little. It’s minor but it did take me out of the comic. On the whole, however, the artwork helps to heighten the bleak humor of Prince by juxtaposing the two together.

I return to Simon’s opening narration, because that’s where the humor is at its strongest. The first thing on the first panel (I’m counting the letter as the credits page/recap) is a big ol’ HELLO in fantastic zombie font courtesy of Lanham. It’s joyous and welcoming and not at all what you expect from a comic that goes on to look like, well, a dirty, dingy zombie apocalypse. The rest of the page keeps up with this kind of intro, like Simon’s the host of a reality TV show that’s showing off his neighborhood. He’s even holding a flower! Because the art never breaks with the dour nature of this kind of reality, our expectations are shattered and even when the comic indulges in said dourness, that reminder of its heart (and Simon has a big one) is still there.

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Despite this, the story does drag a little towards the middle. Why this had to be an oversized issue, I’m not certain? A lot of page space is used for splash pages, when a half-splash could have done, and the zombie fights take up more pages than we really needed. The page wide panels convey a good sense of space but the ends often feel underutilized and a waste of otherwise good page space that could’ve been used to pick up the narrative pace. As is, not a lot actually happens or comes of the developments and the child characters are fairly underdeveloped. To expect more out of a one-shot from a zombie ravaged world isn’t really feasible but I think the creative team may have focused on too many characters instead of delving deeper into just the one or two.

Still, the characterization of the various established characters felt right, with Spidey being the moral center and Black Widow being the ultimate pragmatist. It’s just a shame that it had to be set in this world, where the heroes aren’t too heroic and everything is stacked against them. It’s a bleak scenario but if Simon can find the positives in it, than so can anyone.

Final Score: 7.0 – “Marvel Zombie” #1 makes me continue to hope we’ll get more fun, obscure one-shots in the future. If you’re ok with the gross factor, pick this up and experience the laughter and the zombies.


Elias Rosner

Elias is a lover of stories who, when he isn't writing reviews for Mulitversity, is hiding in the stacks of his library. Co-host of Make Mine Multiversity, a Marvel podcast, after winning the no-prize from the former hosts, co-editor of The Webcomics Weekly, and writer of the Worthy column, he can be found on Twitter (for mostly comics stuff) here and has finally updated his profile photo again.

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