"Marvel Zombies" Writer - Robert Kirkman Artist - Sean Phillips

"Marvel Zombies"
Writer - Robert Kirkman
Artist - Sean Phillips
Hardcover collection published by Marvel (2006)
136 pages

About 9 years ago I stopped buying comic monthly.  Not any fault of the comic book publishers, but I just had other priorities and I moved to an area where there were no comic book stores (have you noticed it is nearly impossible to find a comic book in any store other than a comic book store, anymore?).   I kept my ear to the ground though so I could keep up with what was going on in my favorite heroes life and some of the other things going on. 

I had heard about the comic book "The Walking Dead" by Robert Kirkman and even read a couple of issues, and loved the story and artwork.  Then when the TV series was announced I immediately commandeered the couch every Sunday night to watch this awesome series.  After all it had zombies, and I LOVE zombies.  The series continues to be great, although this second season had a couple of episodes without seeing a single zombie, so they have me worried.

Anyway this got me intrigued about Robert Kirkman and I looked into what else he had done.  To my surprise he was asked by Ralph Macchio to write a series based on Marvel heroes being zombies, how cool is that?  Well let me tell you pretty darn cool, oh and gory and brutal.   This series was 5 issues long and was hugely popular among the comics crowd.  I of course purchased the hardcover collection which not only features the entire story run, but also includes artwork for all the covers, which are based on classic Marvel comics covers.

The story begins with the heroes in a different dimension having turned to zombies and seeking out flesh to eat for survival.  The problem is, no one is left on earth that has not turned.  Magneto is left behind to fix the situation and he (not a zombie) soon falls prey to the heroes.  With this being their only meal for awhile the heroes fight amongst themselves to get a slice of Magneto meat for sustenance.  The comic then takes a bit of a crossover turn and the Silver Surfer comes to earth as the Herald of Galactus.  With a world of zombies the Surfer decides the world is good for Galactus to devour.  The zombie heroes have other plans, after all eating Galactus would make a great meal. 

The great battle with Galactus and the zombie heroes and even a few zombie villains ensues and well let's just say it gets pretty gory.  Iron Man is only an upper torso, Colonel America (not Captain in this dimension) gets half his head sliced off, but still functions, and the Hulk eats so much that when he shrinks back down to Bruce Banner he bursts his abdomen. 

Fun book and a some good gore for you Marvel and Zombie fans.

Spiderman: The Amazing Spiderman (BBC Radio Collection) Story Adaptation by Dirk Maggs

Spiderman: The Amazing Spiderman (BBC Radio Collection)
Story Adaptation by Dirk Maggs
Multi-cast performance
Produced by BBC Audiobooks Ltd (2002)
Approx 2 hours


I have always been a Spider-Man fan, I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb reading the comics, so when I found this gem I had to give it a listen. In 1995, BBC Radio commissioned a Spider-Man audio book which aired on BBC Radio 1 over 50 episodes on week days between January 15, 1996 and March 24, 1996. The performance was co-produced by Brian May who also contributed to the musical arrangement and wrote and performed the theme tune. Yes, the same Brian May that plays lead guitar for Queen. BBC Audiobooks has taken this production and no made it available as a CD audiobook, I haven't looked yet for any download versions.

The run of the production includes a number of familiar characters from the Spider-Man comic books as well as key figures from the Marvel "Heroes" universe such as Fantastic Four, Namor the Submariner, and Doctor Doom. This is a re-telling of the origin of Spider-Man, not exactly as Stan Lee originally wrote it, but pretty darn close. In this version rather than Peter Parker going to a demonstration of Atomic energy (pretty dated sounding, right), he is conducting an experiment at the high school using low level radiation, but a spider gets in the mix and bites our hero. Very similar to the origin the story continues with Peter Parker calling Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, of the Fantastic 4 to ask for help, after all he thinks he's turning into a spider.

After finding out the Fantastic 4 are out of office he decides he needs to make some money and goes on the TV circuit performing feats of spider-like ability. After a criminal kills his Uncle Ben, Peter then takes up the crime-fighting mantle. The play then brings on such villains as; the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, the Sandman, Prince Namor (hero/villain) and Dr. Doom.

My only complaint is that not once in the performance does Peter Parker/Spider-Man's line that is his raison d'etre come out. You know the one, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Stan Lee has been known to say that when he first came up with the phrase for Spidey, it sounded cheesy, but, it is a great life-lesson. But the Brits decided to leave it out of the production. I won't fault them too much because this was fun to hear.

The role of Spider-Man was performed by William Dufries. Also included in the cast list was EastEnders star Anita Dobson. The entire cast and the production meld to make a great comic book to audio book adaptation.

"Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours" by Jim Butcher (Published 2006 by Pocket Star)

Yes this is a BOOK review and not a COMIC BOOK review. I have usually stayed away from novelizations of comic books. I'm not really sure why but I think it's probably because I'm a HUGE fan of comic books especially Spider-Man comics. How does that keep me away from the novels? Well, because mainly I believe strongly that the best part of the story-telling in comic books is the artwork along with the written lines of dialogue. Sure the occasional "Thwipp", "Snikt" and "Whack" make for good otomotopeiaic words and look cool when printed in the cool font on the page, but comic books actually have great dialogue and big words. As a side note I knew an English Professor that would "force" his students to read comic books because of the structure and word use.

That all being said, I've just never thought that reading a novel of a comic book hero would have that same oomph. Enter Jim Butcher. I've been reading (and reviewing) Jim Butcher's series of novels, "The Dresden Files," and his adventures of the Wizard Harry Dresden are great books. Harry Dresden is everyman, except he has powers, and instead of going off and getting rich, he chooses to help people with his powers. With great power comes great responsibility.....hmmm....I know that's Spider-Man's credo but that is also what Harry Dresden lives by. So, when I saw that Jim Butcher had authored a Spider-Man novel I thought that it was a sign that I must read it. I'm a Jim Butcher Fan, I'm a Spider-Man fan (btw, I was a Spider-Man fan loooooong before those movies came out) and Jim Butcher knows how to present a hero as a human with a normal life as well as kicking evil villain butt.

I was not let down with this book. The great writing style of Jim Butcher and the life of Peter Parker/Spider-Man turned out to be a very entertaining and exciting read.

In "The Darkest Hours" one of Spider-Man's worst enemies comes back to haunt him, except it's actually that enemy's family that seeks revenge. A few years ago J. Michael Straczynski, the man that brought the epic space opera "Babylon 5", wrote for a stretch of Spider-Man comics and created a villian named Morlun that fed on superhumans that had animal totems...you know like SPIDER-Man. Morlun was invincible and nearly killed Spider-Man, but of course Spider-Man came out the victor. Morlun was a what has been deemed an "Ancient." Now three more "Ancients" appear on the scene and seek revenge for Morlun's death.

Spider-Man is warned by Black-Cat, aka Felicia Hardy, which Spider-Man converted her from criminal to "good-guy" and had a love interest in. Black-Cat warns Spidey that the Rhino is rampaging in New York only to get Spidey's attention, so someone can trap the web-slinger. Those someones are the Ancients, and they want to drain Spidey's life force to keep themselves alive and extract revenge.

Spidey seeks out Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, but the good ole Doc can't help...at least not outright...because that would throw off the balance of good and evil. So without helping his major domo slips Spidey some rocks that may or may not help. He also offers the advice that Spidey needs to learn not to work alone.

In order for the Ancients not to harm his wife or millions of other innocents, Spider-Man agrees to meet them with one final battle. Spidey has a few tricks up his red and blue sleeve and with a major battle that can't be missed this book creates all the excitement of any comic book.

Give it a chance...you may find it pretty fun. If your first response is that's not my type of book, then you are the first person that should give this book a read. You'll thank me when you do.