Zombies in the MC2

Well, it's near the end of October and I haven't had done a single Halloween-themed post! I've been busy with work and family matters, but I'm going to try to rectify that now by talking about the shambling undead we all know and love: Zombies in the MC2!

Okay, so technically these lumbering monstrosities aren’t actually the living dead. Created by Asgardian sorceress and daughter of Loki, Sylene in Avengers Next #1 by combining her magic with stolen blood and tissue samples from past and present Avengers, these ‘magical clones’ are sent against the current Avengers team as a diversion.

If you are curious, the horde of decaying bizarro-Avengers is comprised of zombiefied versions of the following heroes: American Dream (Shannon Carter), Black Panter (T’Challa), Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), Blue Streak (Blue Kelso), Luke Cage, Falcon (Sam Wilson), Freebooter (Brandon Cross), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Hercules, Hulk (Bruce Banner), J2 (Zane Yama), Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Stinger (Cassandra Lang), Thunderstrike (Kevin Masterson), Vision, Wonder Man (Simon Williams) and Yellowjacket (Hank Pym).

While Sylene had intended for her constructs to be self-sustaining, she found they were constantly draining her ethereal energy and required her constant supervision to maintain and control. When her focus was broken by the interference of Spider-Girl, the putrid doppelgangers turned to dust almost instantly forcing Sylene to retreat, but not before her subordinates succeeded in stealing a component of Ultron and kidnapped the real Kevin Masterson.

The next three examples of Zombies in the MC2 are actually all from variant covers rather than in-story appearances. In case you missed it, the Marvel Zombies craze led to many comics titles receiving variant zombie covers and Spider-Girl was no exception. Amazing Spider-Girl #13 featured the art of Marvel Zombies cover artist Arthur Suydam for what is both a striking and disturbing rendition of Spider-Girl. Is the costume accurate? No, but I can give it a pass because it does seem to vaguely reference the cover of the character’s first appearance in What If #105.

The following year saw a new wave of zombie variant covers and once again, Spider-Girl was zombiefied on the cover of her title. This time, Amazing Spider-Girl #25 saw long-time Spider-Girl artist Pat Olliffe return teaming with inker Serge LaPointe for this alternate cover. Featuring an undead May ‘Mayday’ Parker on her bed in costume chowing down on her stuffed animals. I love this cover for its pitch-perfect concept and tone. Better still, Pat dubbed this version of Mayday with the moniker ‘Spider-Ghoul’ over on his blog.

*UPDATE* I missed this one when first publishing the post. Thanks to reader arias-98105 for bringing it to my attention.

Another year and another variant cover. This time for Web of Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #1 featured a zombie variant cover by artist Mirco Pierfederici depicting 'Spider-Ghoul' in gruesome battle with her zombiefied father, Spider-Man. The costume isn't 100% accurate again but it's still a pleasant surprise to discover something I previously had no knowledge of before today. I like find new old things, even foul-smelling undead!

That’s about it, everyone! Hope you all have a great time this Halloween and remember: Don’t eat too many brains! Until my real jobs stop turning me into a living zombie, I remain



frogoat