Tales of the Zombie

Publication history

Copyrighted as simply Zombie and commonly known by its trademarked cover title, Tales of the Zombie, the magazine ran 10 issues cover dated 1973 - March 1975. With sister titles including Dracula Lives!, Monsters Unleashed! and Vampire Tales, it was published by Marvel Comics' parent company, Magazine Management, and related corporations, under the brand emblem Marvel Monster Group.

To star in the new title, Marvel's then-editor-in-chief Roy Thomas plucked Simon Garth, a character from a standalone 1950s horror tale created by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, introduced in Marvel predecessor Atlas Comics' Menace #5 (July 1953). This was a story published prior to the comics industry's self-censorship Comics Code Authority which, among other strictures, forbade zombies. This seven-page story was reprinted in Tales of the Zombie #1 (with the art slightly altered to give Simon Garth shoulder-length rather than short hair) as the continuation of a new, 12-page prequel story co-scripted by Thomas and Steve Gerber and drawn by John Buscema and Tom Palmer.

Following the premiere, all the Zombie stories were by Gerber and artist Pablo Marcos (one of these in collaboration with writer Doug Moench and artist Alfredo Alcala). The original series' finale, set at Garth's daughter's wedding in issue #9, was a three-chapter story written by Tony Isabella (chapter 2 with co-scripter Chris Claremont), drawn by pencilers Virgilio Redondo, Yong Montano, and Ron Wilson, respectively, and inker by Alcala (chapters 1-2) and Marcos (chapter 3). Simon Garth was laid to peaceful rest in Tales of the Zombie #9; the following, final issue contained a Brother Voodoo story and three anthological tales (Brother Voodoo also appeared in a back-up feature in issue #6).

In addition to reprinting the original 1950s Simon Garth story, the magazine reprinted other pre-Comics Code stories, including work by artists Win Mortimer and Tony DiPreta. Tales of the Zombie published the last work of Golden Age great Syd Shores, who had finished penciling two-thirds of the eight-page story "Voodoo War" for issue #5 (May 1974) before dying of a heart seizure. Dick Ayers penciled the remainder of writer Tony Isabella's anthological horror tale.

Painted covers to the series were done by artists including Boris Vallejo and Earl Norem.

An annual publication formally titled Tales of the Zombie Super Annual was published in 1975, reprinting stories from the magazine.

Collections

All 10 issues of Tales of the Zombie and the Super Annual were collected in an Essential Marvel edition in 2006.

References

References

1. (2014). "American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s". TwoMorrows Publishing.
2. (2017). "Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History". DK Publishing.
3. [https://www.comics.org/series/2129/ ''Zombie''] at the Grand Comics Database.
4. [https://www.comics.org/brand/530/ Marvel Monster Group (brand emblem)] at the Grand Comics Database.
5. [https://www.comics.org/issue/26336/ ''Zombie'' #1] at the Grand Comics Database.
6. [https://www.comics.org/series/2270/ ''Tales of the Zombie Annual''] at the Grand Comics Database.
7. [https://www.comics.org/series/52126/ ''Essential Tales of the Zombie''] at the Grand Comics Database.