More than just an average sequel.
Originally written 11-28-10
The zombie virus has spread to many different realities in the multi-verse, and the other worlds have been quarantined by A.R.M.O.R. (Altered-Reality Monitoring and Operational Response), which is an agency that monitors alternate reality incursions into Earth-616 (which happens to be the main Marvel continuity). The living vampire Micheal Morbius believes that a cure can be created to stop the virus for good. He orders Machine-Man and Howard the Duck to travel into different realities with their mission to bring back blood samples from each of the worlds. -summary
After picking up the story on Marvel Zombies 3, Fred Van Lente returns with the 6th sequeI and eighth book in the series which takes place over 120 pages, and it appears that he decided to choose a different approach to end this particular volume. He felt it necessary to address the naysayers about his take on the series, with all the subtlety of a baseball bat to the face. It's clear on whom he's venting towards, more on that later.
The story is five chapters and it follows a consistent plot all the way until the fourth chapter. The series introduces a character named Jacali Kane, who inherits the abilities of super speed and superior marksmanship from her father whom is mauled by a zombie horde. She soon partners up with Machine-Man and Howard, and the trio ventures into 4 more different dimensions taking place in the distant past, future, and modern day world. The beginning of the book is standard zombie mayhem fare. In the beginning, I really didn't care for this story, because it felt a little repetitive and I just found the narrative to be boring.
There is a lot of bloody action with the zombies, and the main characters are dealing out some of it. Lente even goes a little too far, by adding zombified babies into the mix; I'm sure this will rub some folks the wrong way. Despite the gory action, the first three stories never truly gripped me, and this may have something to do with the characters. I never liked Howard the Duck, and this book really didn't help me in changing my mind towards him either. Kane was decent I guess but she never really did anything for me, and I just never grew a liking to her. Machine-Man was the only one I could pretty much deal with, simply because he's always developing in some way and you just get to know him better.
The artwork which was done by many has its good points but it can be very bad also. Chapter four begins with a spark, and it soon degrades into something awful with vapid character designs and bad backgrounds. The gore can be really good at times with zombies chewing on arms and legs, and later taking buzz saws to the head. Some of the gore can be pretty twisted yet creative as well. Overall, the action fan will pretty much be pleased.
Although it may appear to some that I'm not too thrilled about this volume; but it was the final two chapters that opened up my eyes. Now, to really understand the last two stories one would have to know why the stories were written in the first place. The fourth story takes place in a futuristic sci-fi setting and people are replacing their parts with cybernetics. The public appears to be obsessed with some type of tv show that can be illegally downloaded into their brains; a man invades the company's database and steals the seventh season of the show, and posts the share-file on the open network for everyone to see. He unknowingly spreads the virus and turns everyone into zombies.
I think Lente's referencing the current state of the public today, by referring to the masses as being brain-dead zombies, whom would sit through the exact same tired old stories for an untold amount of time, and continue to "oooohh" and "wow" at the most tantalizing plot twist, but the series will never change or reach a conclusion. I think this has something to do with some of the backlash Marvel Zombies 3 received. The volume was hit with mixed results by many fans for being different from the rest of the pack, and folks were crying for the more mainstream characters in the same setting. They really didn't want to see any change or different stories, and I think his point is that the fans would have loved to see the story drag on and on this way, as long as it featured the popular characters. He has a good argument running here, and some folks may feel that he stumbled, but I don't think so.
The fifth chapter reinforces my take on this, because the final story takes place in the real world. The character is a die-hard comic book fan by the name of Wendall, whom continues to follow stories for completion sake even though he doesn't like them. He even goes so far to bash this very same book without even opening it by saying, "PFFF, Kirkman and Phillips was better." I won't dare spoil what exactly happens next.
I was among the group whom enjoyed his take on the series, and even went far enough to say Marvel Zombies 3 was a lot better than 2, and I still stand by that despite the latter featuring mainstream characters whom are well known and loved. So I see where he's coming from and understand why he's throwing up the proverbial middle finger towards the opposition.
When I finished the volume, I no longer thought of it as a mere cash in on the franchise. This fifth volume was good to me and I thought the commentary was sweet; but Lente has to learn that not everyone is going to appreciate his work and it doesn't really matter what their reasons are. People have the right to like and dislike whatever they want, and that's just all there is to it.
Pros: Last two chapters, good gore, some good artwork...
Cons:...some bad artwork too, first half really isn't too great