For Ever and Ever and Ever and etc. (The Zombie Thing)

Immortality...it's been an obsession since the beginning of recorded history. Some of our earliest documents deal with it, for example the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In Genesis we see the fall of Man brought about by the tantalizing fruit that was washed down with the promise of "you will not surely die". The hero (or anti-hero depending on how you see things) Gilgamesh spends his time investigating different paths towards eternal life: a magical plant, constant vigilance, and monumental walls. People simply don't want to die. In the world of comic books this has become at times a humorous issue. One issue of an X-Men comic book I once read (I forget which one) depicted a discussion between several characters about superheroes dying. One of the participants in the conversation poked fun at the issue (and especially the comic book practice of frequently ret-conning deaths in order to bring back popular characters) saying in regards to death that "that trick never works". Despite this humorous take on death in comics, Marvel Comics currently has the X-Men in the midst of an event that takes a much more haunting look at death. The Necrosha crossover event (a crossover is a story that takes place over the course of several different comic book series, in this case X-Force, New Mutants, and X-Men Legacy) has the X-Men come face to face with what is essentially zombie versions of long-dead friends and foes (I am SUPER excited about the cover to the upcoming X-Force #23, shown below, which features one of my favorite dead heroes, Banshee).The zombie fad is nothing new, though it seems to be gaining ground lately with a variety of zombie-related comic books and movies etc.
The fascinating thing about zombies is that, ignoring all their blood-covered decay and limping walk, they are at their core a visualization of man’s desire for eternal life. Zombies are the undead, eternity gone wrong. I believe that there is a lesson that can be learned from all the zombies that Hollywood writers and comic book scripters are introducing us to.


In Necrosha, the X-Men first come in contact with Douglas Ramsey aka Cypher…the one problem here is that this teammate of theirs has been dead for years. He has been returned to a semblance of life by a virus (a common cause of zombies in many depictions, for example Shaun of the Dead and I Am Legend) unleashed by the vampiric mutant Selene (more on vampires in a bit). The reactions to Ramsey and other zombified mutants varies, for some it is joy, for others it is guilt, but the X-Men quickly realize that the teammates they thought were dead…are. Of course it is not easy for them to fight the foes that appear in the form of their friends, but they eventually have to come to terms with the fact that their loved ones cannot come back from the dead. Medicine has greatly helped increase our lifespan as humans, but there is nothing created in a laboratory that can create immortality, even if it is a virus manipulated by a seemingly immortal vampire.
And on the subject of vampires….in relation to Necrosha and what is perhaps the most-anticipated movie of the fall movie season, these creatures are another depiction of our obsession with death and the avoidance of it. Vampires are EVERYWHERE lately...tv show after tv show, book after book about vampires keep popping up in our pop culture of late. Foremost amongst this genre is probably the Twilight series, the popular books now being adapted to movies. Why are we so obsessed with these creatures that have permeated literature for hundreds of years? I think a large part of it is the fact that they are said to be immortal. Certainly the Twilight series focuses a great deal on this. Apart from the drug-like romance between the main characters, much of the plot centers on whether or not the series' leading lady will gain immortality as a way of forever being with her true love.


However, as the great Andy Samberg once pointed out, "life isn't all about celebrities and hunky vampires". Even the Hollywood glamour of the Twilight vampires has its drawbacks. The central vampire of the story constantly advocates against the life of a vampire, essentially saying that it is a soul-less prison. Clearly selling one's humanity for life as an immortal vampire is not the greatest path.

All of these depictions of eternal life are portrayed with some sort of flaw. Zombies are of course the walking dead, but are a mockery of the immortality that so many people desire. Vampires don't die either, but are forced to live a troubled existence, one that for many characters becomes so monotonous that it leads them to suicide (cases in Twilight and the popular tv series True Blood to name a few). It seems that the writers who are sharing all this with us have a message: these are not ways to achieve eternal life. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Christ is the ONLY way to gain eternal life, and so many people seek other paths. All the zombie and vampire literature etc seems to be an allegory for how useless these other paths are. For some it is a 'works' mentality, thinking that by doing good deeds they can get into heaven. For others there is always some new diet or medicine that they swear will work. For others it is other religions. While there are plenty of Bible verses that deal with this, the John 14 passage makes it abundantly clear. Christ is the only path that leads to true life. As Christians, John 3:16 is heard so often that sometimes it seems cliche...however, it remains a powerful truth. "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." Christ is the Son of God, and belief in him is our one and only way of obtaining eternal life, life that is worth living. As the great Casey Stone (Calculus teacher extraordinaire) puts it: "We are all eternal beings. The question is whether you will spend eternity in the presence of God (heaven) or not in his presence (hell)". I for one choose to spend eternity in the presence of God, for that is the only eternity worth having.

'Nuff Said,
-Cable

P.S. The Necrosha series is BRILLIANT...the art is top-notch and the story has taken me captive through the first two issues, if you get a chance I recommend you check it out, either as it comes out now or once the trade paperback has been released in a couple months.