Marvel Zombies 3

Marvel Zombies 3 is a four-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics beginning in October 2008. It is part of the Marvel Zombies series. The series is written by Fred Van Lente, penciled by Kev Walker, with covers by Greg Land.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Plot

Zombies invade Earth-616, the original Marvel Universe, by entering through the Nexus of Realities in Florida. Siege, Jennifer Kale, Wundarr and the Conquistador, local members of the Fifty-State Initiative, investigate but are attacked by zombie Deadpool^[6] and a few zombified civilians. The zombies kill the Conquistador, and infect Siege and Wundarr. A horrified Kale destroys Deadpool's body with an airboat. Siege's robotics detect the biological corruption and he self-terminates. Wundarr goes into hibernation to purge himself. A traumatized Jennifer Kale awaits in an observation room back at headquarters.

Back at A.R.M.O.R., Machine Man and Jocasta travel to the Marvel Zombie universe to find DNA with Little Sky so they can find an uninfected human for Morbius, now an A.R.M.O.R. scientist, to make a vaccine against the zombie plague so the 616 heroes can be inoculated against the virus. While the heroes are gone, it is revealed that Morbius is the zombie version, who has kidnapped the real one.

The two heroes find that "human" readings are really coming from clones generated by the zombie Kingpin, via his resources and created by the zombie Jackal, now used as the zombies' sole food source under Kingpin's control. As they watch, the zombified Inhumans arrive and are welcomed by Kingpin.

Machine Man and Jocasta stumble upon Vanessa Fisk, who is uninfected. She tells them that the Kingpin is keeping her safe. She allows Jocasta to get a blood sample, but declines an offer to escape to Earth-616, preferring to stay behind with her husband. Looking at the dead and dying bodies in the pit, Machine Man is overcome with pity, realizing that the zombies are treating the clones the way humans treat robots. He leaves Jocasta, goes into battle mode and destroys the clones out of mercy and gets attacked by the zombies.

Zombie Doctor Strange appears, who only has the power to create manna (inedible to the zombies) and to see other dimensions. He reveals A.R.M.O.R.'s operations on Earth-616. Machine Man sees that the impostor Morbius used Deadpool to create a distraction so that he could set his plans in motion.

On the real Marvel Universe, a female team member finds the real Morbius captive. The infected version attacks and turns her, causing a zombie outbreak that quickly overtakes the entire facility. Little Sky returns Jocasta to A.R.M.O.R. without Machine Man, who didn't meet them on time, and Jocasta requests that Machine Man be given posthumous honors. Jocasta discovers Morbius is a zombie, and one zombie uses the A.R.M.O.R. teleporters to escape this reality.

In the zombie universe, Machine Man defeats the zombies, leaving only zombie Lockjaw, who Machine Man uses to teleport back to A.R.M.O.R., then he kills the zombies. The real Morbius escapes and kills zombie Morbius.

Jocasta and Machine Man return to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Morbius volunteers to follow the zombie that teleported away, along with a new team of Midnight Sons.

Sequel

The end of the final issue sets-up the next part of the Marvel Zombies saga Marvel Zombies 4: Midnight Sons.^[7]

Covers

Unlike the prior Marvel Zombies series covers, which were zombie variations of past Marvel comics covers, Marvel Zombies 3 covers are variants of well known movie posters. Art by Greg Land.

• Issue #1 is a reference to the Army of Darkness movie poster.
• Issue #2 is a reference to the 28 Days Later movie poster.
• Issue #3 is a reference to The Evil Dead movie poster.
• Issue #4 is a reference to the US Shaun of the Dead movie poster.

The variant cover for issue #1 is an Arthur Suydam Zombie version of Machine Man #1, originally by Jack Kirby.

The second printing of #1 features a variant cover by Kev Walker, using story art from the issue.

Reception

Paukolo reviewed the first issue for Comics Bulletin and was happy with the story although he knocked off half a point for the ending. The writing is "briskly paced, humorous, and loaded with references that makes me think we read the same comics growing up" according to McCoy, who said it measures up well against its predecessors, suggesting that it is "rough-hewn and hearkens back to Philips' work on the previous series, but lacks the detailed gore of those stories".^[8] Timothy Callahan at Comic Book Resources agrees, stating that Van Lente's writing "balances the sick humor with an engaging plot, providing a few twists and turns in just a single issue" and Walker's contribution is "streamlined an effective, with a kind of blocky Steve Dillon vibe."^[9]

Collected editions

The series has been collected into an individual volume:

• Marvel Zombies 3 (104 pages, hardcover, May 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3635-5, softcover, December 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3526-X)

See also

• Marvel Zombies
• Marvel Zombies 2
• Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness
• Marvel Apes

References

External links

• 'Marvel Zombies 3' at the Grand Comics Database
• 'Marvel Zombies 3' at the Comic Book DB
• Official website