It’s a return to a world, with an appropriate writer at the helm.

In December, Marvel returns to the world that debuted in the currently-running “Crossover” arc of Ultimate Fantastic Four - the universe discovered by Reed Richards where the earth had been overridden by an alien virus which turned its victims into zombies.

While the conclusion of the story (which sees members of the zombie FF tripping over to the Ultimate Universe) is yet to play out in Ultimate Fantastic Four, December’s Marvel Zombies by Robert Kirkman and Sean Phillips stakes a claim on the world filled with the undead of the Marvel Universe.

“They had decided to do a spin-off to the Ultimate FF storyarc ‘crossover’ that Millar and Land just wrapped up and they came to me to see if I wanted to write it,” Kirkman said. “I know everyone out there is thinking, ‘Sheesh, Robert—enough with the zombies.’ But I really like zombies. I always have. This is a cool project for me, and on top of that I get to work with Sean Philips. I mean, who can pass that up? And there are covers by Arthur Suydam. Aside from me, it's really a winning package.”

Kirkman also added that he’s not worried about being seen as “that zombie writer guy” and little else. “I don't think I'm yet in a position to be complaining about getting offered any work,” he said. “As long as they're still calling, I can't see complaining about what they're offering. If it's not my cup of tea, I'll just respectfully decline. I also don't think I'm in any danger of getting labeled ‘The Zombie Guy’ any time soon. Zombie stuff accounts for about 20% of my work right now. I'm in much more danger of being labeled ‘the superhero guy’ and who could really complain about that? The zombie stuff keeps my work diverse, I think.”

And clarifying again, this is the undead Marvel Universe as accidentally discovered by the Ultimate Universe’s Reed Richards, not some other alternate Marvel Universe. “We're not pulling any fasts ones here - that's Millar's style, not mine,” Kirkman joked. How funny would it be if this was really the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe crossing over? Man... people would just flip out, wouldn't they? Hmmmm.

“Seriously, it spins off from Ultimate Fantastic Four, but it doesn't exactly tie-in. It continues where that story left off--right after it actually, but you don't have to have read Ultimate FF to enjoy this series. You do however have to read this story if you've ever read Ultimate FF. It's also very important to the over all story contained in New Avengers and Infinite Crisis. If you're reading either of those books, you'll have to read this one or you'll be total lost as to what's going on in those book. I'm sorry to do that to you folks, but that's just how it is. It's also a good idea to order two copies, just in case one gets damaged. As far as this being a survivor's story or an exploration of the decimated world... it's both. We explore a great many characters in this story. It's a hoot and a half.”

Keeping with the same world as shown in Ultimate Fantastic Four, the instigating effect remains the same in Kirkman’s story, that is, a Sentry from an alternate universe was infected, crossed over to the one encountered by Richards, and in turn, infected it within 24 hours.

“When we pick up with things in our story the world is already all Marvel Zombies and we just continue things from there,” Kirkman said. “I'm never one to focus on zombie origins.”

“That said, I think one thing to keep in mind is that these aren't Romero-style slow, stupid zombies. These are the Marvel heroes - and villains - infected with some kind of virus. They're the same characters we love and love to hate but they hunger for the flesh of humans... and that drives them to do evil things. They're all very conflicted, which I think will make for an interesting little story.”

As Kirkman hinted, the storyline of the five-issue miniseries will have shifting viewpoints, following survivors, victims, and anyone in between. “There are many characters focused on in this series. It's going to be a lot of fun. I don't think people have any idea where this is going.”

And while Magneto and a handful of survivors are shown to have survived in the pages of Ultimate Fantastic Four, Kirkman is mum in regards to others who may have been unaffected by the space virus – although, the writer reluctantly concedes that, as stated in the solicitation for issue #1, the Silver Surfer does play a role.

“I don't want to give away too much... but the Surfer does play and integral role in our little tale. Just keep in mind, this isn't the Marvel Universe, things are a little different. Just how different will be revealed as the series plays out.”

Speaking to the other half of the project, Kirkman has nothing but praise for his collaborator, Sean Phillips, someone who’s known for pulling off dark and moody with flair, as seen in projects such as Sleeper. “Sean was the perfect choice for this book,” Kirkman said. I think he'll do a great job of portraying the emotion of our zombie characters as well as doing a fine job with our gore scenes. The man seems to be a master.”

Realizing that some may see the story as a spinoff of a spinoff, Kirkman acknowledged that there may be the “it doesn’t mater” feeling among some, but at the same time, explained that he wasn’t worried about it in the least. “I worry about having fun,” Kirkman said. “That's really it. If I'm not having fun... I get really worried. So all I do is make sure I'm going to have fun on the project, the rest, I really don't care about. I'll admit, I pay attention to sales, and for the good of my career I'd like all my books to sell well, but I don't think about it while I'm writing. I try to be as creative as I can without letting the business of things interfere. I think as long as I'm having fun, readers will have fun and everything will even out in the end. So far, it's working for me.”

Finally, as to the future of the Marvel Deadiverse?

“I'm not ruling out and sequels but I'm certainly not writing this with a sequel in mind. I'm just trying to write the best five issue mini-series I can. If they want to do a sequel later, we'll talk about it then, but for me... this is a fully self-contained thing. A grand send-off to the characters we met in Ultimate FF... they may all be dead by the end of this series... or, y'know... deader.”