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ZombieWorld: Champion of the Worms
Every year, publishers and movie studios churn out piles of new zombie yarns, but none have rivaled the originality of this tale about a reanimated priest from an ancient cult and the zombie outbreak he creates in order to sacrifice mankind to his dark gods. Dark horror and high adventure mingle as a team of heroes race against an unstoppable evil bent on the end of mankind.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
5 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Mike Mignola
1,867 books2,535 followersMike Mignola was born September 16, 1960 in Berkeley, California and grew up in nearby Oakland. His fascination with ghosts and monsters began at an early age (he doesn't remember why) and reading Dracula at age 13 introduced him to Victorian literature and folklore from which he has never recovered.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
In 1982, hoping to find a way to draw monsters for a living, he moved to New York City and began working for Marvel Comics, first as a (very terrible) inker and then as an artist on comics like Rocket Raccoon, Alpha Flight and The Hulk. By the late 80s he had begun to develop his signature style (thin lines, clunky shapes and lots of black) and moved onto higher profile commercial projects like Cosmic Odyssey (1988) and Gotham by Gaslight (1989) for DC Comics, and the not-so-commercial Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (1990) for Marvel. In 1992, he drew the comic book adaptation of the film Bram Stoker's Dracula for Topps Comics.
In 1993, Mike moved to Dark Horse comics and created Hellboy, a half-demon occult detective who may or may not be the Beast of the Apocalypse. While the first story line (Seed of Destruction, 1994) was co-written by John Byrne, Mike has continued writing the series himself. There are, at this moment, 13 Hellboy graphic novel collections (with more on the way), several spin-off titles (B.P.R.D., Lobster Johnson, Abe Sapien and Witchfinder), three anthologies of prose stories, several novels, two animated films and two live-action films staring Ron Perlman. Hellboy has earned numerous comic industry awards and is published in a great many countries.
Mike also created the award-winning comic book The Amazing Screw-on Head and has co-written two novels (Baltimore, or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire and Joe Golem and the Drowning City) with best-selling author Christopher Golden.
Mike worked (very briefly) with Francis Ford Coppola on his film Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), was a production designer on the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and was visual consultant to director Guillermo del Toro on Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). He lives somewhere in Southern California with his wife, daughter, a lot of books and a cat.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 26, 2023
Mignola write a trope ridden Mummy story about a necromancer coming back to life in a museum and trying to create a Zombie World. Pat McEown draws some pretty cool stuff. He's characters are cartoony which gives this a Tin Tin or Scooby Doo vibe although Mignola's story seems to want to get into a more serious mood like Hellboy.
December 20, 2023
Un nigromante es liberado de su encierro tras miles de años, arrastra tras de si una ola que devuelve a la vida a los muertos, si zombies everywhere.
Quizás por lo corto que es no llego a convencerme de todo.
Quizás por lo corto que es no llego a convencerme de todo.
April 11, 2024
Las ilustraciones no están mal pero definitivamente las historias de zombies no me encantan y esta no es nada memorable. Al final solo lo leí para completar la insignia de la temporada en la cafe.
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Libro leído para la Temporada de Otoño 2023: Más allá del castillo de La cafetería de Audrey.
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Libro leído para la Temporada de Otoño 2023: Más allá del castillo de La cafetería de Audrey.
May 15, 2021
A throwback to the horror comics of the 1950's.
By which I mean, crudely drawn and plotted for length rather than sense.
By which I mean, crudely drawn and plotted for length rather than sense.
December 5, 2023
Entretenido cómic y correctamente ilustrado, leido para un reto ya que los zombies no son lo mío, en cómic los sobrellevo mejor, supongo que será serie porque el final queda abierto pero no creo que continue con la serie si así fuera.
La trama es la siguiente un brujo, Azzul Gotha, resucita en un museo, despierta a todas las momias y pretende entregarle el mundo a los dioses gusano y tras su muerte liderará a los muertos contra el mundo de los vivos.....será esto posible? Sólo unos pocos podrán detenerlo.....
La trama es la siguiente un brujo, Azzul Gotha, resucita en un museo, despierta a todas las momias y pretende entregarle el mundo a los dioses gusano y tras su muerte liderará a los muertos contra el mundo de los vivos.....será esto posible? Sólo unos pocos podrán detenerlo.....
December 7, 2023
No soy mucho de comics, pero este estuvo entretenido; los zombies tampoco son mi hit (me caen gordos estos bichos!) pero ha salido ese personaje en la cafe de Audrey y pues le atoré a la lectura jajaja Las ilustraciones están padres y la historia a pesar de los bichos esos también me ha agradado (no para tirar cohetes, pero estuvo bien) El final queda abierto, no se si será parte de una serie perooo dudo ponerme con los siguientes.
La trama va de un brujo que estaba "dormido" y lo dejan salir de un sarcófago que tenía todos los años del mundo cerrado y con eso comienza el show de crear un mundo zombie siendo el brujo el lider de los no-muertos contra el mundo de los vivos
La trama va de un brujo que estaba "dormido" y lo dejan salir de un sarcófago que tenía todos los años del mundo cerrado y con eso comienza el show de crear un mundo zombie siendo el brujo el lider de los no-muertos contra el mundo de los vivos
January 26, 2016
Before the walking dead made zombies popular Dark horse comics had their world wide zombie story. This mini series tells how the ancient necromancer Azzul Gotha brings the cruse of the undead to the earth. Good story, plot and art make this a nice read. Recommended
April 21, 2020
In here we can see many of the prototypes before eventually matured and made Mignola famous. Yet in their puerile states the cartoony buffoonery matches the juvenile level of detail. So even when the details match his highly idiosyncratic detailing, the kiddy level of content here makes it appear jarringly misused. Degrees of the callow and grasps toward the serious compound this inmiserated mess. Like most all of the older pre/extra-Hellboy canon, the value here is purely historical.
July 29, 2023
That was fine. If you're a big tin-tin fan and desperate for more this is kinda like that but like a little bit more mature.
I think Eustace is definitely a trans woman given how their little soul is feminine. That's pretty cool. I don't have anything else to say.
I think Eustace is definitely a trans woman given how their little soul is feminine. That's pretty cool. I don't have anything else to say.
June 22, 2021
Super charming story and art that gets, surprisingly, pretty nasty. Wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did, even if it is a bit on the short side.
April 17, 2020
A small-time museum is about to open a new exhibit featuring archeological items from Hyperborea (a mythic ancient civilization buried under Arctic ice), including the sarcophagus of Azzul Gotha. Gotha was an ancient Hyperborean necromancer who worshiped evil worm gods. He was entombed alive with a sacred medallion sealing him inside. Well, the medallion has gone missing, as has the mummy of Azzul Gotha. Some Hyperborean experts are called in. They soon discover the other mummies in the museum are coming to life and Gotha has a plan to turn the world over to the worm gods, just like he was planning to do forty-two thousand year ago.
The story shares a lot with Mignola's Hellboy universe. The ancient society of Hyperborea features in both stories, as does a team of paranormal experts. This team is all-human with only one character who has paranormal abilities--he can send out his spirit to spy on Azzul Gotha, much like Johann Krauss in the Hellboy universe. Even with the parallels, I still found the story entertaining and was surprised by the ending. The art is a mixture of Mignola and Herge's Tintin, a weird combination that works.
Dark Horse Comics put out four other stories in the ZombieWorld universe. I'm not sure this volume was strong enough to get me to read the other material, especially since Mignola was not involved in the subsequent stories.
Mildly recommended.
The story shares a lot with Mignola's Hellboy universe. The ancient society of Hyperborea features in both stories, as does a team of paranormal experts. This team is all-human with only one character who has paranormal abilities--he can send out his spirit to spy on Azzul Gotha, much like Johann Krauss in the Hellboy universe. Even with the parallels, I still found the story entertaining and was surprised by the ending. The art is a mixture of Mignola and Herge's Tintin, a weird combination that works.
Dark Horse Comics put out four other stories in the ZombieWorld universe. I'm not sure this volume was strong enough to get me to read the other material, especially since Mignola was not involved in the subsequent stories.
Mildly recommended.
December 9, 2019
This wasn't great, but it did make me think about why I like Mike Mignola's work and why so much of what he does is great. Zombieworld was too campy. Hell Boy is a great story because it can be a little bit funny. Hell Boy can laugh at the madness and horror around him, and knows when to crack a joke, but doesn't overdo it. Baltimore wades through similar horrors, but never exhibits any sense of humor at all. Baltimore is also quite good, but is never as good as Hell boy. The humor is really important, but too much spoils the mood.
October 3, 2022
(Re-read in the original 3-issue format) Light-entertainment romp drawn in the style of an Herge-like european title of yesteryear - which makes the few gory bits stand out. Plotwise there’s very little meat on this one; Ancient Evil gets sealed away, lock is broken, occult investigator team brought into save the day. Not going to spoil how it ends, but let’s just say that they could easily have done a follow-up.
On the plus side, it was a quick read.
On the plus side, it was a quick read.
November 27, 2025
If I had to pick one word to describe this comic, it’d probably be "nonsense." The artwork is really quite infantile, and there’s no way it should take a three-issue series to get to the stage this one does. Then, when the good guys are all defeated, someone floats out of the ether to save everyone, and bam, it’s finished. Really felt pretty low effort.
July 3, 2020
only interesting if you want to see Mignola's early ideas for what would later become BPRD (though this is more Tintin than horror comic). Best part of this is his afterword where he's like "look, I barely remember making this," lol
December 11, 2020
Una trepidante historia que rescata a un hechicero de Hiperbórea y cuenta cómo llega a nuestro mundo para ponerlo patas arriba.
El ritmo es trepidante, las conversaciones ingeniosas y los personajes molan un montón. Además, se lee en lo que te tomas un buen té.
El ritmo es trepidante, las conversaciones ingeniosas y los personajes molan un montón. Además, se lee en lo que te tomas un buen té.
November 7, 2023
A gripping story deserving of a sequel that it never got of Hyperborea, a resurrected priest, zombies, and the humans committed to stopping the reign of death.
I also personally liked the artwork a great deal in this graphic novel.
I also personally liked the artwork a great deal in this graphic novel.
March 15, 2019
Me esperaba mas de este comic por las buenas opiniones de varios autores que ha inspirado, pero la verdad fue una idea interesante sin nada interesante.
March 7, 2021
Zombie World: Champion of the Worms. Story by Mike Mignola with art by Pat McEown. An ancient Hyborean Necromancer escapes his prison in this pulpy tale. Complete with Tin-Tin inspired art work.
February 28, 2024
My 4th graphics novel, a quick 90-minute read, with an original storyline of zombies in an apocalyptic world.
Beautiful color graphics.
Beautiful color graphics.
November 2, 2025
How come “The Walking Dead” had a multiyear run repeating the same storyline again and again and this only got three issues? We were robbed.
May 5, 2022
Written by Mignola, art by another in a very Tin-Tin colorful sharp style (“Clear Line”). Kinda opposite of what you’d expect for a zombie comic…
A mummy in a museum (Azzul Gotha) comes back to life and raises the dead and also some giant white worms (?) that destroy the world. Major Damson leads the effort against the baddies, along with his goon (Roman), badass chick (Malka Ravenstein) & spirit medium (the blind Eustace St. John). The plucky museum curator is Ms. Rebecca Dean who is to be Azzul’s queen of the dead.
It’s ok but the bright cartoony-ness of it makes it seem like nothing is really at stake. A terrible decision to match this style & style, imho…
A mummy in a museum (Azzul Gotha) comes back to life and raises the dead and also some giant white worms (?) that destroy the world. Major Damson leads the effort against the baddies, along with his goon (Roman), badass chick (Malka Ravenstein) & spirit medium (the blind Eustace St. John). The plucky museum curator is Ms. Rebecca Dean who is to be Azzul’s queen of the dead.
It’s ok but the bright cartoony-ness of it makes it seem like nothing is really at stake. A terrible decision to match this style & style, imho…
March 8, 2013
Würmer...
...tauchen hier viele auf. Sehr viele. Das allein schon ist 4 Sterne wert. Aber im Ernst: Mignolas Kurzserien sind einfach spitze (wer das hier mag, findet bestimmt auch The Amazing Screw-On Head oder Jenny Finn toll). Sie bieten eine spannende, kurzweilige Story mit viel dunklem, mystischem, lovecraftischen Ambiente, und die Zeichnungen sind herausragend gut: Hier hat sich ein Künstler einen Stil gefunden, der das beste aus Mignola und Hergé kombiniert, eine Mischung aus Hellboy und Tintin (besonders spitze finde ich die Anspielungen auf Hergés Werk, mit den kreiselnden Schwunglinien hinter laufenden Figuren, und sogar der Fetisch der Arumbaya aus L'oreille Cassée ist in einem Panel zu sehen!).
Super-gut und nur zu empfehlen. Leider halt ein One-Shot, deswegen zu kurz für die schmachtenden Mignola-Fans.
...tauchen hier viele auf. Sehr viele. Das allein schon ist 4 Sterne wert. Aber im Ernst: Mignolas Kurzserien sind einfach spitze (wer das hier mag, findet bestimmt auch The Amazing Screw-On Head oder Jenny Finn toll). Sie bieten eine spannende, kurzweilige Story mit viel dunklem, mystischem, lovecraftischen Ambiente, und die Zeichnungen sind herausragend gut: Hier hat sich ein Künstler einen Stil gefunden, der das beste aus Mignola und Hergé kombiniert, eine Mischung aus Hellboy und Tintin (besonders spitze finde ich die Anspielungen auf Hergés Werk, mit den kreiselnden Schwunglinien hinter laufenden Figuren, und sogar der Fetisch der Arumbaya aus L'oreille Cassée ist in einem Panel zu sehen!).
Super-gut und nur zu empfehlen. Leider halt ein One-Shot, deswegen zu kurz für die schmachtenden Mignola-Fans.
April 7, 2013
Originally published as a three comic short series, the Champion of the Worms was built around a story idea by Mike Mignola of Hellboy fame. Richly illustrated by Pat McEown, the story owes much more to the visuals than the plot (Mignola himself admits as much in the afterword). Steeped in Lovecraftian lore with a rich helping of mummies-as-zombies, the story does not end on a positive note... rather the idea was to build a world for Dark Horse writers to play within, and the series has continued.
If you are a fan of Hellboy, you'll find plenty of familiar ground in Zombie World: COTW, and if you aren't you might be converted. Overall though, this is a visual treat for horror fans and worth it for the "Tin-tin-esque" stylings and the creepy villain, Azzul Gotha.
If you are a fan of Hellboy, you'll find plenty of familiar ground in Zombie World: COTW, and if you aren't you might be converted. Overall though, this is a visual treat for horror fans and worth it for the "Tin-tin-esque" stylings and the creepy villain, Azzul Gotha.
November 16, 2012
This book is a bit of an odd duck. The story is an old fashioned mix of elements from pulp adventures of the forties with Lovecraft-inspired horrors, while the art echoes 1960s European comic strips. The story is fairly grim but the art is bright and cheerful. My biggest complaint is that the story moves at such a furious pace that the characters all seem one-dimensional. Ultimately, this is a quick and fun read with great art, and I'd recommended it to anyone who likes pulp adventures or the art style.
September 17, 2010
More like 3¾ stars - this was cool, I like it. It's not too terribly extraordinary, but it's a good read. The art I like, and oddly reminds me of Hergé's Tintin, though it's not a heck of a lot like it. You don't need to go through the exorbitant prices on Ebay to get a copy, luckily I bought it for $12 altogether, and feel like it was fair. $25 would perhaps make you feel disappointed with the book, which would be sad.
September 27, 2011
Entretenida historia de zombi-momias, o momi-zombis. Quizás con un poco más de humor negro habría tenido más gracia. Así, se queda en una aventura bien llevada y bien dibujada que no resalta demasiado entre las historias de no muertos actuales. Claro que este tomo precede a la moda zombi por unos cuantos años, pero aun así no es de lo mejorcito del género (ni es del todo del "género", si somos más precisos). Si lo encuentro barato, quizás le dé una chance y lo termine releyendo.
March 26, 2015
Gusanos y alimañas alimentados con la bilis más negra conforman este tomo zombilonesco tétricamente divertido...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews