Zombie (comics)

Zombie
Tales of the Zombie#1 (August 1973) Art byBoris Vallejo
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of the Zombie#1 (August 1973) Menace#5 (July 1953,retroactive)
Created by	Atlas: Stan Lee Bill Everett Marvel: Roy Thomas Steve Gerber John Buscema Tom Palmer
In-story information
Alter ego	Simon William Garth
Species	Zombie
Team affiliations	Phil Coulson'sHowling Commandos
Abilities	Superhuman strength Magical healing

The Zombie(Simon William Garth) is a fictionalsupernaturalcharacter appearing inAmerican comic bookspublished byMarvel Comics.The character was created by writerStan Leeand artistBill Everettfor the standalone story "Zombie" in the horror-anthologycomic bookMenace#5 (July 1953), which was published byAtlas Comics,a forerunner to Marvel.The character later became well known for starring in the black-and-whitehorror-comicmagazineseriesTales of the Zombie(1973–1975), usually in stories bySteve GerberandPablo Marcos.

Publication history

Marvel Comicseditor-in-chiefRoy Thomasplucked the character Simon Garth, the Zombie, from a pre-Comics Codehorror tale inMenace#5 (July 1953), published by Marvel forerunnerAtlas Comics,and brought the character into modern-day continuity inTales of the Zombie#1 (August 1973). The initial modern story, co-scripted by Thomas andSteve Gerberand drawn byJohn BuscemaandTom Palmer,was a 12-page tale that led into a seven-page reprint of the 1950s story (with the art slightly altered to give the Zombie shoulder-length rather than short hair).That original story was also reprinted in 1975'sTales of the Zombie Super Annual#1,and again two decades later inCurse of the Weird#4 (March 1994), the final issue of a short-lived Marvel horror reprint series.

Following the premiere, all the Zombie stories were by Gerber and artistPablo Marcos(one of these in collaboration with writerDoug Moenchand artistAlfredo Alcala). The original series' finale, set at Garth's daughter's wedding in issue #9, was a three-chapter story written byTony Isabella(chapter 2 with co-scripterChris Claremont), and drawn bypencilersVirgilio Redondo, Yong Montano, andRon Wilson,respectively, andinkerby Alcala (chapters 1–2) and Marcos (chapter 3).

Tales of the Zombiepublished the last work ofGolden AgegreatSyd Shores,Captain America's first penciler followingJack Kirby's departure from the character in 1941. Shores had finished penciling two-thirds of the eight-page story "Voodoo War" for issue #5 (May 1974) before dying of a heart seizure.Dick Ayerspenciled the remainder of writerTony Isabella's anthological horror tale.

Although laid to peaceful rest inTales of the Zombie#9 (he did not appear in the following, final issue, which contained aBrother Voodoostory and three anthological tales), Simon Garth was reanimated in the horror-comics magazineBizarre Adventures#33 (Dec. 1982), in an out-of-chronology story hard to reconcile with the remainder of the character's continuity. The Zombie returned to color comic books in a backup story inDaredevil Annual#9 (July 1993). At the time of that appearance, the Zombie remained unearthed, and controlled by his daughter Donna, who pledged to have him eliminate other such enthralled undead.

Menace#5 (July 1953), cover art byBill Everett.

The Zombie thereafter appeared inPeter Parker: Spider-ManAnnual '97(1997); in a behind-the-scenes reference inBlade:Crescent City Blues#1 (March 1998) leading into a guest appearance inSpider-Man Unlimited#20 (May 1998); and in a solo story in the anthology seriesStrange Tales(vol. 4) #1 (Sept. 1998). A decade later, he starred in a solo story in theone-shotomnibusLegion of Monsters:Man-Thing#1 (May 2007). He was also one of the main characters inMarvel Zombies 4.

He made an appearance inMarvel Zombie(October 2018).

Fictional character biography

Simon William Garth was born inBirmingham, Alabamaand became a work-obsessed executive of Garth Manor Coffee, based inNew Orleans,Louisiana,United States.Ambushed and kidnapped by his formergardener(whom he had fired), Garth is to be avoodoocult'shuman sacrifice.However, the cult's priestess Layla recognizes Garth as her own everyday-life employer, with whom she is in love. Though her attempt to let him escape is thwarted, and though she is forced to mystically transform his corpse into azombiewith a clouded mind, under the control of whoever holds the matching Amulet of Damballah worn by Garth, Layla and her grandfather, Papa Doc Kabel, continue to try to help the uncomprehending Zombie reach his final rest.

Despite his zombie state, he retains some vestige of his soul: for instance, when under the control of the Amulet, he has been forced to hurt or even kill people he has come to care about (such as Philip Bliss and Layla). The moment he is free from control, his vengeance is terrible. Because of these remnants of soul, Layla and Papa Doc perform a ritual that allows Garth 24 hours in his restored human form in order that he might attend the wedding of his daughter Donna and set in order what was left of his previous life.

He was resurrected by thevoodoowitchCalypsowho discovered that, through acts ofselflessness,this particular zombie possessed free will, i.e. the ability to act of his own accord and not always at the request of whoever was wearing the Amulet of Damballah — an unusual feature for a member of the walking dead. In this case, he ignored her orders and pushed Calypso aside in order to release the captive soul of his friend Papa Doc Kabel, whom Calypso had murdered as part of the process of reviving Garth.

Marvel Zombies 4

Main article:Marvel Zombies 4

Simon Garth had been a test subject ofA.R.M.O.R.when the zombie plague killed everyone on the base. He retrieved the head of zombieDeadpool,and used the base's teleporters to escape to the bottom of the sea, where Deadpool's head infected all of the Men-Fish and their leader thePiranha.Garth was compelled to travel to the island nation of Taino in the Caribbean Sea, where he toldBlack Talonabout the zombie plague. Black Talon assumed control of Garth, and captured Deadpool's head.When the zombie Deadpool's head bites one of the Black Talon's henchmen, he uses this opportunity to get Garth to help him escape.At the end of the series,Jennifer Kaleand theBlack Talonconfine the zombie virus inside Garth.

The Zombie was later recruited byPhil Coulsonto join his incarnation of theHowling Commandosin order to fightDormammu's Mindless Plague.

Powers and abilities

As the Zombie, Garth is supernaturally strong and able to heal mystically from injuries. However, he is also virtually mindless. Also, due to the Amulet of Damballah, which he wears around his neck, he must obey anyone who holds that item's duplicate.

Other versions

A revamped version of the Zombie appeared in a new continuity in Marvel's mature-readersMAXimprint,in the four-issue miniseriesZombie(Nov. 2006 - Feb. 2007), written by Mike Raicht and illustrated byKyle Hotz.Here, Simon Garth is a bank teller who, with his co-worker Layla, becomes tangled in the affairs of two robbers and an infectious zombifying gas. Simon plantspaint bombsin the money bags that only he can defuse, so he and Layla are kidnapped and accidentally brought into the zombie quarantine zone, thinking that the barriers were to stop the robbers from escaping rather than to keep the undead in check. The series concludes with a bitten and bullet-riddled Simon, the only survivor of the outbreak, being taken into the custody of the military and extracted from the scene via helicopter.

Zombiewas followed by a second four-issue miniseries,The Zombie: Simon GarthwithEric Powellreplacing Reicht (with the cover of the first issue paying homage to the cover art of the first issue ofTales of the Zombie), which chronicles the events following the extraction, and Simon's escapades as a "heroic" zombie.

Other Zombies

Other characters known as Zombie in theMarvel Universeinclude:

• Otherdimensional counterparts of Marvel's superheroes, supervillains and others in the variousMarvel Zombiesseries.
• InTales of the Zombie#4, a zombie of ancient Egypt appeared. The person died violently under unknown circumstances and was reanimated as a zombie by an unidentified man by calling uponAnubisandEreshkigal.The man had him forced a woman to marry him, but the woman eventually learned how to control the zombie and she had it slay the man.
• A new Zombie, whose true identity is never revealed and is known only as John Doe, is a member ofS.H.I.E.L.D.'s Paranormal Containment Unit. His only appearances occurred in the 2005–2006 seriesNick Fury's Howling Commandos.
• A giant of unknown origin was known as the Zombie Master; he used a machine to transform others into a zombie-like state. His machine instead empowered Dr. Jack Castle, who defeated him and became the Fiery Mask. He was also known as the Master and appeared inDaring Mystery Comics#1.
• InBlack Panther(vol. 4) #5, zombie soldiers were sent to invadeWakanda,which forced the nation to be evacuated byBlack Panther.

Reception

Simon Garth, the Zombie was ranked #19 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters in 2015.

Collected editions

Some of the stories have been collected intotrade paperbacks:

• EssentialTales of the Zombie: Volume 1(collectsTales of the Zombie#1-10 andDracula Lives#1-2, 592 pages, October 2006,ISBN0-7851-1916-7)
• Marvel Masterworks:Atlas Era – Menace Volume 1(includesMenace#5, 304 pages, November 2009,ISBN0-7851-3509-X)

• Marvel MAX:
  • Zombie(collectsZombie#1-4, 96 pages, April 2007,ISBN0-7851-1913-2)
  • The Zombie: Simon Garth(collectsThe Zombie: Simon Garth#1-4, 96 pages, July 2008,ISBN0-7851-2751-8)

External links

• The Zombieat The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• The Zombieat the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)