Comic Info
Comic Name: Marvel Zombies 3
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Kev Walker
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2009
Marvel Zombies 3 #2
Reprints Marvel Zombies 3 #1-4 (December 2008-March 2009). Zombies have invaded Earth-616 through the Nexus of Reality, and the entire Marvel Universe is at risk of infection. With H.A.M.M.E.R. on the situation, Portal is sending a team of Jocasta and Machine Man into the zombie universe with a dangerous mission to create a cure. Jocasta and Machine Man discover just because they aren’t human doesn’t make the zombie universe any less dangerous, and a secret danger could still be lurking on Earth-616.
Written by Fred Van Lente, Marvel Zombies 3 is a horror comedy comic book series. Following Marvel Zombies 2, the series features art by Kev Walker, and the issues were also included in Marvel Zombies: The Complete Collection—Volume 2.
Marvel Zombies was a series that I should like by definition. I like Marvel characters, and I like horror movies…unfortunately, even by 2006, I was kind of over the zombie boom and didn’t have much interest in the series. Reading this volume around ten years after its release, I enjoyed it for certain aspects, but it still doesn’t make me a big fan.
Marvel Zombies 3 #3
The series plays a lot with the “funny” zombie aspect. A lot of the art pulls from films like Evil Dead and Army of Darkness (which the zombies previously crossed over with), and it is that tone for which it is aiming. Part of what I liked about Evil Dead was the tone was combined with completely bonkers visuals and the crazy acting of Bruce Campbell. This is hard to capture in a story (even if the story is visual), and instead the story has to rely on the storytelling and presentation to get laughs…which it sometimes does (like Fisk’s stress eating), but it often is so-so humor.
The story does make the jump to the Marvel-616 Earth which is the common Earth of most Marvel stories. This does add a bit of weight to the story since the zombies have already eaten through all of the heroes of their world. I like that characters like Machine Man and Jocasta are the logical choices to combat the infection and both characters were always favorites of mine. As a result, the series gets a bit of leniency there.
Marvel Zombies 3 feels like more of the same. It is another zombie outbreak followed by the potential of more zombies being spread. The feels like the basic MO of the franchise, and it doesn’t feel like it is building toward anything significant. With the zombies’ popularity, Marvel Zombies can’t necessarily have “an ending”, but it would be nice if a finite plan was in the works for these characters. Marvel Zombies 3 is followed by Marvel Zombies 4: Midnight Sons.
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