Robert Kirkman. The name is synonymous with zombies thanks to his wildly successful series, The Walking Dead. Kirkman has a wonderful way of telling a story. Walking Dead isn’t merely a zombie horror story, it’s also a story about friends drawing together and surviving under extreme pressure. A story about the mundane experiences we go through each day contrasted against an entire world that has been mysteriously turned in to zombies.

Kirkman is very successful and Walking Dead is currently my favorite comic book. And that is why I am both excited and frightened by the upcoming title to be released by Marvel Comics and written by Robert Kirkman entitled Marvel Zombies. This is to be a 5 part series featuring the entire Marvel super hero universe transformed in to the flesh munching living-dead.

The images for this series look nice, however I’m concerned that the concept may be a little over the top. Super Heroes are a bit on the overly dramatic unrealistic side as it is, but turn them in to zombies and you’re playing with fire. The possible cheesiness could be enough to ruin the series. Consider what the official press Marvel release has to say:

When the super-powered zombies run out of humans to eat , their search for sustenance will become desperate. And when the Silver Surfer of that universe arrives on Earth, will even the Power Cosmic be enough to stave off a horde of insane, undead super-heroes?

On the other hand Kirkman is one of the greatest comic book writers of our time. Walking Dead is astounding, and Invincible is excellent as well. I see this as being a real challenge for him. He will be attempting to live up to a great reputation and fan expectations from two different worlds, that of the grim hopeless world of Walking Dead and the bright super-charged Marvel universe. I’m very interested in seeing if he will pull it off or go down in embarrassing flames of ridicule. We’ll find out in a few weeks because Marvel Zombies #1 is set to be released on December 7th, 2005.