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Just when you think the Marvel Zombies have been dispatched for good, they rise from the dead to plague mankind once more. The iconic zombie versions of our favorite Marvel characters have now starred in five separate mini-series, with the most recent being Fred Van Lente's Marvel Zombies 4. Like any good zombies, these shambling monsters are almost impossible to kill. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Marvel announced a new Marvel Zombies project at Wizard World Philly this weekend. This isn't quite Marvel Zombies 5, though it certainly builds on the developments of past stories. Instead, Marvel is dubbing this project Marvel Zombies Return. The central hook of the mini-series is that the original Marvel Zombies - Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the rest - will once again be featured in prominent roles. In some cases, the human versions of these characters will also factor heavily into the stories.

The series will now be capped off by an epilogue issue called War of Kings: Who Will Rule? With the space dust from issue #6 still settling, the surviving powers in the galaxy must now pick up the pieces and crown a single king. Who Will Rule can be viewed as the cosmic equivalent of Civil War: The Confession structurally, if not necessarily thematically.

Marvel's adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has proven to be one of their more successful literary projects. It's certainly fared well with our Review Crew over the past seven months. Though the mini-series still has one issue left to go, fans are already wondering what the future holds in store for the Oz franchise at Marvel. That question was answered last week when a teaser appeared in the back of issue #7 for the second mini-series. Beginning this November, The Marvelous Land of Oz will be adapted as another eight-issue mini-series. The best news in all of this is that the entire creative team from the first project will be returning.

The Thunderbolts have a fairly fluid roster. The team was drastically overhauled at the start of Dark Reign, with several veterans graduating to the Dark Avengers and Norman Osborn staffing the team with an entirely new group of clandestine villains. Most recently, the T-Bolts have added martial arts master Mr. X to the fold. But the strangest and most unlikely additions are yet to come. Rick Remender, writer of Punisher Vol. 7 and the upcoming Doctor Voodoo, will be stepping in to write September's Thunderbolts #136 with artist Mahmud Asrar (Dynamo 5). This oversized issue features the debut of none other than Luke Cage and Iron Fist as the newest Thunderbolts. It seems that the duo have gone from fighting hard against Osborn's regime to playing an integral role inside of it.

Readers have been wondering when and if Ares would be the focus of another solo project. At Heroes Con this weekend, Marvel finally revealed the next Ares-centric mini-series. Dark Avengers: Ares will focus on the god of war as he takes on a new role in the ranks of HAMMER. The series will be written by Kieron Gillen (Phonogram, Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter) and illustrated by Cary Nord (Conan, Ultimate Human).