Marvel Zombies

Marvel Zombies–flesh eating zombie superheroes–such a simple but fun idea. My first impression on hearing the news was a little eye rolling; zombie superheroes…? C’mon, how good could it be? But man, that first issue of Marvel Zombies made me a believer. If you dismissed the idea and never gave it a chance, I recommend tracking down that first mini series and giving it a read. Evil, entertaining stuff.

When the Marvel Zombie HeroClix figures were announced I was pumped; dismembering my gaming group and eating them alive? I’m in! But not for $100 a figure. Turns out the original Zombie figs were limited edition chase figures. I like ‘Clix and all, but a hundred dollars a pop? Yeah, no thanks. I went poking around my tupperware full of HeroClix extras to see if I couldn’t play re-animator with some plastic scraps…

• Zombie Colonel America •

Ingredients: Base body is Ultimate Captain America (Ultimates), his noggin came from a Zombie Centaur (Mage Knight) and his right hand was donated by Dove (Crisis). Rotting bite marks made by “chewing off” small chunks of the figure with a pair of pliers, then using small shreds of tissue–held in place with a pinprick of Elmer’s–to give the wound a ragged fleshy appearance…

When I was happy with how the TP looked a drop of Krazy Glue was added to harden the materials. Be sure to quickly blot the excess glue and that no piece of tissue is sticking out too far on its own…it’s fragile stuff and will snap of easily. His brain was made with the same trick: I just lopped off the top of his melon, hollowed out the top a bit with modeling tools and then shaped him an itty-bitty TP brain…

Costume trimmings like boot flaps are made with index card paper hardened with Krazy Glue, then the whole mess was hit with acrylic paint and some matte sealer to keep ‘im safe. Custom Colonel America dial here.

• Zombie Wolverine •

Ingredients: Base body is a Wolverine (Infinity Challenge) and…man, not much work went into making this guy look like a monster…

The Infinity Challenge Wolverine figure is an ugly f*cking sculpt. Vampire teeth, disheveled looking design, this boy’s a mess out of the box…

All I did was lop off an arm and attach a random bit of plastic to look like one of his adamantium bones was poking through. Assorted bite marks were accomplished with the same trick outlined in the Colonel America wrtite-up above. Custom Zombie Wolverine dial here.

• Zombie Hulk •

Ingredients: Base body is a Hulk (Infinity Challenge) with random open wounds created as detailed in the Colonel America write-up above…

The exposed knuckles on his left hand and the pinky on his right are scrap pieces of plastic…

I’m sure all the Marvel Zombies could use some deodorant, but the Hulk looks like he’d smell especially terrible. Anyway, custom Zombie Hulk dial here.

• Zombie Iron Man •

Ingredients: Not a lot of modding here. I took a Zombie Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters), dirtied up his armor with an acrylic wash and then lopped off the fiery exhaust coming out of his torso…

I’ve never liked the way that looked, that Shellhead had a jet engine coming out of his undercarriage. Instead, I gave him an exposed pelvis and hip bones courtesy a Skeleton figure (Mage Knight). Let’s take a closer look at his boney parts…

Delightful. So how does he fly around without legs? MAGIC! Zombie Magic! It’s the best kind. Or he uses his repulsors as propulsion. Whichever. Custom Zombie Iron Man dial here.

• Marvel Zombie Stuff from around the web •

Remember those old 1960’s Marvel Superhero cartoons? Yeah, someone went in and injected them with zombie terribleness. They’re awesome. Check ’em out: Captain America, Thor and Fantastic Four.

More flesh-eating madness: the fan-made Marvel Zombies movie.

And finally, a Marvel Zombies chronology & cover gallery.