Marvel Zombies Return [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Since I first picked up the first trade of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, my already strong love of zombies only grew stronger. Kirkman weaves a tale of sorrow with a touch of hope, safety with an ever present dread, and pesonal drama that sticks with each and every character in the book. Surprisingly, he was able to translate this style of writing faithfully over to Marvel Comics when he worked on the now legendary Marvel Zombies and Marvel Zombies 2. With a publisher like Marvel that often sees quality on extreme opposite ends of the spectrum as opposed to varying levels of good or bad with their titles, Kirkman managed to begin a compelling story that was rife with humor, heavy on gore, and interesting enough to keep you glued page after page. Sadly, with Kirkman no longer in the picture for Marvel Zombies, the seemingly final chapter of this saga comes to a sour and unremarkable close.

Picking up after Marvel Zombies 2, Marvel Zombies: The Return doesn't really continue the story of the "Alpha Zombies" so much as it hastily draws the Marvel Zombies series to a conclusion. It almost seems like Marvel has grown tired of the Marvel Zombies phenom and decided "Let's just end it quick". Virtually none of the loose ends left by MZ2 are addressed, as the story follows only Spider-man and his quest to atone for the horrific past actions of himself and his zombie cohorts. Transported to an alternate universe designated as "Earth-Z", Spider-man and the rest of the surviving Alpha Zombies are scattered throughout the cosmos. From this point onward, the individual chapters of the story switches focus onto other characters, namely Giant Man, and Earth Z's Iron Man and Wolverine. Following an almost identical formula to MZ1, we conclude in post-apocalyptic Earth with only a handful of Super Zombies remaining, led by Sentry and including the likes of Namor and Super Skrull. The "return" and subsequent battle between the original and Earth Z zombies is brief and resolved quickly.

Essentially, MZR just boils down to a quick resolution of the events from MZ2, with little actual emphasis on said events. There is only brief mention of Black Panther, Wasp, Colonel America and Luke Cage. They have little if any bearing on the story as a whole, thus their involvement is inconsequential despite having a considerable impact on MZ2. The saga ends with a time paradox and endless loop typical of Marvel. Whether or not Marvel intends to return to the original Marvel Zombies storyline at any point in the future is questionable, as they clearly indicate with MZR that they are quite done and have no real interest in continuing it. This is pretty disappointing, considering how well (if haphazardly) MZ3 and MZ4 introduced the zombie virus into the mainstream Marvel Universe while managing to resolve its presence.

In conclusion, the gore and humor of the series is still here. If you find that you're more attracted to those aspects of Marvel Zombies and don't really care how the story ends, then you'll be happy with this. In my opinion, Kirkman's original story is actually dishonored with this lazy and haphazard entry into the Marvel Zombies continuum. After waiting quite a long time for the continuation of the events of the original Marvel Zombies, I couldn't possibly have been more disappointed with this entry. Marvel sure does seem to have a way of making the final moments of their biggest series agonizing...

When I first heard about Marvel Zombies I thought it was going to be retarded. After reading the first three volumes (MZ: Army of Darkness, Marvel Zombies, Marvel Zombies 2...AND YES you need to read them in that order. MZ: AOD actually came out after MZ: 1), I was absolutely enthrawled in this new cast of characters, and how the humans were trying to survive. I loved it. I loved it a ton! In fact I don't have the single issues but each of them in a nice hardcover edition. Yes, that's how much I enjoyed those stories.

BUT, Marvel Zombies 3 took a complete turn and followed a new set of Zombie hunters and I lost interest. Hell, I even picked up Marvel Zombies 4 hoping it was better, but it wasn't. It was worse.

FINALLY, I hear that the original Zombies were coming back and I thought, "Yes, the Zombies I care about", but I was wrong. The cliff hanger at the end of MZ: 2 was mentioned on two pages in issue #5...TWO PAGES! Without ruining it for people that want to get this bookend, you don't really get the Return of the Zombies from the original story. It ticked me off! The ending wasn't great either, especially explaining the origin of the Zombie plague.

Anyway, I wasn't happy and I sure as hell wasn't happy I paid $25 for this.

If you are coming into the Marvel Zombie universe do yourself a favor. Only buy MZ: Army of Darkness, Marvel Zombies, Marvel Zombies 2. If you really feel you need to have a conclusion to the whole thing, THEN and only THEN buy Zombies Returns.

Since Amazon can't give me the rating I really want to give it, I'll do it right here. **1/2 out of *****.

Where would they end up next? another good hardcover to pick up for the marvel zombie fans. An interesting note World War Hulk lost his intelligence once he became infected, bad marvel! I didn't know Being infected with a interdimensional Zombie virus decimated your intellect! I have to note that for the eminent Zombie Apocalypse.