Zombies seem to be one of those "in" things right now. I don't really follow horror movies nowadays, but it seems like they've been shuffling through a few of those lately (would the constant murderous rages of 28 Days Later, and now 28 Weeks Later, count?)
More significantly - to me, anyway - is the phenomenon within the pages of Marvel comics recently. I think it started a couple years ago, with a storyline in Ultimate Fantastic Four. The plot had the Ultimate universe's Reed Richards using his genius to contact another Reed Richards, in a parallel universe. We readers were lead to believe this was going to result in the first crossover between Marvel's regular universe (sometimes referred to as the 616 universe) and their Ultimate line. Instead, shockingly, we discovered Ultimate Reed was actually about to visit a third parallel universe, in which a zombie-fying virus had been unleashed. As the most powerful host bodies, the Marvel heroes and villains were now at the top of the gruesome food chain, employing their powers to find fresh flesh to eat. At the point where Ultimate Mr Fantastic unwittingly contacts his counterpart and prepares to visit him, the dead-heads have just about eaten their way through their Earth's human population, and so the prospect of finding a brand new version to feast on is just about too yummy for words!
This storyline was wildly popular among the fans, and it wasn't long before the decades-old label "Marvel zombies" - used previously to describe fans of the company who'd gleefully accept and defend any old crap that showed up under the Marvel brand - was applied to this new world and its zombie-fied cast. The flesh-eating variety have since had their own mini-series - entitled Marvel Zombies, of course - and are starring in another mini-series right now, which is a crossover with Ash Williams, from Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness film. I flipped through the first issue when it came out last month, and laughed out loud at a couple scenes, so I decided to buy it. It's a funny variation on the usual Marvel fare, because the usual heroes - Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Punisher - are still recognizable in terms of personalities and powers, but also oh-so comical in their pursuit of flesh to feast on! I can't tell yet if these are, in fact, the same Marvel Zombies that I saw in Ultimate Fantastic Four, or just the same idea but in a different setting. I suppose it doesn't really matter.
Anyway, are others seeing zombies showing up a lot these days, or is it just me?
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1 comment:
there were lots in grindhouse
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