Marvel Zombies

For those of you who don't read comics, Marvel Zombies is one of the most interesting things to happen in a while and Marvel is capitalizing on this surprise hit in every way they can, with all new toys, shirts, a new series and zombie covers. Why is this such a hit? Let me explain...

In UFF 20, at the very end, Reed receives a very strange message from someone he didn't know. He got a message from Reed Richards. For those reading, this was strange as it looked like 616 Reed, but nobody could see what would happen next. Reed listened to the message, where Reed asked for his help. Using a dimensional portal that he had built, Ultimate Reed opened a gateway between their universe and the Ultimate universe. He went through to their universe and the Zombie Fantastic Four went to the Ultimate universe. Ultimate Reed was shocked to see many different super heroes, some of which he recognized, and some of which he didn't, as all were based off of the 616 appearances. They tried to eat him, when Magneto came to protect him, along with some survivors that he had managed to save. The Zombie FF were eventually taken out by Sue, and they were trapped in a box strong enough to hold the Hulk. Ultimate Reed eventually got back to the Ultimate universe, with help from Magneto and all the survivors, minus Mags, got there. Mags had to stay behind to close the portal. This seemed to be the end of this very bizarre tale.

But, no! It proved popular enough that Marvel got Robert Kirkman, author of such comics as Invincible, Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate X-Men, Irredeemable Ant-Man and The Walking Dead. He continued the story, taking exactly where Ultimate Fantastic Four 23 left off. Mags tries to escape from the zombies, who are right there after he closes the portal. He fends them off for a while, including taking off part of Colonel America's head with his own shield, causing shrapnel to go into many people, taking off Spidey's leg and decapitating Hawkeye. Eventually though, the Wasp got to him, and then it was a feeding frenzy, with lots of zombies chowing down on Magneto. Giant Man broke away from the group to go to his laboratory, where he had Black Panther sedated and had eaten one of his arms and the bottom of one of his legs. Wasp discovered this and demanded to know the reason why he hadn't shared Panther with the rest of the zombies. He responded, letting her know that they would all just eat him too quickly and with them not eating him, he could work on experiments. They fought and Giant Man bit off Wasp's head, spitting it out. They went back and regrouped with Iron Man, who was leading the zombies. Then, the Silver Surfer flew down. He had looked all around the planet, and found that while there weren't many things living, the planet was good for Galactus. As he informed them that Galactus was coming, they attacked him. Iron Man lost his legs from the first assault and he fried many more zombies. After Thor used his makeshift hammer to knock him off his board, Wolverine tried to take him out and while Surfer's skin didn't break Logan's claws, his claws did rip through his skin, and since Wolverine couldn't heal as a zombie, he became one-armed. Surfer eventually was taken down when Hulk just bit his head off. Then, Colonel America, Iron Man, Giant Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine all fed on him. The other zombies complained about their eating him too quickly, but they responded by blasting him with the Power Cosmic, which they somehow gained after ingesting Surfer. Soon, only those 7 were left. At this time, Galactus showed up. He said to them that while his hunger was at its peak, he still ad to know where his herald was. Giant Man responded by letting them know that they ate him and were still hungry. Galactus responds by blasting them with blasts of power and even the 7 zombies with the power cosmic were not able to do much to Galactus. Galactus did take out Luke Cage's left arm and part of his torso. They fled and Galactus then ignored them and went to work, building his machine to turn the planet into cosmic energy so he could feed upon it. Sometime before this, Panther made good an escape and got away with Wasp's head, who was still alive. He met up with Fabian Cortez and the Acolytes, who were surprised to see a person still left alive. They took him and Wasp back to their base on Asteroid M, which was no longer supported by Magneto, but still somehow was kept in orbit. When the zombies got back to Pym's lab, Pym was surprised that Panther was gone, but didn't let them know he had kept Panther there. Iron Man, Giant Man and Hulk, who changed back into Banner then went to work on a machine that would harness the Power Cosmic and amplify it. Eventually, they brought it out and went to find Galactus being attacked by some super villains who had become zombies. Galactus was not paying much attention to them, mostly shooing them away, although he had been injured. The 7 cosmic-zombies then turned on their machine and blasted Galactus twice, which was enough to bring him down in his weakened state. During a brief battle, in which the 7-zombies destroyed some of their ex-villains, Colonel America was taken out by the Red Skull who merely pulled out Colonel's brain and he fell dead. Then, Galactus awoke, but in such a sorry state, the 7-zombies were able to devour the devourer, gaining his Power Cosmic and his armor, flying off planet to other worlds to devour them. Black Panther and the Acolytes eventually return to Earth, where they start to build a new world, while the Galactus zombies tried to destroy all the others.

Proving popular enough to gain multiple different covers for each issue, the series did phenomenally well. In UFF, they eventually had another storyline called Frightful, in which Dr. Doom brings a being from the N-Zone and attaches it to Johnny. Finding no way to save him on his own, Reed consults everybody, eventually deciding to go to Doom. Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building, the zombie-FF escape their cell thanks to guards who forget that one of them can turn the team invisible. The building's top floors are locked down and the zombie-FF are trapped inside. Zombie-Reed is fine with that though as he decides to rebuild the portal to transfer all the zombies into the Ultimate universe. Meanwhile, Reed and Doom switch bodies so that Doom can prove to Reed that he is superior. After removing the entity from Johnny, it stays in this universe as opposed to going back to the N-Zone. Doom panics, as the entity goes straight for the most powerful being in the vicinity, Doom's body inhabited by Reed. Reed asks to be let into the Baxter building and he handily defeated the zombie-FF and takes their bodies to the finished portal where he deposits them and goes through the portal, although not before Doom decides to play the hero and switch their minds back, leaving Doom in the zombie universe with zombies who have just eaten Galactus.

Thought that was the end? Oh no. There's more, although I'll continue going over Marvel Zombies next week.