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Marvel Zombies is now 20 years old, and to celebrate the milestone, Marvel Comics will publish a new R-rated Marvel Zombies: Red Band comic. Written by Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan with art by Jan Bazaldua, the new Marvel Zombies comic promises to be a blood-and-guts "love letter" to the Marvel Universe.
Newsarama spoke with Parker and Sheridan ahead of the September release of Marvel Zombies: Red Band #1, digging into the ways that the new comic will continue the classic Marvel Zombies tradition while also breaking new ground thanks to the R-rated nature of the new comic.
"The undead history of the Marvel Universe continues on as Thanos takes on the quest for the Infinity Stones!" reads the official solicitation text for Marvel Zombies #3. "The Mad Titan of our universe once killed half of all life. What will he do in a universe where the dead don’t die?!"
Read on for the pages, and for everything you need to know about the new Marvel Zombies comic.
Newsarama: Marvel Zombies has been around for 20 years now, with its own comic legacy. How does Marvel Zombies: Red Band lean into the mythos that has been established while also breaking new ground?
Ethan S. Parker: That was part of the pressure of taking this book on, was the incredible lineup of talent that has been involved in the past. To walk anywhere that Robert Kirkman has walked before is terrifying. While still trying to capture the balance of fun and nastiness of those previous takes, it helped differentiate the book that we established that this is a whole alternate Marvel Universe that was knocked off-course just as all the super heroes were still in the middle of their origin stories. That sort of means there are no rules, so we can really forge our own path.
Griffin Sheridan: Amidst all the expected blood-and-guts, we are also focused on making sure there is a really solid emotional throughline to the struggles of the surviving heroes, which has certainly been an element of past Marvel Zombies stories, but we feel it certainly takes more precedent in this one.
Speaking of the Red Band branding, what does that let you do with this story that you otherwise couldn't? How far are you pushing those boundaries?
Parker: We've been truly let off the leash. It's absolutely surreal to write into a script that the Hulk smashes someone into a bloody pulp and eats their eyeballs, and then Marvel actually publishes it! They want us to make this as big and crazy and loud as we possibly can, so we've crammed in every nasty idea we had. Plus, there are curse words! This ain't your daddy's Marvel U.
Sheridan: It's truly wild. Ethan and I hail from the horror space, so we feel right at home on this truly grotesque title, especially with the freedom allotted to us by the Red Band banner. Really, it's a curse that Marvel editorial has placed on us, to have to conjure up all these nightmare scenarios, in which some of our most beloved heroes get ripped apart limb by limb. It's upsetting, but fun, which is also the feeling we want you to have while reading the book, so I guess it's all working out!
What do you think makes the combination of Marvel heroes and zombies work so well?
Parker: For so many of us, these characters are the epitome of comfort food. They're bright and colorful and hopeful, and they represent doing your best to reach a brighter tomorrow. So mashing those characters together with a concept as grim as a zombie apocalypse works like peanut butter and jelly. You get the color, adventure, and fun, but you also get a harrowing survival story. Best of both worlds.
Sheridan: There is something very existential about it. Our morbid fascination with death even has to be pasted onto this (relatively) innocent realm of fantasy. What is it like for a place so magical to become so infested with decay and destruction? There was an inherent curiosity to the scenario in our minds already, then Kirkman, Phillips, and company turned it into this even more twisted and hilariously evil thing that we just can't look away from now.
You're working with Jan Bazaldua on Marvel Zombies. What makes her the perfect collaborator for this story?
Parker: What an absolute dream. We have been huge fans of Jan's since her work with Brian Michael Bendis on the Miles Morales: Spider-Man run, where she captured so many thrilling moments alongside so many intensely personal and emotional scenes. She can do it all, and as it turns out, that includes rendering some truly stomach-churning gore sequences. What an honor.
Sheridan: Marvel Zombies is a very singular type of story that requires a very singular type of art to accompany it, to capture the unique blending of adventure and gore. Jan delivers on that stuff in spades, while also totally bringing it on all the character work Ethan and I are sprinkling throughout.
What can readers expect from Marvel Zombies?
Parker: You can expect a violent, crazy zombie romp, obviously, but you can also expect a Marvel Universe story written by two guys who have such a deep love in our hearts for every character we feature in those pages. This is our first chance to write Spider-Man, our first chance to write so many of these characters, so while yes, we are blowing everything up, we're also trying to honor this world that we love more than anything. We hope you'll join us.
Sheridan: It's funny to say this is a love letter to the Marvel U while also having the Marvel U eat itself, but that is the case! We want to deliver a compelling character piece, as we always hope to do, but drenched in viscera, seeping with blood, and packed with the off-kilter voices of the Marvel Zombies that fans have come to love.
Marvel Zombies #1 goes on sale September 17. In the meantime, read the best horror comics of all time.
