Zombie (comics)
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Zombie | |
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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's Howling Commandos |
Abilities | Superhuman strength Magical healing |
The Zombie (Simon William Garth) is a fictional
Publication history
Following the premiere, all the Zombie stories were by Gerber and artist
Tales of the Zombie published the last work of
Although laid to peaceful rest in Tales of the Zombie #9 (he did not appear in the following, final issue, which contained a
The Zombie thereafter appeared in
He made an appearance in Marvel Zombie (October 2018).[5]
Fictional character biography
Simon William Garth was born in Birmingham, Alabama and became a work-obsessed executive of Garth Manor Coffee, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Ambushed and kidnapped by his former gardener (whom he had fired), Garth is to be a voodoo cult's human 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 a zombie with 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.[6]
He was resurrected by the voodoo witch Calypso who discovered that, through acts of selflessness, 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.[7]
Marvel Zombies 4
Simon Garth had been a test subject of
The Zombie was later recruited by Phil Coulson to join his incarnation of the Howling Commandos in order to fight Dormammu's Mindless Plague.[11]
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-readers
Zombie was followed by a second four-issue miniseries, The Zombie: Simon Garth with Eric Powell replacing Reicht (with the cover of the first issue paying homage to the cover art of the first issue of Tales 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 the Marvel Universe include:
- Otherdimensional counterparts of Marvel's superheroes, supervillains and others in the various Marvel Zombies series.
- In Tales 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 upon Anubis and Ereshkigal. 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 of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Paranormal Containment Unit. His only appearances occurred in the 2005–2006 series Nick 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 in Daring Mystery Comics #1.
- In Black Panther (vol. 4) #5, zombie soldiers were sent to invade Black Panther.
Reception
Simon Garth, the Zombie was ranked #19 on a listing of Marvel Comics' monster characters in 2015.[13]
Collected editions
Some of the stories have been collected into trade paperbacks:
- ISBN 0-7851-1916-7)
- ISBN 0-7851-3509-X)
- Marvel MAX:
- Zombie (collects Zombie #1-4, 96 pages, April 2007, ISBN 0-7851-1913-2)
- The Zombie: Simon Garth (collects The Zombie: Simon Garth #1-4, 96 pages, July 2008, ISBN 0-7851-2751-8)
- Zombie (collects Zombie #1-4, 96 pages, April 2007,
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ Zombie #1 (Marvel, 1973) at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ Trademarked cover title is Tales of the Zombie; copyrighted title in postal indicia is Zombie except for the fourth and 10th issues, copyrighted as Tales of the Zombie, per Zombie (Marvel, 1973 Series) at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ Tales of the Zombie Annual #1 at the Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Marvel Zombie (2018) #1". www.marvel.com. Retrieved 2018-10-18.
- ^ Tales of the Zombie #9
- ^ Daredevil Annual #9 (July 1993)
- ^ Marvel Zombies 4 #1
- ^ Marvel Zombies 4 #2
- ^ Marvel Zombies 4 #4
- ^ S.H.I.E.L.D. (vol. 3) #6
- ^ Singh, Arune (June 2, 2006). "Marvel Fanboys: Mike Raichit Talks 'Zombie'". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ^ Buxton, Marc (October 30, 2015). "Marvel's 31 Best Monsters". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018.
Garth isn't your typical zombie. He retains a vestige of intelligence and morality which is somehow intensely disturbing. Imagine, rotting from within, but being completely aware of your desiccated state.
External links
- The Zombie at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- The Zombie at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)