I was very much looking forward to this first issue. I'm a huge fan of Zombies and soaked up all the gory goodness when they first came around, and then a second time as well.
This marks the 3rd Zombiefest in the Marvel universe, but something is different this time around; this time they've stumbled into the 616 universe.
The portal happens to be at the "Nexus of all realities", which is in Man-thing's Florida swamp. Zombie-Deadpool made it across and called for Superheroes to come help him. "The Command", Florida State's Initiative team responds to the call.
So that's the basic setup. You should note that the events in this mini-series happen somewhere in between Marvel Zombies 1 and Marvel Zombies 2. So the cosmic powered Zombies of the first mini-series have not returned to Zombie-earth yet (and therefore will not be involved in this story).
So, onto the review. I thought it was fantastic. Part of the reason I was excited for this 3rd series is that a new creative team was tackling it. Previously, Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips worked on the Zombieverse, but this time around, Fred Van Lente and Kev Walker assume the creative duties.
Right off the bat with issue one, I already prefer Van Lente's writing. It's a little less "slapstick", a little more "horror" and dare I say that this story feels alot more "intelligent".
I guess one would have to be alot more careful when treading in regular Marvel continuity and you can feel that this mini-series seems more well thought out than it's predecessors. Yes, I could tell that just from the first issue, lol.
It was nice to see the character of Siege again, who is the leader of "The Command". I'm a big Deathlok fan, so it was a treat for me, although things didn't end so well for him a few pages in.
The art was really well handled by Walker. The gore leaps off the page at ya, it's a bloody good time.
Not much more to say here, if you're a fan of Zombies and a fan of Marvel, I suggest you pick this up. I think this third installment will top the previous too.